HIS TIME IS TODAY

MONEYBAGG YO'S CAREER TOOK OFF LIKE A ROCKET IN 2021. WE SPOKE WITH THE RAPPER ABOUT HIS LATEST ALBUM, HIS INK AND MORE

- JON CHATTMAN

This year has been marginally better for most of us than the dreadful clusterfuck that was 2020. For Moneybagg Yo, however, it’s been more than that. It’s been a breakthrough. A revelation. A game changer. For Moneybagg, born DeMario DeWayne White, Jr., it’s been the year he cruised past other hip-hop luminaries to score the year’s highest selling rap album with “A Gangsta’s Pain.” It’s been a year of playing sold-out fests, earning MTV VMA and BET nods, and appearing on countless late night talk shows. There was also that 28-acre parcel of land he scored as a birthday gift from his girlfriend, but we’re going to focus on his music and, obviously, his tattoo choices (more on that later). It’s been success incarnate for Moneybagg Yo all year long, yet in no way does the artist intend to “stay comfortable.”

A few weeks before the release of the deluxe edition of “A Gangsta’s Pain”—appropriately subtitled “Reloaded”—and in the midst of a tour alongside Fredo Bang, Big30, Big Homiie G, Blacc Zacc and Tripstar, Moneybagg discussed putting out music during these pandemic times, collaborating with other artists, and the ink that fills most of his body. “I can’t count how many [tattoos I have],” the multi-platinum hip-hop artist says. “A lot of people don’t think I have space but I’m in the process of doing my sides and my back. It may be the last thing I do.”