22Gz

In Brooklyn's fast-rising drill movement, rapper 22Gz established himself during the final years of the 2010s as a foundational and defining voice. The single "Suburban" supplied the decisive spark for the style's expansion; its fusion of hard-charging delivery, stark storytelling, local dialect, and beats shaped by U.K. drill created the model that subsequent acts would follow. His first release arrived with the 2019 mixtape The Blixky Tape, after which Growth & Development in 2020 and The Blixky Tape 2 in 2021 each reached the upper half of Billboard's Heatseekers chart.

Raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Jeffrey Alexander, known professionally as 22Gz, absorbed hip-hop from childhood onward, absorbing the work of N.Y.C. icons such as Jadakiss and 50 Cent alongside newer voices like Future. Setting aside basketball ambitions, he turned to beat-making and began representing the Blixkys collective along with its GD ties. Although "Suburban" is often treated as his introduction, he had already cultivated a local audience beforehand. The 2016 track "Blicky" served as his initial drill statement, followed by further singles such as "UP NEXT" in 2016, "Vamanos" in 2017, and "We On" in 2017. Those collaborations laid groundwork, yet "Suburban" crystallized his early identity. Widely viewed as Brooklyn drill's breakthrough release, it merged the eerie textures and fractured arrangements of U.K. drill with his own vernacular and the recurring "Blixky the Blixky" tag, generating immediate online traction that carried the sound abroad.

Once "Suburban" elevated his profile, further singles "Why" and "Got Those" drew attention from Florida's Kodak Black. In October 2018 he joined Kodak's Sniper Gang imprint, issuing the buoyant "Sniper Gang Freestyle" and the Kodak-assisted "Spin the Block" as immediate follow-ups. Both tracks previewed his July 2019 debut project The Blixky Tape, which preserved the intensity of his prior work while venturing into additional trap territories. Keeping pace with Brooklyn's drill evolution, he surpassed expectations with the highly anticipated "Suburban, Pt. 2," which became his most successful recording to that point. The 2020 Growth & Development mixtape and the 2021 sequel The Blixky Tape 2 both entered the Top 20 of Billboard's Heatseekers chart.