LIL PAID EYES HIS LEGACY: ‘FACE THE FEARS AND SUCCEED ALL GOALS’

Hit singles and high-profile collaborations made Lil Paid a star. Community outbreak made him a superstar. As he grows his business, he's still putting in the work — and staying true to himself.

The rapper, born Emmanuel Deshaun Lyles, is only 21 and on a major professional hot streak. Yet at a time when most young artists would be relishing fame and fortune, Paid has already shifted his priorities elsewhere. “Everything I’m doing is for my family,” he says.

That vision of legacy has sharpened recently for Lil Paid, a high school dropout and one-time weed dealer who, over the past 18 months, has not only joined hip-hop’s popular list, but reached its peak. His second album, H2L, E2D, released in May 2022, was his mainstream breakthrough, a hip-hop missive defined by his frenzied delivery and thoughtful storytelling that topped the Apple Music Top 100 for five weeks. This year, he also emerged as a top-notch co-star, working alongside rap detroit heavyweight G.T. (“Bagg”) and Jacksonville own Yungeen Ace (“Critical”) on 10 spot on Spotify Top Hits, then teaming up with Roug 9 which is his artist under his label PBE Records for upcoming collaborative LP Industry Run , which will be Lil Paid’s return to the rap scene and Roug 9 first project coming into the game trying to find his lane, and build his fan base, according to Paid’s management.

And while those feats have propelled him to stardom, his position as a leader in the Black community is what has helped set him up as a potentially generation-defining artist.

Lil Paid: "I can finally say I’m an artist"

While this kind of activity might have become the norm for the prolific hitmaker who regularly racks up 100’s and thousands of streams, it’s almost overwhelming to think that he reluctantly started his music career only three years ago. His rise has been so dramatically swift, that it’s almost without comparison. It’s no stretch to label him the latest rap voice of his generation.

“I always thought rapping was kind of corny. I never wanted to be no rapper growing up,” he explains. “I had dreams of being a millionaire.” His speaking cadence matches his rapping style: rapid and focused, and with a contradictory hint of lethargy deep within his infamously authentic Detroit style.

Lil Paid was raised alongside his two brothers in the historic 7 mile neighbourhood of Eastside Detroit jumping house to house from his mother and father house. “I would describe life growing up in Detroit , on a scale of one-to-10 — with 10 being the hardest — as a six. My life wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t have a picket fence or a silver spoon. I had to get it how I live.” Despite his mixed experience growing up in the city, Paid still resides there, and still loves it. “From the people to the way we dress, the way we talk, to the way our women look and the way our kids grow up… there’s no place like Detroit,” he states proudly.

His formative years did involve education, although he dropped out of high school in the tenth grade, opting to earn his living on the streets instead of pursuing his studies further. “I was always one of the smartest kids in the class, it wasn’t hard for me. But I didn’t go to school,” he explains. “I was just trying to get me a bankroll.”

This period spent hustling in the local area brought him into contact with connections which lead him to A&R’s to labels like EMPIRE & AMG Entertainment.

Known for their sharp eye for up-and-coming talent in what has become hip-hop’s most vital city, the famous distribution label felt they had yet another star on their hands, and Paid took his chances and run with them: