Teeflii

South Central Los Angeles native Christian Jones, who records contemporary R&B as TeeFlii, first gravitated toward music during childhood services at the church led by his grandfather. Although honing those skills often clashed with neighborhood realities, his deep immersion in the local krumping scene under the alias Baby Tight Eyez earned him a spot in David LaChapelle’s 2005 documentary Rize, which chronicled that street-dance movement. TeeFlii surfaced publicly in late 2012 with AnNieRuO'TAY 1, the opening installment in a run of mixtapes that showcased beats from DJ Mustard, the Futuristiks, and the artist himself. Momentum built in 2013 through joint work with Nipsey Hussle, Dom Kennedy, and YG, after which he inked a deal with Epic. The DJ Mustard-produced “This D,” drawn from those early tapes, became his debut commercial single. A second Mustard track, “24 Hours” featuring 2 Chainz, arrived in 2014 as the lead offering from the forthcoming album Starr, which finally appeared the following year and included guest turns from Snoop Dogg, Dom Kennedy, and Chris Brown.