August Alsina

American singer-songwriter August Alsina was born August Anthony Alsina Jr. on September 3, 1992 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Alsina was raised in a difficult environment in a poor NOLA neighborhood with parents battling drug addiction. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, his mother moved with him to Houston, Texas but the struggles with poverty and addiction followed.

As a teen full of vocal talent but bereft of resources, he sang cover songs of his favorite artists and posted them on social media platforms. In 2010, his brother was found murdered on the streets of New Orleans. This became the turning point for Alsina; he moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2011 to dedicate himself to a musical career. Creating a series of mixtapes culminated in the release of his first EP "Downtown: Life Under the Gun" on August 20, 2013. It garnered attention, especially the single "Ghetto" in collaboration with Rich Homie Quan which saw significant radio play. Alsina was named in the 2014 XXL freshman class after he debuted his first studio album "Testimony" (2014). His second album "This Thing Called Life" (2015) featured his most successful single to date, "Hip Hop". While his career was taking off he was open about his struggles with serious health issues resulting from an autoimmune disorder and degenerative eye disease. After releasing his third album, "The Product III: State of Emergency" (2020), he began hinting at retirement from the music industry. Despite this, he dropped another studio album "MySelf" in 2023.