It didn’t take long for 17-year-old Memphis rapper NLE Choppa to capture the hearts of a massive — and growing — fan base. Exploding into viral fame in January 2019 with “Shotta Flow,” Bryson Lashun Potts went from being a former high school basketball star and juvenile delinquent to one of the hottest new artists in the game seemingly overnight. Following up the success of “Shotta Flow” with a series of sequel tracks and the equally magnetic “Camelot,” NLE Choppa instantly became an artist to watch.
Keeping his business operations in-house, Choppa tasked his mother with management duties, leading to a partnership with Steve Stoute’s UnitedMasters distribution imprint. Releasing his Cottonwood EP at the top of 2020, Choppa was not only able to keep his ever-important publishing rights through the deal, but also able to develop another deal through Warner Records in 2019. It’s through this second deal that he recently released his debut album, Top Shotta, which collected his viral hits “Camelot,” “Shotta Flow 3,” “Shotta Flow 5,” and “Walk ‘Em Down” with Roddy Ricch, into a twenty-track showcase of his youthful charisma and surprisingly polished flows.
NLE Choppa granted Uproxx the opportunity to pull back the curtain on his sudden rise to fame, giving us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his origin, the family-focused business that has helped make him a star, and to ask the question, “Who is NLE Choppa?”
Watch the Who Is NLE Choppa? documentary above.
NLE Choppa is a Warner Music artist. .
