St. Louis: Early Life and Roots
Sexyy Red grew up in St. Louis, where her musical style and fearless personality were shaped by the people and things around her. She was very open and honest from a young age, which became her trademark. She would say things that shocked and surprised her friends. During her middle school years, she always wore red hair and clothes, which gave her the nickname “Red.” This nickname eventually became her stage name.
She got into rap music in a very personal and unplanned way. Wherry wrote a diss track about her boyfriend cheating on her with another woman in 2019 after she found out. She told Complex, “I wrote a song about it because my boyfriend was cheating on me with a lame-ass bitch.” When I played the song for my boyfriend, he said, “Wow, you really know how to rap.” You just snap. And I’m sitting here talking bad about him, but he liked it.
This unexpected good reaction made her want to take music more seriously. When she decided to start a rap career, her cameraman suggested adding “Sexyy” to her existing nickname. This made the stage name that would become known for her bold, sexual, and confident hip-hop.
Musical Style and Inspirations
Southern rap stars from the 2000s, like Gucci Mane, Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat, and Juicy J, have had a big impact on Sexyy Red’s music. People have called her style “bad” and “ratchet,” which are words that describe music that is raw, gritty, and unapologetically explicit and goes against social norms. This choice of style makes her an artist who isn’t afraid to push the limits in an industry that often cleans up women’s sexuality.
Her delivery is a mix of funny, carefree energy and bold lyrics that are mostly about sex and life on the street. The St. Louis rapper’s style mixes Southern sounds with modern production methods to make songs that are both memorable and powerful, while still telling real stories that appeal to younger listeners.
A big break in their career and rise to fame
“Ah Thousand Jugs,” a funny remake of Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” was released in 2018 and marked the start of Sexyy Red’s professional music career. The video has over 170,000 views. This first attempt didn’t make it big, but it showed off her talent and unique way of sampling popular songs.
Her first mixtape, Ghetto Superstar, came out in 2021 and helped her get known in the St. Louis hip-hop scene. But her real breakthrough came in January 2023 with the release of “Pound Town,” a Tay Keith-produced song that started out as a freestyle in the studio. The song’s catchy hook and explicit lyrics made it a hit on TikTok right away. It went viral and made Sexyy Red a national sensation.
The #PoundTownChallenge on TikTok made “Pound Town” even more popular. It helped the song get millions of streams and get the attention of well-known artists. This viral success led to one of the biggest events in her career: Nicki Minaj asked her to work on an official remix called “Pound Town 2,” which came out in May 2023.
Success on the charts and in business
Sexyy Red’s first song to make it onto the Billboard Hot 100 was “Pound Town 2” with Nicki Minaj. It peaked at number 66 and made her a commercially viable artist. Minaj herself praised the collaboration, saying that meeting Sexyy Red was “so down to earth & sweet” and that she enjoyed making the remix.
After this big step forward, Sexyy Red put out her second mixtape, Hood Hottest Princess, in June 2023. It made it to the top half of the Billboard 200. The project also had more hit singles, like “SkeeYee” and “Looking For These Hoes,” both of which did very well on streaming services and helped her stay at the top of the hip-hop scene.
Her 2024 song “Get It Sexyy” was her biggest solo hit, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also her first top 20 hit as a lead artist. The song also did very well on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, reaching number 6 and giving her her first top 10 as a lead singer. The song did well because it got a lot more streams, with over 17.2 million official U.S. streams in one week and a lot more radio airplay.
Collaborations with well-known people
Sexyy Red’s quick rise to fame has been helped by working with some of the biggest names in hip-hop. Her appearance on Drake’s “Rich Baby Daddy” with SZA was a huge hit, reaching number 11 on the Hot 100 and staying there for 22 weeks. This collaboration showed that she could stand up to big stars and reach more people.
Some other notable collaborations are DaBaby’s “Shake Sumn,” NLE Choppa’s “Slut Me Out,” and Young Nudy’s “Peaches & Eggplants” featuring Latto, all of which made it to the Billboard Hot 100. Her song “Sticky” by Tyler, the Creator made it into the top ten of the charts, showing how versatile she is in different hip-hop subgenres.
In 2025, she worked with Bruno Mars on the song “Fat Juicy & Wet,” which showed that she can work in different genres and stay relevant in the changing music scene.
Honors and Awards
Billboard called Sexyy Red “one of the biggest breakout artists of summer 2023,” which shows how much of an impact she has had on the industry. After being nominated the year before, she won the “Best Breakthrough Hip Hop Artist” award at the 2024 BET Hip Hop Awards. Her quick rise has also led to nominations at many well-known award shows, with a total of eight nominations at different events.
She got a lot of nominations at the 2024 BET Awards, including Best Female Hip Hop Artist, Video of the Year, and Best New Artist. She was also nominated for Best New Hip-Hop Artist at the iHeartRadio Music Awards and for Best Hip-Hop and Best Collaboration at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Life as a mother and as a person
Sexyy Red is a mother of two kids and has to balance her quickly rising career with her duties as a parent. Her oldest child, Chuckie, was born in 2020 and is now three or four years old. She had her second child in early 2024, but she has chosen to keep the fathers of both children a secret, saying, “Because I don’t need anyone in my business.” Why do you all want to know so much? “Mind your own f****** business.”
The rapper has been careful to keep her kids’ privacy while still making it clear how important they are to her. She often takes Chuckie to shows and events, where he helps her from backstage with her team. Even though she has raunchy lyrics and a public persona, she has been sensitive to her son’s requests, like when he asked her to stop swearing during a live social media session.
