Lil Tracy

Background

Jazz Ishmael Butler, better known as Lil Tracy, was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, on October 3, 1995, to musicians Ishmael Butler of the Digable Planets and Cheryl Clemons, better known as ‘Coko,’ of Sisters With Voices. Growing up in Virginia Beach, he regularly listened to and got inspired by emo music and southern hip hop artists to make music. He lived between his mother’s and father’s houses as they separated when he was young. Lil Tracy attended Garfield High School in Seattle, Washington, and decided to leave home at age 17.

Lil Tracy started making music when he was 15 and at age 18, without notifying his parents, he moved to Los Angeles, California to focus more on his music career. Lil Tracy initially started rapping under the name ‘Yung Bruh,’ and released several mixtapes under the Thraxxhouse collective. Some members of Thraxxhouse later started their group, called GothBoiClique, which included Lil Tracy. Butler met New York rapper, Lil Peep, through this group and they collaborated on the song ‘White Tee’ from Lil Peep’s mixtape “Crybaby.” This mixtape garnered attention from the hip-hop underground. His release of the single ‘Overdose’ further raised the profile of his career.

Lil Tracy left the Thraxxhouse group around mid-2016 and also changed his stage name from Yung Bruh to Lil Tracy when he discovered that another artist was using the moniker. Under his new name Lil Tracy, on February 1, 2017, he released the long-awaited mixtape “Tracy’s Manga.” Two months later, he released “XOXO.” He also appeared on the single from Lil Peep’s album, ‘Awful Things’ in August 2017. This single reached number 79 on the Billboard Hot 100. He then released “Life of a Popstar” in July 2017. Lil Tracy released two E.Ps “Designer Talk” on October 5 and “Sinner” on November 2 in 2018. On September 20, 2019, he released his first album, “Anarchy” and a second album, “Designer Talk 2,” in November 2020.