B.G.

American rapper B.G. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He began singing at the age of 12, in 1993. Despite personal challenges, such as the murder of his father and substance abuse, he focused on his music, releasing his first album, "Chopper City" (1996) and subsequently joining the hip-hop group Hot Boys, alongside fellow rappers Lil Wayne, Juvenile and Turk in 1997. It was one of his songs, released in 1999, that popularized the slang term "bling bling" to describe opulence. B.G. released two more successful albums before leaving the label he had worked under for most of his career and starting his own, Chopper City Records. He went on to enjoy a prolific career in rap during the 2000s, releasing over eleven albums overall, as well as joining a new group, Chopper City Gorilla Gang (CCGG), until his arrest in 2009.