Willie Wilson (born July 25, 1996), also known as 454, is an American rapper and record producer. Born in Florida, he is known for his distinctive

psychedelic rap Psychedelic rap (or psychedelic hip hop) is a microgenre that fuses hip hop music with psychedelia. The genre's sound was influenced by psychedelic rock and soul, funk and jazz, utilizing breaks and samples that create a hallucinogenic effect ...

and plugg sound. He has released three mixtapes and also provided production on songs by

Denzel Curry Denzel Rae Don Curry (born February 16, 1995) is an American rapper. Born and raised in Miami Gardens, Florida, Curry started rapping while in the sixth grade and began working on his first mixtape, ''King Remembered Underground Tape 1991–1995 ...

Freddie Gibbs Fredrick Jamel Tipton (born June 14, 1982), better known by his stage name Freddie Gibbs, is an American rapper and songwriter. He signed with Interscope Records in 2006 and recorded his debut album for the label; however, its release was cance ...

Zelooperz Walter Moszel Williams (born June 18, 1993), known as Zelooperz (stylized as ZelooperZ), is an American rapper. He is a member of Detroit-based hip hop group Bruiser Brigade and is signed to their record label Bruiser Brigade Records. Painting ...

, and Tony Shhnow.

Early life

Willie Wilson was born in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

on July 25, 1996. His sister is also a rapper, going by the alias Pig the Gemini. 454's family moved to Longwood in 2007. His father, who had been in prison for six years from 1997 to 2003, was shot in 2008 and 2009, dying from the latter. His family then moved all over Florida, to

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

and

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

Career

454 began to create beats at his home and rapped over them with his sister and cousin for fun. His alias, 454, comes from the 454 model of Chevrolet big-block engine and is a tribute to his father, who has a passion for cars. He and his girlfriend later moved to New York City in 2018 and he got a job at the Alife Rivington Club shoe store. The fast pace of the city allowed him to get into music again, uploading music to his friend Tommy Bohn's

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

under the names Sqvxlls and Lil 454. One of his songs, "Late Night", went viral and encouraged him to create a full project. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 454 was able to drive back down to his native Florida and complete his first mixtape, ''4 Real'', which was released on March 16, 2021. 454 received even more attention in that year when his music was used as the soundtrack for

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

's luxury company Homer. He also collaborated with

on his 2022 album ''

Melt My Eyez See Your Future ''Melt My Eyez See Your Future'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper Denzel Curry, released through PH and Loma Vista Recordings on March 25, 2022. The album includes features from Robert Glasper, Buzzy Lee, Saul Williams, Bridget Perez ...

'' and accompanied

Aminé Adam Aminé Daniel (born April 18, 1994) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He first gained notability for his commercial debut single, " Caroline", which peaked at number 11 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Aminé released ...

as an opening act for his The Best Tour Ever Tour. 454's second mixtape, ''Fast Trax 3'', was released on October 26, 2022. He opened for Mike's Ipari Park Tour in 2023. On July 12, 2023, 454 released a collaborative extended play with Surf Gang, ''Fast 5''. His third mixtape, ''Casts of a Dreamer'', was released on October 2, 2024.

Personal life

After his father died, 454 turned to skateboarding to cope, and has been a frequent feature on magazines focused around the sport like ''

Transworld Skateboarding ''Transworld Skateboarding'' (''TWS'') is an international magazine on skateboarding that was based in Carlsbad, California, United States. The publication also ran an accompanying website and video production company. In February 2019, the pub ...

''.

Influences and artistry

454's music has been described as

and plugg, although he has put out songs that go into

J Dilla James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006), better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer, composer and rapper. He emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michiga ...

-inspired

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from Soul music, soul ...

hyperpop Hyperpop (sometimes called bubblegum bass) is a loosely defined electronic music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated during the early 2010s in the United Kingdom. It is characterised by an exaggerated or maximalist take on p ...

. He has stated that his first influence was the pitched-up voice of

Quasimoto Quasimoto was a side project of hip hop producer Madlib, from Oxnard, California. Quasimoto is composed of Madlib and his animated alter ego Lord Quas. Lord Quas is known for his high-pitched voice, which often interacts with Madlib's regular ...

, the side project of noted hip hop producer

Madlib Otis Lee Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American record producer, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. Critically acclaimed for his eclectic, music sample, sample-heavy production style, he is rega ...

. Other influences include

jungle music Jungle is a genre of electronic music that developed in the 1990s out of the UK rave scene and Jamaican sound system culture. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, ...

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (formerly known as B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e and also referred to as simply Bone Thugs or Bone) is an American hip hop group formed in 1991 in Cleveland, Ohio. Consisting of rappers Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, Layzie Bone, Krayzie ...

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

DJ Screw Robert Earl Davis Jr. (July 20, 1971 – November 16, 2000), better known by his stage name DJ Screw, was an American hip hop DJ based in Houston, Texas, and best known as the creator of the chopped and screwed DJ technique. He was a centra ...

Zaytoven Xavier Lamar Dotson (born January 12, 1980), known professionally as Zaytoven, is an American record producer from Atlanta, Georgia. He has released collaborative projects with artists including Gucci Mane, Usher, Future, Young Dolph, Mig ...

Pi'erre Bourne Jordan Timothy Jenks (born September 19, 1993), known professionally as Pi'erre Bourne (), is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and audio engineer. He is known for producing the 2017 singles " Magnolia" for Playboi Carti ...

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973), also known mononymously as Pharrell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and fashion designer. He first became known as one half of the music production duo ...

Lex Luger Lawrence Wendell Pfohl (born June 2, 1958), better known by the ring name Lex Luger, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, bodybuilder, and gridiron football player. He is best known for his work with Jim Crocke ...

, and

Currensy Shante Scott Franklin (born April 4, 1981), better known by his stage name Currensy (stylized as Curren$y), is an American rapper. Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, he signed with the local record labels Cash Money Records and Young Mo ...

. 454's signature style is pitching-up the first half of the track and then slowing the second half to a normal pace.

Discography

Extended plays

Mixtapes

Singles

Tours

Supporting

*The Best Tour Ever Tour (

) (2022) *Ipari Park Tour ( Mike) (2023) *Somebody Fine Me Trouble Tour ( Mike) (2024) *Mischievous South Tour (

) (2025)

References

External links

* {{commons category 1996 births Living people 21st-century American male rappers 21st-century American male musicians Musicians from Florida Rappers from Florida Plugg musicians