F With U (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)

Kid Ink's mixtape hustle, ear for the underground and mainstream, and close connection to a growing fan base helped him achieve a number 20 hit with his independent debut album, Up & Away (2012). Primed for even greater success, the rapper and producer then teamed with major-label RCA for My Own Lane (2014) and Full Speed (2015), higher-charting efforts that showcased his emotive pop-rap with the Top 20 pop hit "Show Me" and three additional platinum singles between them. Since breaking from RCA, he has remained prolific as an indie artist with a busy release schedule of singles and Alive (2021), his fourth studio album.

Born Brian Todd Collins in L.A., Kid Ink rose steadily by releasing four mixtapes in 2010 and 2011. (The first one, World Tour, was credited to his original stage name of Rockstar.) XXL magazine listed him beside the likes of Danny Brown and Macklemore in its Freshman Class feature for 2012. That June, Kid Ink released Up & Away, his first proper studio album, through Tha Alumni. Although the set featured input from numerous producers including Ned Cameron, Jahlil Beats, and Cardiak, there were no guest verses, and therefore no disruptions in Kid Ink's nonchalant flow. Up & Away peaked at number 20 on the Billboard 200 and reached number three on the R&B/hip-hop chart.

After another tape, Kid Ink signed with RCA, made his major-label debut with the Almost Home EP -- a number 27 entry on the Billboard 200 -- and in January 2014 released his number three hit with his second album, My Own Lane. It contained two hit singles featuring Chris Brown. First was "Show Me," Kid Ink's biggest single, a number 13 pop hit that quickly went triple platinum. "Main Chick" didn't trouble the Top 40 but achieved platinum status. Moving fast, the first single off Ink's next album was out only a few months later; "Body Language," a collaboration with Usher and Tinashe, likewise went platinum and built anticipation for the February 2015 arrival of Full Speed. Ink's third album landed at number 14 and produced another platinum hit with "Be Real," on which the rapper was joined by DeJ Loaf. The commercial mixtape Summer in the Winter, produced by DJ Mustard, was offered just before the end of the year, during which Ink also scored a multi-platinum hit as a featured artist on Fifth Harmony's "Worth It."

Kid Ink remained on RCA in 2019, issuing the 2016 tape RSS2, two more EPs, and a slew of non-album singles before he became an independent artist again. He steadily released singles until April 2021 when Alive landed as his fourth studio full-length. All the while, he was also heard as a featured artist on tracks by artists such as Dizzy Wright, Philthy Rich, and EDM producer Tungevaag. Kid Ink kicked off 2022 with the Wiz Khalifa-assisted single "Big Burna." ~ Andy Kellman

Since the dawn of the 2010s, Ty Dolla $ign has been steadily racking up hits, first with one of his many featured appearances and then with headlining singles on which his sly, explicitly hedonistic style of contemporary R&B was put on full display. After assisting the "worldwide underground" likes of Sa-Ra and Erykah Badu, Ty reached the mainstream through YG's "Toot It and Boot It" (2010), continued to gain hits as a collaborator, and as a solo artist narrowly missed the Top Ten with full-length projects such as Free TC (2015) and Beach House III (2017). Since then, he issued his third LP, the Top Ten Billboard 200-charting Featuring Ty Dolla $ign (2020). In 2021, he collaborated with dvsn for Cheers to the Best Memories and in 2023 joined forces with Kanye West to form a new project, ¥$, who released a pair of 2024 albums, Vultures 1 and Vultures 2.

The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, born Tyrone Griffin, Jr. -- the son of Tyrone Griffin, a musician who played with Lakeside and Teena Marie -- started making moves during the 2000s in his native Los Angeles. As one-half of Ty & Kory, the younger Griffin appeared on Sa-Ra's The Hollywood Recordings, Erykah Badu's New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War, and Shafiq Husayn's Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka, as well as Black Milk's Popular Demand. He reached the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in 2010 with YG's "Toot It and Boot It," for which he provided the hook. A pivotal moment, it preceded constant studio activity that resulted in solo and collaborative output issued throughout the decade.

Ty Dolla $ign made his major-label debut on Atlantic in 2013 with "Paranoid," which eventually went multi-platinum. "Or Nah," the follow-up, became his second single to hit the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart, and quickly went multi-platinum. Additional singles and appearances on commercial and underground releases alike led to the November 2015 release of Free TC, his debut album. Dedicated to his incarcerated brother, the guest-loaded set debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200, boosted by "Blasé," "Saved," and "Wavy," all certified gold or platinum tracks.

During the next two years, Ty branched out stylistically as an accessory to pop hits such as Fifth Harmony's "Work from Home," the Suicide Squad: The Album smash "Sucker for Pain," and Jason Derulo's "Swalla." Major Lazer and Nick Jonas were also among the artists who enlisted his services, though these pop and club efforts were balanced out with assists for the likes of Fat Joe, 2 Chainz, and Meek Mill. As lead artist, the commercial mixtape Campaign arrived just ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and became a Top 30 hit, highlighted by "No Justice," a sober protest song recorded with his still-jailed brother. Beach House III, Griffin's second proper album, was teased with genre-hopping singles involving Lil Wayne and the-Dream ("Love U Better"), and Damian Marley and Skrillex ("So Am I"). It hit number 11 upon its October 2017 release.

Griffin continued to excel primarily as a supporting artist for the next few years. Following a slew of collaborative one-offs highlighted by Post Malone's Hot 100-topping "Psycho" and Khalid's likewise multi-platinum "OTW," he and Jeremih partnered to jointly release the album MihTy. Ty co-starred on well over a dozen tracks in 2019, such as Kehlani's "Nights Like This," Megan Thee Stallion's number 11 hit "Hot Girl Summer," and Skrillex's "Midnight Hour," the last of which was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Dance Recording. In 2020, he headlined a clutch of singles, including July's "Ego Death," featuring Kanye West, FKA Twigs, and Skrillex, and in August's charting "Expensive," on which he was joined by Nicki Minaj. Both tracks paved the way for his third full-length, Featuring Ty Dolla $ign, which arrived that October and landed at number four on the Billboard 200. His first U.S. Top Ten debut, the album featured several more guest-featuring singles, including "Spicy" with Post Malone and "By Yourself" with Jhené Aiko and Mustard.

The following year, after appearing on their 2020 album A Muse in Her Feelings, Ty recorded a full-length collaboration with Canadian R&B duo dvsn titled Cheers to the Best Memories. He also guested on David Guetta's "Family," released in several different versions, with the one featuring Bebe Rexha racking up the most streams. In 2022, Ty released the Wiz Khalifa collaboration "Champions" and the Mustard-produced "My Friends" (featuring Lil Durk). He began the following year with a single titled "2022," then collaborated with Alesso on the song "Caught a Body" and issued the solo track "Motion."

In 2023, Ty joined forces with Kanye West to form a new project, ¥$. The duo released their debut single "Vultures" in November of that year. They slowly leaked out information about the project in the lead-up to an oft-delayed debut full length Vultures 1 before finally releasing it in February of 2024. The album that included guest appearances from a number of famous artists including Lil Durk, Freddie Gibbs, James Blake and many others, and debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. It spawned the chart-topping hit "Carnival," featuring Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti.

Though ¥$ initially claimed they would release subsequent chapters Vultures 2 and Vultures 3 as a trilogy at the rate of one album per month, it would be August of 2024 when Vultures 2 finally materialized. The album again included a host of guest appearances, this time making space for collaborations from Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Desiigner, and Kodak Black, and many more. ~ Andy Kellman