Young Nudy

Quantavious Tavario Thomas (born December 17, 1992), known professionally as Young Nudy, is an American rapper. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, he is best known for his collaborations with his cousin and fellow rapper 21 Savage, as well as record producer Pi'erre Bourne. Thomas signed with RCA Records to release his debut studio album Anyways (2020), which was followed up with Dr. Ev4l (2021), Rich Shooter (2021), EA Monster (2022), and Gumbo (2023). The latter spawned the hit single "Peaches and Eggplants" (featuring 21 Savage), which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.

Thomas initially gained fame for his Slimeball mixtape series, leading to him to sign with RCA Records and Same Plate Entertainment to release Slimeball 3 in 2018. During this time, he also became known for his viral song "Pissy Pamper" (with Pi'erre Bourne featuring Playboi Carti), which became an Internet meme despite remaining unreleased. In 2019, he released his collaborative album with Pi'erre Bourne: Sli'merre, which became his breakout project and peaked at number 63 on the Billboard 200. That same year, he guest appeared on Dreamville Records' single "Down Bad," which became his first entry on Billboard Hot 100—at number 64.

Early life
Thomas was born in East Atlanta, DeKalb County, Georgia, and lived in the Paradise East Apartments. He grew up on the Southern Eastside of Atlanta, where other rappers like 21 Savage, Oj Da Juiceman and Gucci Mane reside. He is the older brother to PDE 4L Escobar and a cousin to fellow Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage. Thomas grew up with his mother, but claims to have had a closer relationship with his grandparents. He is of Jamaican descent.

2015–2018: Slimeball 2, Nudy Land, and Slimeball 3
In 2015, Thomas was featured on American rapper 21 Savage's's song "Air It Out". Later that year, Thomas released the collaborative mixtape Paradise 2 East Atlanta with rapper Kourtney Money. In 2017, Thomas released the sequel to Slimeball: Slimeball 2, which featured artists including m Juicy J, Peso, 21 Savage Kourtney Money, as well as production by Metro Boomin, Pi'erre Bourne, and Richie Souf. Its lead single, "EA" (featuring 21 Savage) garnered 146 million streams on Spotify, and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

In late 2017, Thomas released the Nudy Land mixtape, which featured rappers Offset and Lil Yachty. It was once more produced by Pierre Bourne. The mixtape also featured 13 tracks. As of June 2019, the mixtape has surpassed 30 million total streams on Spotify.

Prior to the release of Slimeball 3, Thomas signed a multi-million dollar, four-album record deal with Paradise East Records, RCA Records and Same Plate Entertainment.

In August 2018, Thomas released the 14-track Slimeball 3 mixtape, as the sequel to the previous Slimeballs. The mixtape featured production by Pi'erre Bourne, Metro, Wheezy, 13teen and Maaly Raw, among others. Previous singles "Do That" and "Sherbert" were among the 14 tracks on the mixtape. The mixtape became Thomas's first charting project on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 146. The project has a total of over 18 million streams on Apple Music as of May 2019.

2019–present: Faded in the Booth, Sli'merre, Anyways, and Dr. Ev4l
In April 2019, Thomas released a surprise project titled Faded in the Booth. On August 21, 2019, Young Nudy and RCA Records re-released the project on streaming platforms. Just two weeks before the release of his collaborative mixtape Sli'merre, a song entitled "Pissy Pamper" with fellow rapper Playboi Carti surfaced. The track, produced by Pi'erre Bourne, became an internet meme, with Playboi Carti performing the song at Coachella. An unofficial upload of the song—which has not yet been officially released—has over 4 million plays on SoundCloud. His collaboration album Sli'merre with record producer Pi'erre Bourne debuted at number 167 on the US Billboard 200 and peaked at number 63 the following week. In June 2019, Thomas and Pi'erre Bourne confirmed that the song would no longer be released due to sample clearance issues.

On May 11, producer ChaseTheMoney revealed what was thought to be a tracklist for Thomas's debut album, CTMX2. The tracklist has a number of artists such as Billie Eilish, Young Thug and most notably featured the song "God Flinch" featuring Thomas, J. Cole and Drake; the song was eventually released without Drake as "Sunset" on Dreamville's mixtape Revenge of the Dreamers III on July 5, 2019. Thomas appeared on the J. Cole-executively produced album twice, including the aforementioned song "Sunset" and on the single "Down Bad" along with JID, Bas, EarthGang and Cole himself. Later on, Young Nudy, alongside Calboy were added as supporting acts on 21 Savage's I Am Greater than I Was Tour across the United States.

On November 20, 2019, the Grammy Awards announced the nominations for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, in which Thomas was nominated for his feature on the 2019 Dreamville Records single 'Down Bad", along with JID, Bas, J. Cole and Earthgang, as well as for his contributions to the aforementioned record label's compilation album Revenge of the Dreamers 3 and his cousin 21 Savage's I Am Greater Than I Was. On February 27, 2020, Young Nudy released his debut studio album titled Anyways, which totaled 16 tracks. The album received positive critical reception, receiving a 7.5/10 by Pitchfork critic Israel Daramola. The album peaked at 109 on the Billboard 200.

After the release of Anyways, in 2020, Young Nudy announced a North American tour which was set to run from March 20 to April 30, and travel to 25 different cities in the United States. However, COVID-19 concerns caused the tour to be postponed.

On May 18, 2021, Thomas released his second studio album, Dr. Ev4l. It features fellow rappers Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, and G Herbo, with production from Coupe, Mojo, Bavier, and 20 Rocket. The album was preceded by the May 11-released single "2Face", featuring G Herbo. The album was released to generally positive reviews and peaked at 93 on the Billboard 200.

In May 2021, Nudy and 21 Savage's track "EA" from Nudy's 2017 mixtape SlimeBall 3 went viral after a video in which the song plays shows a floor collapsing at a graduation party, with the partygoers falling through the floor. Nudy responded to the incident and donated money to the homeowner.

In 2023, Young Nudy’s song “Peaches %26 Eggplants” released as the lead single from his fourth studio album Gumbo, became a viral hit, peaking at 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. In July, he made an appearance on Ateyaba 's second album on the title Ghana.

Legal issues
On February 3, 2019, while Nudy and his cousin 21 Savage were riding in a car in Atlanta, they were pulled over by police and arrested in an operation targeting Nudy and two other men. Savage was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and charged with being in the United States illegally from Britain. Nudy was charged with aggravated assault and violation of the Georgia Gang Act. Nudy's lawyer stated "We believe that Young Nudy is innocent and this is a case of mistaken identity. Young Nudy's legal team is working closely with law enforcement to ensure this case does not get blown out of proportion." Nudy's attorney stated that the charges stem from a 2017 investigation, which he states Atlanta Police investigated Nudy on and dropped the charges. On February 12, Savage was released on bail, and on February 19, Nudy was granted $100,000 bail, and was released the next day.

Musical style
Young Nudy raps, combining elements of hip hop music and contemporary R&B. Nudy's style has been compared to other rappers such as 03 Greedo, Yung Bans, and Lil Keed. Despite his close relationship with his cousin 21 Savage, he has been noted for having a "completely opposite" style from Savage.