St. Louis, MO · hip-hop · trap · southern hip hop

Sexyy Red

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St. Louis rapper whose blunt, gleefully vulgar club records became some of the most quoted hooks in recent rap — decorum optional, hooks mandatory.

Sexyy Red was born Janae Nierah Wherry on April 15, 1998, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, graduating from Normandy High School. Before rapping she worked as a hairdresser and a call-center agent. The name Sexyy Red grew out of an old nickname, Red, given for her dyed hair, and she started writing rhymes after penning a diss track about a cheating boyfriend.

Her delivery stays direct and conversational, raspy and unpolished, set against sparse trap and Midwest club beats built around short, repeated chants rather than conventional verses. The lyrics are explicit and often comic, and individual lines have traveled further on short-form video than the songs that contain them. She has named Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Three 6 Mafia, Chief Keef, Boosie Badazz and Trina as influences.

She released her first single, "Ah Thousand Jugs," in 2018 and her debut mixtape, Ghetto Superstar, in 2021. "Pound Town," produced by Tay Keith, went viral in 2023, and a remixed sequel with Nicki Minaj, "Pound Town 2," gave her a first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. "SkeeYee" followed shortly after, and both songs landed on her mixtape Hood Hottest Princess.

That same year she opened shows on Drake's It's All a Blur Tour and appeared on his single "Rich Baby Daddy." A further mixtape, In Sexyy We Trust, arrived in 2024 behind the single "Get It Sexyy," and her guest verse on Tyler, the Creator's "Sticky," alongside GloRilla and Lil Wayne, reached the top ten and drew a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Song. Her 2025 single with GloRilla, "Whatchu Kno About Me," went double platinum, and she won Best Breakthrough Hip Hop Artist at the 2024 BET Hip Hop Awards.

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hip-hoptrapsouthern hip hop