Tyga

Micheal Ray Stevenson, known professionally as Tyga, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. After several independent releases, he signed a recording contract with Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment, an imprint of Cash Money Records and Republic Records in 2008.

Tyga's ascent from Compton underground to mainstream fixture hinged on Lil Wayne's cosign, joining Young Money in 2008 and riding the label's mid-2010s momentum alongside Drake and Nicki Minaj. "Rack City" became his calling card—a stripped-down banger that defined a era and proved his ear for minimal, maximalist hooks—but his real strength lay in versatility across *Careless World* and *Hotel California*, where he balanced trap swagger with R&B sensibilities and occasional introspection. His Young Money affiliation positioned him within hip-hop's most powerful clique of that decade, though Tyga remained somewhat peripheral to the generation-defining beefs and feuds that consumed his labelmates.