Lucki Camel Jr. (born May 30, 1996) known mononymously as Lucki (stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

) is an American rapper and record producer from

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

. He came to public attention in 2013, after receiving recognition for his debut project, ''

Alternative Trap ''Alternative Trap'' is the debut mixtape by American hip hop recording artist Lucki Lucki Camel Jr. (born May 30, 1996) known mononymously as Lucki (stylized in all caps) is an American rapper and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He ...

''. Lucki has worked with prominent music figures since then, releasing songs with

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 ...

FKA Twigs Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 17 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer, songwriter, and dancer. Born and raised in Cheltenham, she became a backup dancer for numerous famous musicians aft ...

Danny Brown Daniel Dewan Sewell (born March 16, 1981), better known by his stage name Danny Brown, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He has been described by MTV as "one of rap's most unique figures in recent memory". In 2010, after amassing s ...

Earl Sweatshirt Thebe Neruda Kgositsile (born February 24, 1994), also known by his stage name Earl Sweatshirt, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Kgositsile was originally known by the moniker Sly Tendencies when he began rapping in 2008, ...

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

and

Lil Yachty Miles Parks McCollum (born August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Boat, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer. He first gained recognition on the internet in 2015 for his singles "One Night" and "Minnesota" (featuring ...

. He has now signed with record label

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. He has been hailed as one of the most influential figures in underground hip-hop in recent years. His 2022 studio album "Flawless Like Me" saw mainstream success, debuting at #12 on the Billboard 200.

Early life

Lucki grew up on the

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...

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

and listened to

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

, and

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

growing up; he cites

Chief Keef Keith Farrelle Cozart (born August 15, 1995), better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. His music first became popular during his teen years in the early 2010s among high school s ...

, and

Babyface Ray Marcellus Rayvon Register (born February 7, 1991), known professionally as Babyface Ray, is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He is noted as an important and prominent figure of the Detroit hip hop scene. Early life Ray recalls parti ...

as some of his current inspirations. Lucki started rapping in his freshman year of high school after praise from his close friends. Soon after, he dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue music full-time.

Music career

2012-2013: "Untouchable Lucki"

Lucki's debut single and music video "Untouchable Lucki" was produced and premiered by music blog ELEVATOR. Lucki's music was first brought to ELEVATOR co-founder Bryan Zawlocki's attention by Lucki's friends Antoinne Bryant and Kevin Wright Jr, who at the time were interns for ELEVATOR. ELEVATOR subsequently produced Lucki's first two music videos
Untouchable
and
Everything Outside
, both directed by Bryan Zawlocki, alongside Antoinne Bryant and Kevin Wright Jr.

2013–2014: ''Alternative Trap'' and ''Body High''

Teaming up with his close friend and producer Plu2o Nash and other producers, Lucki released his first project, titled ''

'' at the age of 17. Lucki garnered attention from multiple music blogs including ''Fake Shore Drive'', ''ELEVATOR'', ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'' and ''

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, ...

'', because of his distinct flow and cadence, most prominent on his lead single "Count on Me", which garnered over 700,000 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 ...

. After receiving attention from music blogs for his self-proclaimed "alternative trap" music, Lucki started receiving attention from other music artists as well. In July 2014,

collaborated with Lucki on a song titled "Ouch Ouch"; the collaboration was a celebration of Twigs' recent visit to Chicago, as she tends to collaborate with local artists when she travels. August 2014 saw the release of his second project, ''

Body High ''Body High'' is the second mixtape by American hip hop recording artist Lucki Lucki Camel Jr. (born May 30, 1996) known mononymously as Lucki (stylized in all caps) is an American rapper and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He came t ...

''. Later on that month, Red Bull Sound Select released a track titled "Weightin' On", featuring

, whom he met at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

when they both played Red Bull's Sound Select showcase. stereogum.com. Retrieved on 06-02-2016. In December 2014, Lucki collaborated with fellow Chicago musician

and released a song titled "Stevie Wonder".

2015–present: ''X'', ''Freewave EP'', ''Freewave 3'', ''Almost There'', ''Wake Up Lucki'' and ''Flawless Like Me''

After releasing his first single to his third project titled ''X'', Lucki continued to drop more songs from the mixtape in 2015; the other singles were "Lowlife" and "What I Wanna". Lucki released ''X'' on May 30, 2015, the day of his 19th birthday. A few months later, Lucki started releasing freestyles to his

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

Freewave EP ''Freewave'' is the debut extended play by American hip hop recording artist Lucki. It was released on October 19, 2015. Background A few months after the release of his third mixtape, X, Lucki started releasing freestyles to his extended play ...

''. At first, they were single songs, but soon announced they were to be a part of the upcoming EP; he first released "Freewave Freestyle" and "Back Home", and soon followed with "Freewave 3, 4, 5, and 7". The EP consisted of ten songs, the tenth song titled "Rumors" was added a couple of weeks later. In January 2016, Lucki announced his name change from Lucki Eck$ to Lucki when he released the first single to his then upcoming project, ''@ MIDNIGHT'', titled "Deja Vu", featuring fellow Chicago rapper Joey Purp. Lucki claimed that the Eck$ moniker was "childish" and that he has "grown" from the name. Lucki released his debut studio album ''Freewave 3'' in February 2019. His fifth EP, ''Almost There'' was released on May 29, 2020, acting as a placeholder for fans until his next project. The EP received positive reviews.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Mixtapes

* ''

'' (2013) * ''

'' (2014) * '' X'' (2015) * ''Freewave 2'' (as Luc) (2016) * ''Watch My Back'' (2017) * '' Wake Up Lucki'' (with

F1lthy Working on Dying is an American producer collective based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was created in 2012. The current members include F1lthy, Oogie Mane, Brandon Finessin, BNYX, Kimchi, FaxOnly, 100yrd, Swaggyono, The Loosie Man & Jarek. ...

) (2021)

Singles

Guest appearances

References

{{authority control 1996 births Living people African-American male rappers Rappers from Chicago Alternative hip hop musicians Midwest hip hop musicians Songwriters from Illinois African-American songwriters Indie rappers African-American record producers American hip hop record producers People from West Chicago, Illinois 21st-century American rappers Record producers from Illinois 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians American male songwriters