G-Eazy

G-Eazy earned the nickname "the James Dean of rap" upon his late-2000s arrival, distinguished by his slicked-back hair and leather jacket. Bars that chronicled hedonistic excess alongside conflicted inner turmoil propelled his steady chart ascent through the 2010s, anchored by the hit duet "Me, Myself & I" with Bebe Rexha on his major-label debut, 2014's These Things Happen. He matched that achievement in 2017 via his third album, The Beautiful & Damned, which featured Halsey on the platinum single "Him & I" and included A$AP Rocky and Cardi B on the Top Four hit "No Limit." Retaining his full swagger, G-Eazy later matured by incorporating singing and a more introspective approach, evident on the 2020 side project Everything's Strange Here and the 2021 full-length These Things Happen Too. After a hiatus, the single "Femme Fatale" announced his seventh album, 2024's Freak Show.

Born Gerald Earl Gillum in Oakland, California, he began building his career while attending Loyola University in New Orleans, where he led the hip-hop crew the Bay Boyz and issued his solo debut, The Epidemic LP, in 2009. His 2011 mixtape The Endless Summer arrived with a hit reinterpretation of Dion's "Runaround Sue." The second LP, Must Be Nice, followed in 2012, coinciding with tours alongside Hoodie Allen and a slot on the Vans Warped Tour. RCA presented his first major-label effort, These Things Happen, in 2014.

Rising visibility the next year prompted an extensive international tour and sessions for a fourth album. Released late in 2015, When It's Dark Out reached number five on the Billboard 200, topped the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and contained the hit duet "Me, Myself & I" with Bebe Rexha. While supporting Logic, YG, and Yo Gotti in summer 2016, he joined Britney Spears on the comeback single "Make Me," which entered the Hot 100's Top 20. The year closed with "Some Kind of Drug," featuring Marc E. Bassy, which charted into early 2017; he also partnered with Carnage on the EP Step Brothers at the start of that year.

Mid-2017 brought the single "No Limit" with A$AP Rocky and Cardi B; the multi-platinum track advanced to the Hot 100's Top Five, marking his highest-charting song at the time. A second platinum success, "Him & I" with then-girlfriend Halsey, soon followed, and both appeared on the December 2017 release The Beautiful & Damned, a double-disc set that peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. In 2018 he collaborated with Yo Gotti and YBN Nahmir on "1942" for the Uncle Drew soundtrack. His 2019 releases encompassed the EP B-Sides, the single "West Coast" featuring Blueface, and numerous guest spots on tracks by Chris Brown, Carnage, and T-Pain, closing with the EP Scary Nights that enlisted Moneybagg Yo, French Montana, Miguel, and additional artists.

Quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic spurred fresh creative directions in 2020, yielding Everything's Strange Here, a pronounced stylistic pivot that replaced rap braggadocio with introspective indie alternative pop. He sang rather than rapped, covering the Korgis and David Bowie while sampling Pixies. Before year's end he also joined Blackbear on "Hate the Way" and delivered his sixth studio album, 2021's These Things Happen Too, which included the Hot 100 single "Running Wild (Tumblr Girls 2)" featuring Kossisko along with appearances by Demi Lovato, Lil Wayne, Marc E. Bassy, and others; it reached number 11 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and number 19 on the Billboard 200.

Following a year-long break, the reflective single "Tulips & Roses" marked his 2023 return. April 2024 brought "Femme Fatale" featuring Coi Leray and Kaliii as the lead single for his seventh studio album, Freak Show. Issued that June with the follow-up single "Anxiety," the project found the rapper reflecting on fame, celebrity, his mother's death, and battles with mental health and addiction. Primarily produced by Statik Selektah with further contributions from Alvin Ford, Jr., Ambezza, and Andrew Cedar, it also featured French Montana, Annika Rose, and Leon Bridges. November 2024 added the non-album tracks "Nada" and "Vampires," featuring Bahari.