When BigXthaPlug took Billboard out for barbecue in Los Angeles, the rapper — and self-confessed “ribs man” — opted for the smoked hyperlinks at Max Metropolis BBQ. Whereas sampling these hyperlinks (and a shock addition of ribs from the institution), the Dallas native talked about how solitary confinement throughout a jail stint helped spark his profession.
Imprisoned after violating probation, the then-20-year-old was locked up on his son’s 1st birthday. “It took a toll on me,” BigX recollects, “and made me very emotional. So that they [jail officials] needed to confine me on my own. And in that confinement, I felt like I used to be dropping myself mentally.”
Asking fellow inmates how they maintained their psychological well being, BigX parlayed one suggestion to jot down poetry into writing rap verses, which he did on medical varieties since common sheets of paper weren’t obtainable. After finishing the jail time period, he says, “I wasn’t planning to be a rapper.” However in pledging to his autistic son Amar that “you’ll by no means not be with me ever once more,” he started excited about what he might do “to nonetheless be right here in your baby and nonetheless present.”
Quick-forward to 2025. Within the aftermath of a number of platinum and gold-certified hit singles, together with “Texas,” “Mmhmm” and “The Largest” — plus the 2023 gold album Amar and 2024’s platinum Take Care — BigXthaPlug is busy selling his third album, I Hope You’re Comfortable. Forward of its launch, the rapper — and now father as nicely to toddler daughter Leilani — acquired the Innovator Award at Billboard’s Nation Energy Gamers 2025.
Arriving Friday, the anticipated UnitedMasters launch finds the rapper delving into his love of nation music. Along with the Scorching 100 (No. 4) and Scorching Nation Songs (No. 1) hit “All of the Means” with Bailey Zimmerman, the 11-track album options notable pairings with, amongst others, Jelly Roll (“Field Me Up”), Shaboozey (“House”), Luke Combs (“Pray Onerous”), Ella Langley (“Hell at Night time) and Ink (“24/7”), the latter of whom co-wrote “Texas Maintain ‘Em” and “American Requiem” for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter.
Watch the newest installment of Billboard’s Takes Us Out collection with BigXthaPlug, as he talks extra concerning the album (whose emotional themes stemmed from a breakup), his collaborators — together with those that didn’t make the album — plus the enjoyment of being a dad and his prediction for the 2025-26 soccer season.
