Huey

St. Louis rapper Huey, also known as Baby Huey, first began creating beats alongside a friend on the block of Arlington Ave. in his local neighborhood as a mid-teen, drawing motivation from Dirty South figures such as Chingy, Nelly, and Ludacris. Although songwriting started as a casual activity, his older brother connected him with music veteran Angela Richardson, shifting Huey’s focus toward a professional path. At the time Richardson was building a rap collective, and Huey’s incisive lyrics quickly moved to the forefront. Tracks including “Oh” and “Pop, Lock & Drop It” gained traction as regional favorites with DJs and promoters, which helped circulate his mixtapes across college campuses and nearby outlets. The project Unsigned Hype, limited to an 8,000-copy run that sold out completely, reached producer TJ Chapman, who arranged an introduction in early 2006 between the emerging artist and Jive Records Vice President of A&R Mickey “MeMpHiTz” Wright. Huey’s first album for the label, The Notebook Paper, arrived in mid-2007. On June 25, 2020, Huey was killed in a shooting in Kinloch, Missouri.