7th Ward Shorty

New Orleans rapper 7th Ward Shorty channels intense personal experiences into tracks that pair high-energy delivery with unconventional lyricism. His 2020 project Big Shorty showcased vivid accounts of harsh street existence alongside the pressures of rising fame.

Born Euell Sylvester in 1986, the New Orleans native began his career performing gospel music before shifting toward a commercial rap approach on his first release, the 2010 project Blue City. Momentum built steadily afterward as he issued occasional singles, among them the 2019 collaboration “You Ain’t Taking Nothing” with fellow southern rapper Gunplay, followed later that year by his second mixtape, Stress. In 2020 he unveiled another mixtape, Big Shorty, a twelve-song set that included appearances by Young God Daddy and E D Nix plus a closing track constructed from samples of New Orleans bounce legend Big Freedia.