The Atlanta quartet D4L rose to attention in 2005 via their track "Laffy Taffy," among the early-2000s crossover singles that sparked celebration or scorn in proportion to listeners' appetite for shrewdly assembled productions boasting insistent hooks alongside blunt sexual wordplay. First issued on an independent basis near the group's hometown of Atlanta, the song later topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. Assembled in 2003 from Fabo, Mook-B, Stoney, and Shawty Lo, the foursome secured a deal with Asylum, distributed through Atlantic, for their first album. Down for Life arrived in November 2005 and reached the Top 25. Though it remained their only project, the members launched solo endeavors, above all frontman Shawty Lo, who died at age 40 on September 21, 2016, after a hit-and-run crash outside an Atlanta club.
