Simmie Sims III (born September 10, 1993), known professionally as Buddy, is an American rapper, singer, dancer and actor. Previously on the

I Am Other I Am Other (stylized as i am OTHER) is a multi-media creative collective created by Pharrell Williams that serves as an umbrella for all of his endeavors, including Billionaire Boys Club and ICECREAM apparel, textile company Bionic Yarn and a ded ...

label, he is now signed to Cool Lil Company and

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. He is also a member of the hip-hop supergroup Zoink Gang, with

JID Destin Choice Route (born October 31, 1990), better known by his stage name JID (also stylized J.I.D), is an American rapper. He is a part of the musical collective Spillage Village, founded by EarthGang in 2010, with Hollywood JB, JordxnBryant ...

Smino Christopher Smith Jr. (born October 2, 1991), better known by his stage name Smino, is an American rapper and singer. Smino is the founder of the musical collective Zero Fatigue with Bari, Monte Booker, Jay2, and Ravyn Lenae. He is a member of t ...

and

Guapdad 4000 Akeem Ali Douglas Hayes (born July 26, 1992), professionally known as Guap aka Guapdad4000, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is also a member of the hip hop supergroup Zoink Gang, with JID, Smino, and Buddy. He released his firs ...

Early life

Introduced to gospel and soul by his father, a preacher and choir director, he began his performance career at age seven by starring in plays and musicals including ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown (writer), William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's childr ...

'', ''Oliver With a Twist'', and ''

Dreamgirls ''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others,Gro ...

'' at Amazing Grace Conservatory. "I grew up as a full-fledged entertainer rather than just somebody trying to rap about stuff," he has said about that experience. When the school became too expensive he withdrew, later attending a high school performing arts program in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

Musical career

2009–2015: Career beginnings and signing to Star Trak

As a teenager he began recording his own material. In 2009, he got a break when TV music supervisor Scott Vener showed

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

an early effort by the 15-year-old Buddy. Impressed, Pharrell began to work with the teenager, and signed him to his

creative collective and record label. When Buddy was 18, his "Awesome Awesome" was produced by

The Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos, ...

and Pharrell made an appearance in the video. On March 28, 2012 he released the single "Staircases" produced by Pharrell and featuring

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his Progressive rap, progressive musical styles and Social consciousness, socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most infl ...

. In 2014, continuing to work with Pharrell, he released his debut mixtape, ''Idle Time'', which featured Kendrick Lamar,

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...

Freddie Gibbs Fredrick Jamel Tipton (born June 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Freddie Gibbs, is an American rapper from Gary, Indiana. After initially being signed to Interscope Records in 2006, Gibbs recorded his debut studio album under the label ...

Robin Thicke Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 hit single " Blurred Lines", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, h ...

Sir Michael Rocks Antoine Reed (born December 24, 1987) is an American rapper better known by his stage name Sir Michael Rocks (or Mikey Rocks). He started his music career in 2005 as a member of the hip hop duo The Cool Kids, and later joined the groups All City ...

, and others, with production from Pharrell Williams,

Chuck Inglish Evan Ingersoll (born October 7, 1984), better known by his stage name Chuck Inglish, is an American rapper, producer and songwriter most known for being part of the hip hop duo The Cool Kids with Sir Michael Rocks. His debut album ''Convertibles ...

Boi-1da Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da ( , a play on "boy wonder"), is a Jamaican-Canadian Record production, record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. The Toronto raised producer has work ...

Cardo A cardo (plural ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Roman cities and military camps as an integral component of city planning. The cardo maximus, or most often the ''cardo'', was the main or central north–south-oriented street ...

, Blaq, and Polyester among others. He then embarked on a series of collaborations with various artists, including

Nipsey Hussle Airmiess Joseph Asghedom (August 15, 1985 – March 31, 2019), known professionally as Nipsey Hussle (often stylized as Nipsey Hu$$le), was an American rapper, entrepreneur, and activist. Emerging from the West Coast hip hop scene in the mid- ...

BJ The Chicago Kid Bryan James Sledge (born November 23, 1984), better known by his stage name BJ the Chicago Kid (or simply BJ), is an American singer and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. Sledge is best known for frequently collaborating with Top Dawg Entertainm ...

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Bennett released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' in 2012. He ...

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 200 ...

, and

A$AP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...

2016–17: ''Ocean & Montana'' and ''Magnolia''

In November 2016 he put out his own single, "Shine," produced by

Mike & Keys Mike & Keys (formerly known as The Futuristiks) are an American Hip hop music, hip hop production and songwriting duo from Los Angeles, California that consists of Money Mike (born Michael Ray Cox, Jr.) and J-Keys (born John Groover). History ...

and

DJ Khalil Khalil Abdul-Rahman Hazzard (born October 16, 1973), professionally known as DJ Khalil, is an American music producer and DJ from Los Angeles. He is the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Self Scientific (along with rapper Chace Infinite) an ...

. It was premiered by hip-hop/R&B tastemaker Carl Chery, with a video directed by Andy Hines featuring a cameo from

. The song garnered over 2.7 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, 12 million on

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

, and nearly half a million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Buddy described the single as "a ghetto hymn acknowledging inevitable death while showing gratitude for abundant life." On August 17, he released his second EP ''Magnolia'' which included features from Boogie, Wiz Khalifa, and Kent Jamz. His EP ''Ocean & Montana'', produced by the Haitian-Canadian DJ and producer

Kaytranada Louis Kevin Celestin (born August 25, 1992), known professionally as Kaytranada (stylized as KAYTRANADA, shortened as KAYTRA), is a Haitian-Canadian record producer and DJ. Celestin rose to prominence after releasing a series of mixtapes, remixes, ...

, was released May 19, 2017 by Cool LIL Company. It featured the single "Find Me." The EP's title refers to the intersection in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

where he lived, sought inspiration, and began collaborating with

after leaving his parents' home.

2018–present: ''Harlan & Alondra''

He released his debut full-length album '' Harlan & Alondra'' on Cool Lil Company/

on July 20, 2018. It includes the singles "Black" feat.

A$AP Ferg Darold Durard Brown Ferguson Jr. (born October 20, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Ferg (stylized as A$AP Ferg), is an American rapper from New York City's Harlem neighborhood. Aside from his solo career, he is a member of the hip hop collec ...

, "Trouble on Central," "Hey Up There" feat.

Ty Dolla $ign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He first gained major recognition in 2010 for his feature on Ameri ...

, and "Trippin'" feat.

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname.

. His aim, he has said, was "to paint a well-rounded portrait of my home city",

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In spring 2018 he joined

Joey Badass Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott (born January 20, 1995), known professionally as Joey Badass (stylized as Joey Bada$$), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. A native of Brooklyn, New York City, he is a founding member of the hip-hop collective Pro ...

on the Amerikkkana Tour. His summer 2018 tour with A$AP Ferg included performances at

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

festival. On April 17, 2020, he released a collaboration album with Kent Jamz, titled ''Janktape Vol. 1''.

Discography

Albums

Collaboration albums

Extended plays

Mixtapes

Singles

As featured artist

Guest appearances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddy 1993 births Living people African-American male rappers Musicians from Compton, California Rappers from Los Angeles West Coast hip hop musicians 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians