California-born, Tupelo-raised, Atlanta-based duo Rae Sremmurd specialize in party-friendly trap anthems like their chart-topping hit "Black Beatles." With a name that's read as a backward-spelled alias for
Mike Will Made It's songwriting and production syndicate EarDrummers, the pair debuted on Mike's late-2013 mixtape Mike Will Been Trill with "We," a scraping, lashing party track. Formed by two young and exuberant brothers,
Swae Lee (Khalif Brown) and
Slim Jxmmi (Aaquil Brown), they were also former members of Dem Outta St8 Boyz, a trio that had competed on the Wild Out Wednesday segment of BET's 106 & Park program.
In February 2014, "We" was issued as Rae Sremmurd's first official single through
Mike WiLL's Made-It Mafia label. Throughout the rest of 2014, following the signing of a contract with
Interscope, the rowdy "No Flex Zone" and relatively kicked back "No Type" and "Throw Sum Mo" (featuring
Nicki Minaj and
Young Thug) were released as preludes to the early-2015 album SremmLife. All three singles reached the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot Rap Songs chart. The first two received platinum certifications. In 2016, they returned with the single "By Chance," along with SremmLife 2, their sophomore LP. Later that year, they earned their first Billboard number one with "Black Beatles" featuring
Gucci Mane. That single went on to win a Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Collaboration.
In August 2017, Rae Sremmurd began promoting their third full-length, starting with "Perplexing Pegasus" and followed by "T'd Up" and the
Juicy J-assisted "Powerglide" in early 2018. These tracks would feature on their ambitious triple album, SR3MM. In addition to one disc of Rae Sremmurd material, it was also home to Swaecation and Jxmtro, the solo full-length debuts from each brother that highlighted their individual personalities as romantic singer and party-loving rapper. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi