Future

Growing up, Nayvadius Wilburn was nicknamed "the future" by his friends, and eventually Future became his stage name once he became a wildly successful rapper. Wilburn, of Haitian descent, was born on November 20, 1983, and his family moved to Atlanta when he was seven. Wilburn's cousin, Rico Wade, was the acclaimed producer of Organized Noise productions, which turned out hits from iconic hip hop acts Outkast, Goodie Mob, and Lil Wayne.

Wilburn learned the ropes from Wade, and learned songwriting from his stable of talent, like songwriter Marquez Etheridge, who wrote "Waterfalls" for TLC, and "Blackberry Molasses" for Mista. Wilburn earned the nickname "The Future" from a group of rappers called The Dungeon Family, who also called him "Meathead." Wilburn wrote poems in high school after he'd read Shakespeare, and he broke into the business as a songwriter.

He first caught the ear of Ludacris in 2004, who liked a hook Future wrote so much, he used it in his song "Blueberry Yum Yum." Southern rapper YC also had a hit with the song Future song "Racks," which went gold, selling 500,000 copies. Like a lot of rappers, Future spent a lot of time running around in the streets, and even got shot in the hand when he was younger, but finally gave up the gang life to take his career seriously.

Future broke through the same way many rappers did in the modern age, by releasing underground mixtapes online, which led to a record deal with the major label Epic. (Future eventually launched his own label imprint, Freebandz.) Future's songs "Tony Montana" and "Same Damn Time" became club hits prior to the release of his debut album Pluto in April 2012. Pluto hit #8 on the Billboard 200, selling 368,000 copies.

Future's more experimental next album, Honest, was released in April 2014. It was followed quickly by 2015's DS2 and 2016's EVOL, along with a seemingly endless stream of mixtapes. "Jumpman," a track from one of those semi-official releases, 2015's Drake collaboration What A Time To Be Alive, appeared in a popular 2016 commercial for a streaming music service starring Taylor Swift rapping along to the song while running on a treadmill.