Michael Kyle Williams (born September 23, 1998), known professionally as Sheff G, is an American rapper from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York.
He rose to fame with his single "No Suburban" in 2017 which was a response to the song "Suburban" by
22Gz. Williams is widely known as one of the vanguards of the
Brooklyn drill
Brooklyn drill is a regional subgenre of drill music, centered in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, that began as derivative of the drill music scene in Chicago and later became derivative of UK drill with its 808 percussion and sliding notes by ...
movement.
Early life
Michael Williams was born on September 23, 1998 in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
to a
Trinidadian
Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...
mother and
Haitian father.
He was raised in the
Flatbush section of Brooklyn. He was influenced and inspired to rap by listening to
I.G. IG, Ig, or ig may refer to:
Companies
* IG Farben, a former German industrial conglomerate
* IG Group, a UK financial services company
* IG Recordings, a record label formed by the Indigo Girls, an American folk/rock duo
* Production I.G, a Jap ...
and
Chicago drill rappers like
Lil Bibby
Brandon George Dickinson (born July 18, 1994), better known by his stage name Lil Bibby, is an American rapper and record executive. Beginning his career in 2011, Bibby released his debut mixtape in 2013, titled ''Free Crack''. After signing wit ...
and
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 ...
.
Before getting into music, Sheff G joined the 83 (Eight Trey) Gangsta Crips at age 12, and was imprisoned for 2 years for a felony
gun charge
Criminal possession of a weapon is the unlawful possession of a weapon by an individual.
Many societies both past and present have placed restrictions on what forms of weaponry private citizens (and to a lesser extent police) are allowed to pur ...
. In 2015, he went back to prison for robbery for two years. Sheff G was released from prison in 2017. When asked about his childhood before rap, Sheff said: "Growing up, all I was around was violence, in school, or hanging with my niggas, it was rough in the streets. I had to be protected out there, so I rolled with the 83s, we was in Flatbush especially on my block, I was a block baby you heard like niggas kno my body. I would never think rapping would be n my future. I remember in 2014, at 15, we growing up watching GS9 the G-Stone Crips get big, and they from the 90s on the East side, and I would be like 'damn, imagine I'm like that.' But it was a dream then."
Music career
Williams was influenced by Chicago Drill rappers
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 ...
,
Lil Bibby
Brandon George Dickinson (born July 18, 1994), better known by his stage name Lil Bibby, is an American rapper and record executive. Beginning his career in 2011, Bibby released his debut mixtape in 2013, titled ''Free Crack''. After signing wit ...
and
G Herbo
Herbert Randall Wright III (born October 8, 1995), better known by his stage name G Herbo (formerly Lil Herb), is an American rapper from Chicago.
G Herbo is signed to Machine Entertainment Group. He has released the mixtapes '' Welcome to Faz ...
. In 2017, his single "No Suburban (produced by AXL Beats)" went viral and he was credited as one of the pioneers of the Brooklyn drill music movement. He made a remix of "No Suburban" with
GS9
GS9 is a hip hop collective based in New York City. Its current members include Bobby Shmurda, Rowdy Rebel, Fetty Luciano, Corey Finesse, and Lil Skrap 1090.
Background
Rowdy Rebel grew up in a neighbourhood known as "the 90s" in Brooklyn' ...
affiliate rapper
Corey Finesse
GS9 is a hip hop collective based in New York City. Its current members include Bobby Shmurda, Rowdy Rebel, Fetty Luciano, Corey Finesse, and Lil Skrap 1090.
Background
Rowdy Rebel grew up in a neighbourhood known as "the 90s" in Brooklyn' ...
.
Sheff G,
Sleepy Hallow
Tegan Joshua Anthony Chambers (born December 20, 1999), known professionally as Sleepy Hallow, is an American rapper and singer making Brooklyn drill music. Originally from Jamaica, Chambers grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn in New ...
and
Corey Finesse
GS9 is a hip hop collective based in New York City. Its current members include Bobby Shmurda, Rowdy Rebel, Fetty Luciano, Corey Finesse, and Lil Skrap 1090.
Background
Rowdy Rebel grew up in a neighbourhood known as "the 90s" in Brooklyn' ...
were previously managed by former
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
football player,
Junior Galette’s NuLa Entertainment.
In 2019, he released his mixtape called ''The Unluccy Luccy Kid''.
His label Winners Circle Entertainment was founded in the same year.
In May 2020, he released his debut studio album called ''One and Only''. His single "No Suburban, Pt. 2" went viral with over 21 million streams. It was later certified Gold by
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
in 2022.
In August 2020, Winners Circle Entertainment began a partnership with
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 ...
.
Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow released the single "Tip Toe" produced by Great John, using a sample of
Tiny Tim's version of "
Tiptoe Through the Tulips
"Tiptoe Through the Tulips", also known as "Tip Toe Through the Tulips with Me", is a popular song published in 1929. The song was written by Al Dubin (lyrics) and Joe Burke (music) and made popular by guitarist Nick Lucas. On February 5, 1968, ...
".
It was the second Sheff G single to be certified Gold by RIAA.
[
On December 16, 2020, he released the mixtape ''Proud Of Me Now''. Throughout 2021, a multitude of singles would release including "On Go" featuring ]Polo G
Taurus Tremani Bartlett (born January 6, 1999), known professionally as Polo G, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence with his singles "Finer Things (Polo G song), Finer Things" and "Pop Out" (featuring Lil Tjay). His debut album ''Die a ...
in July and "Run It Up" featuring Sleepy Hallow and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie in August.
Legal controversy
In high school, Williams was arrested and went on probation after firing gunshots at Brooklyn’s Kings Plaza.
One week before he turned 16, in 2014, he was arrested for the first time and booked in for fighting.
On November 19, 2015, Williams was locked up for one year and four months in jail for a felony gun charge and robbery. Williams also stated last time he did time was in October 2017 to January 2018 a brief stint, which he explains was the reason for his break on music.
On July 15, 2021, Williams was arrested in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, New York for second-degree gun possession. His bail was remanded, meaning he sat behind bars until his court hearing on August 18, 2021. He pleaded guilty on October 20, 2021, and was sentenced to two years in prison.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheff G
Living people
African-American male rappers
Drill musicians
Gangsta rappers
East Coast hip hop musicians
Crips
1998 births
Rappers from New York City
21st-century African-American people
Rappers from Brooklyn
Rappers from New York (state)