Sexyy Red has been open about having postpartum depression after the birth of her second child. She said that the night she wrote “Get It Sexyy” was a very hard time for her. She told people on Instagram, “I just had my baby and was feeling down and going through postpartum.” “My team in Miami would leave me alone in the studio to write songs. I would just sit there and cry about life.
Business Deals and Brand Partnerships
Sexyy Red has gone beyond music and started a number of businesses that show off her bold brand identity. In 2024, she started Northside Princess, a beauty brand that sells lip glosses with names like “Bootyhole Brown,” “Yellow Discharge,” “Gonorrhea,” and “Sex On My Period.” These names caused a lot of anger and debate, but they fit with her unapologetic attitude toward sex and branding.
She has worked with big names in fashion, like Ed Hardy, to make a small clothing line with bikinis, dresses, and accessories that showed off the brand’s signature intricate designs and her bold personality. The Ed Hardy x Sexyy Red collaboration was only available for four days, which made it more exclusive and made people want to buy it right away.
In 2025, she joined True Religion’s “Own Your True” campaign, which is meant to show “pop culture icons who aren’t afraid to be themselves.” Sexyy Red showed off the brand’s spring 2025 collection in the campaign. This collection included signature denim, velour tracksuits, and clothes that were ready for summer. She also worked with Spencer’s to make a line of T-shirts with six different designs that have bold images and catchy phrases.
Recent endorsement deals have helped her brand reach more people in a wider range of categories. She has worked with Au Vodka, Bay Smokes, and a number of fashion and beauty brands. These partnerships show that she can appeal to a wide range of customers and turn her musical success into business opportunities.
Disputes and How the Public Sees It
Sexyy Red has been in a lot of trouble in her career, mostly because of her explicit content and how she acts in public. People who don’t like her have said they are worried about how she affects young people, especially after a ballet teacher posted a video saying she was upset that her students were singing along to “Pound Town.” Sexyy Red’s rude response, “girl shut the hell up and play my song,” caused a lot of people to get angry and talk about how artists should be responsible for how much sexual content young people see.
In January 2025, Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., criticized her for posting AI-generated pictures of herself marching with the civil rights leader. King said the posts were “intentionally distasteful, dishonoring, deplorable, and disrespectful,” which made Sexyy Red apologize and take them down. She said, “You ain’t wrong; I never meant to disrespect your family. I’m sorry.” “I just reposted something I saw that I thought was harmless.”
There have been more problems, like when her performances caused problems at schools, fights with other artists, and ongoing arguments about the appropriateness of her content and behavior in public. Even with these problems, her fans are still loyal, and her business is still doing well.
Effect on Culture and the Business
Sexyy Red’s effect goes beyond the usual music charts and into bigger discussions about women’s sexuality, being real, and artistic freedom in hip-hop. She has been successful at the same time that sexually explicit content from female artists has become more acceptable, which goes against the double standards that have historically kept women from expressing themselves in the genre.
Her use of social media has been especially important. She uses sites like TikTok and Instagram to connect directly with fans and promote her music without the help of traditional industry gatekeepers. This plan has become a model for new artists who want to grow their fan bases without using traditional methods of promotion.
Young women relate to the rapper because she is unapologetic about her sexuality and doesn’t follow traditional ideas of how women should act. They see her as a symbol of real self-expression. Her success has made it possible for other artists to make hip-hop music that is just as explicit and unfiltered.
Recent Work and Future Plans
In May 2024, Sexyy Red released her third mixtape, In Sexyy We Trust. It included songs with Drake, Lil Baby, and other well-known artists. The project kept her streak of chart success going and showed that she could get big-name guests while keeping her own sound.
Her most recent work shows that she is growing and trying new things musically while still staying true to her style. “Fat Juicy & Wet,” a song she worked on with Bruno Mars, shows that she can cross genre lines and appeal to mainstream audiences without losing her identity.
Looking ahead, people in the industry think that her first studio album could be a big step forward for her as an artist. Her recent activity on social media has hinted at new music that draws from Lil Wayne, which suggests that her sound is still evolving and changing.
Legacy and Long-Term Effects
Sexyy Red is only 27 years old, but she has already made a big impact on modern hip-hop. Her path from writing diss tracks about cheating boyfriends to working with music legends shows how powerful it is to be yourself and use social media wisely.
Her impact goes beyond music to include bigger cultural discussions about women’s rights, sexual freedom, and the changing face of hip-hop. Even though her explicit content and controversial moments continue to spark debate, her commercial success and critical acclaim suggest that her style appeals to a lot of people who want real, unfiltered art.
Billboard’s choice of her as a breakout artist and her many award nominations show that the industry accepts her impact. She has the business sense to stay relevant while branching out into business ventures and brand partnerships. This shows that her influence goes beyond music.
Sexyy Red is a new kind of hip-hop artist who uses social media, embraces controversy, and values being real over what the industry thinks is right. She is an example of a new generation of hip-hop artists. Her success story shows how the music industry is changing and how artists who won’t give up their vision for mainstream acceptance can be powerful.
Sexyy Red is one of the most talked-about and commercially successful hip-hop artists of the 2020s, whether people see her as a provocative disruptor or a real voice for her generation. Her growth and rising influence suggest that her impact on the genre and popular culture will last long after her current successes.
