Lil Zay Osama, a native of Chicago, applies the label "pain music" to his output, which fuses hard-hitting rhymes drawn from a violent and difficult childhood with prominent Auto-Tune vocals. Warner Records brought him aboard in 2019 after "Changed Up" broke through, and he followed with multiple installments in the Trench Baby and Hood Bible series. In 2024 a pair of EPs titled The Streets Calling My Name reached the public.
Born on Chicago’s South Side in 1997, he navigated a turbulent youth marked by repeated legal issues. Upon completing a three-year prison term he began treating music as a priority, though he had already begun rapping prior to incarceration. The 2018 singles "Way Better" and "We Ride" preceded Meek Mill’s year-end endorsement of Zay as an emerging talent. Released late that year, "Changed Up" became his breakthrough track and accumulated more than 16 million views within months. Warner Bros. signed him and issued the single in March 2019, then put out the Hood Bible mixtape a few months afterward. Trench Baby arrived in February 2021, while Trench Baby 2, featuring EST Gee and Benny the Butcher, followed later in the year. Zay joined G Herbo for the 2022 single "Chase Em Down," which appeared on Trench Baby, Vol. 3; that same year he also released the mixtapes 4 the Trenches and Hood Bible 2. The two 2024 EPs were The Streets Calling My Name and The Streets Calling My Name, Pt. 2.
