Dee-1

Dee-1 draws from 2Pac, Nas, and Lauryn Hill along with his Christian faith to shape his approachable underdog style as a rapper. After issuing several mixtapes, this New Orleans native made his first full-length statement via the independently released David & Goliath in 2009, an album that drew an offer from Cash Money Records which he turned down. The star-studded Focus Tape followed in 2012 and lifted his visibility further, after which he spent time with RCA Inspiration and Essential Sound to deliver the 3's Up EP in 2015 and Slingshot David in 2017. More recently he has operated through his own Mission Vision Music outlet, the label behind God and Girls in 2019, the Murs collaboration He's the Christian, I'm the Rapper in 2020, and LOADED in 2024.

David Arnold Augustine, Jr. did not begin rapping until his time at Louisiana State University, yet he advanced rapidly once he started. His first two mixtapes surfaced in the mid-2000s, and a third arrived the same year he finished his LSU degree and took a middle-school mathematics teaching post. In 2009, the year he left teaching to pursue music full-time, he put out David & Goliath himself. A cluster of additional mixtapes came next and steadily expanded his audience, with 2012's The Focus Tape showcasing guest spots from Killer Mike plus New Orleans figures Mannie Fresh and Juvenile. That same year he appeared on HBO's Treme in season three, episode nine. RCA Inspiration released the 3's Up EP in 2015, while his second album, Slingshot David, arrived in 2017 on Essential Sound and included Sevyn Streeter on the single "Love Always Wins."

Mission Vision Music became his next base, and God and Girls surfaced there in 2019, fronted by "I Know God" and contributions from Jonathan McReynolds, PJ Morton, and Christon Gray. Timeless and the Murs collaboration He's the Christian, I'm the Rapper, whose title and artwork playfully referenced DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, both followed in 2020. A steady run of standalone tracks bookended those projects, and although no full-length appeared in 2021, the MC compensated with Finding Balance and God and Girls 2 in 2022, both of which featured verses from Lupe Fiasco, Big K.R.I.T., and Starlito among others. UNO, short for "underdogs and outcasts," arrived in 2023, succeeded the next year by the EPs From the Hood to Harvard and LOADED, the latter also standing for "life of a disruptor evolving daily."