Trippie Redd

Michael Lamar White IV, who is professionally known as Trippie Redd, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter born on June 18, 1999.

In 2017, he released his debut mixtape, A Love Letter to You, which entered the Billboard 200 and its lead single, “Love Scars,” received double platinum certification by the RIAA.

The following year, he released his first studio album, Life’s a Trip, and the mixtape’s sequel. The singles from these albums, “Dark Knight Dummo” (featuring Travis Scott), “Taking a Walk,” and “Topanga,” all made it onto the Billboard Hot 100.

Trippie Redd has also released A Love Letter to You 4, which topped the chart in 2019, and two other albums, ! (2019) and Pegasus (2020), which both reached the top five of the Billboard 200. His fourth album, Trip at Knight (2021), peaked at number two on the chart.

Trippie Redd has spoken about how he got his name in an interview with Big Boy. In the interview, he explained that he began rapping to honor his older brother, who passed away when Trippie was young. Trippie’s original name was Hippie Redd, which he changed to Trippy Hippie, and then combined the two names to form Trippie Redd.

Trippie Redd began his career on SoundCloud in 2015 with his song, “Angry Vibes,” and has released several tracks on this platform since then. He has collaborated with artists such as Kodie Shane, 6ix9ine, XXXTENTACION, Famous Dex, UnoTheActivist, and DaBaby.

White was born and raised in Canton, Ohio, and grew up on 14th Street. He joined the Bloods at a young age and formed a group called “1400/800,” named after the street he grew up on. White has a younger brother nicknamed “Hippie Redd” and had an older brother who made music under the name “Dirty Redd.” Dirty Redd was killed in a car accident in 2014, and White talked to Rolling Stone about the time following the fatal accident.

White’s interest in music began when his mother played Ashanti, Beyoncé, Tupac, and Nas while he was growing up. He later listened to artists such as T-Pain, Kiss, Nirvana, Gucci Mane, Fountains of Wayne, the Ataris, Green Day, the Offspring, Cute Is What We Aim For, Simple Plan, the Summer Set, Hit the Lights, Marilyn Manson, and Lil Wayne.

White began rapping after being inspired by Taevion Williams, another rapper who went by the stage name Lil Tae. He began taking his music career seriously and began recording music, releasing “Sub-Zero” and “New Ferrari” in 2014 but later deleting those songs.

After graduating from high school, White moved to Atlanta, where he met rapper Lil Wop and was eventually offered a deal with a record label.