NBA YoungBoy

CTL-E-5344 · Person · musician · 2015–present

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

NBA YoungBoy, born Kentrell DeSean Gaulden on October 20, 1999, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a rapper whose prolific output and direct-to-fan streaming audience made him one of the most-charted artists of his generation. Recording from his mid-teens and releasing through his Never Broke Again imprint, he signed with Atlantic Records in 2017; his mixtape AI YoungBoy was his first Billboard 200 entry that year, and his debut studio album, Until Death Call My Name (2018), reached the top 10. Between 2019 and 2021 he placed four projects at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — AI YoungBoy 2, 38 Baby 2, Top, and Sincerely, Kentrell, the last released while he was jailed awaiting trial. His highest-charting single, "Bandit" with Juice WRLD, reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019, and in May 2023, at 23, he became the youngest artist in Billboard history to chart 100 songs on the Hot 100. His career has run alongside repeated arrests and periods of incarceration and house arrest, which the music addresses directly.

The record

• Also known as: Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, YB

Notes

Statistics (counted from Billboard/RIAA reporting only, per red-team flag): four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 — AI YoungBoy 2 (2019), 38 Baby 2 (2020), Top (2020), Sincerely, Kentrell (2021) — counted title by title, per Billboard via multiple reports cross-checked 2026-10-15 · youngest artist to chart 100 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 (May 2023, age 23), per Billboard · "Bandit" with Juice WRLD peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100 (2019), his highest-charting single · MASA (2025) was his 16th top-10 Billboard 200 album (debuted No. 6, 49,000 units), tying Jay-Z and Nas among rap artists, per Billboard via The Source · RED-TEAM NOTE on RIAA counts: certification totals for Gaulden are frequently misstated because RIAA title counts, unit counts, and label publicity figures are blended. Verified anchor points only: the RIAA presented him a plaque for 100 Gold/Platinum certifications in 2022, the youngest artist to reach that mark; label/MASA-era copy in 2025 cited 'over 109 certifications'; an RIAA announcement reported January 16, 2026 cited 126 certified titles. These figures are NOT interchangeable (titles vs. units vs. plaques) and are stated here as a dated sequence with a live conflict, never as a single asserted total. · Curator's Judgment: DRAFT — for founder review: Gaulden built a stadium-scale audience with almost no radio or traditional press, releasing music at mixtape speed from Baton Rouge to a Utah mountaintop; the graph records the scale because the scale is the story. His legal history is stated factually in the description, neither dramatized nor omitted. · Photo slot: CLEARED CANDIDATE — Wikimedia Commons File:NBA YoungBoy 2023.jpg, MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME (YouTube), CC BY 3.0, license verified from Commons API metadata on 2026-10-15; direct URL https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/NBA_YoungBoy_2023.jpg ; not downloaded — visual pass follows merge per standing pattern.

Referenced by

• Juice WRLD — collaborated with → this record

Sources

• The Source (reporting Billboard), "YoungBoy Never Broke Again Ties JAY-Z, Nas with 16th Top 10 Album" — https://thesource.com/2025/08/05/youngboy-never-broke-again-masa-billboard-top-10/ (primary source)
• HipHopHero (reporting RIAA announcement), "NBA YoungBoy makes RIAA history" — https://hiphophero.com/nba-youngboy-most-riaa-certified-rapper-all-time/
• Universal Music Canada (label), "YOUNGBOY NEVER BROKE AGAIN DROPS 'SLIME CRY'" — https://www.universalmusic.ca/2026/01/16/youngboy-never-broke-again-drops-slime-cry-today/

Record CTL-E-5344 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 3 sources (1 primary) · 1 mapped relationship · CTL research: PPL-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Cite this record

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.