Latto

Alyssa Michelle Stephens, known professionally as Latto, is an American rapper and singer from Atlanta, Georgia. She first appeared on Jermaine Dupri's reality television series The Rap Game in 2016, where she was known as Miss Mulatto and won the show's first season, but rejected its award of a recording contract with Dupri's So So Def Recordings.

Latto's ascent from The Rap Game winner to platinum-selling rapper hinged on the calculated rejection that defined her independence—turning down Jermaine Dupri's So So Def deal in 2016 proved prescient when "Big Energy" became a cultural phenomenon nearly a decade later. The Atlanta rapper's 2022 album 777 established her as more than a viral moment, but it was the Nicki Minaj remix that cemented her place in the conversation, pairing her confident delivery with one of rap's most decorated voices. Her trajectory from reality TV to Queen of Da Souf (2020) and beyond reflects a generation of female rappers who built their own lanes rather than accepting the contracts dangled in front of them, making her relatively sparse connection network less a marker of isolation than selective collaboration in an industry quick to exploit novelty.