Big Scarr

Alexander Woods entered the world in 2000 and grew up in South Memphis, spending his early years with his grandmother until her death at his age 13, after which his father raised him. A car accident he survived at 16 prompted the choice of his stage name Big Scarr. Drawing from the styles of Kodak Black and Boosie Badazz, he started rapping at the urging of close friends while linked to the Rich N Ruthless collective. His first recording, the freestyle-based single “Make a Play,” surfaced near the close of 2019 and quickly amassed millions of streams. Once cousin Pooh Shiesty introduced the music to Gucci Mane, Big Scarr joined the rapper’s Atlantic-distributed 1017 label in June 2020. He contributed to the imprint’s So Icy Summer compilation and dropped the tracks “Endzone” and “Frozone” before the year ended. Multiple follow-up singles paved the way for debut mixtape Big Grim Reaper, issued in April 2021 and peaking at number 25 on the Billboard 200. Early the next year he expanded the project as Big Grim Reaper: The Return, adding thirteen songs that included “Fantasy” with Offset. Memphis rapper Big Scarr converted harrowing personal events into stark, unsparing accounts; after the 2019 breakthrough of “Make a Play” he aligned with Gucci Mane’s 1017 imprint and steadily broadened his reach, enlisting Pooh Shiesty, Gucci Mane, Tay Keith, and additional guests on the 2021 mixtape. On December 22, 2022, he died in Memphis at age 22.