Street Bud, the North Carolina rapper born in Winston-Salem, first stepped into music at age eleven by showcasing freestyle skills. The 2016 release “Getcha Mind Right” functioned as an early anthem, and that June he issued his opening mixtape of the same title, which collected several of his principal tracks up to that point. Singles such as “Dabb Down,” “Steph Curry,” and “Nah FR!” soon circulated widely online; their bounce-driven production and nimble delivery drew hundreds of thousands of views.
Success on the Jermaine Dupri-hosted contest The Rap Game in late 2018 generated fresh momentum and, at fourteen, secured him a contract with Quavo’s Quality Control imprint in the opening months of 2019. Placement on the label’s compilation Control the Streets, Vol. 2 expanded his reach, and early the following year the Quavo-assisted single “Open House” amassed millions of streams. That visibility preceded his first album, Back 2 the Lab, which surfaced in February 2020 and featured additional appearances by Sheck Wes while embodying the artist’s boast-heavy trap sound.
