Yesterday, Carlos Walker—known best as the Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo—was killed in a car crash at the young age of 40. An adrenalized personality, Lo’s best songs were animated—awash with energy and charisma, floated by his signature raspy tone. He may not be measured by most as a “great” rapper, but he was unquestionably an important one.
He co-founded the group D4L, which landed the Hot 100 No. 1 “Laffy Taffy” in 2006 and was at the forefront of snap music, an era of rap that is often glossed over or disregarded (usually as “ringtone rap”). But snap music laid the groundwork for much of the popular rap Atlanta has produced since, and is far more influential than many rap historians would like to admit. As a soloist, Lo helped usher in trap music as we know it today, alongside frequent collaborator Gucci Mane, T.I., and Young Jeezy. His influence extends from Soulja Boy to Young Thug. His social and cultural contributions greatly outweigh his commercial accomplishments (or lack thereof), and he made some really fun and distinctive songs along the way. Here’s a brief rundown on the impact of his life and music, a remembrance of one of rap’s most charismatic personalities.
D4L — “Make It Rain” + “Diggin’ Me”
D4L and their only album, 2005’s Down 4 Life, remain underrated relics buried beneath an avalanche of commercially successful Southern rap albums (Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter II, Jeezy’s Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, and Ying Yang Twins’ USA (United States of Atlanta), among them). “Laffy Taffy” was the snap rap breakthrough and “Scotty” was the oddball rap effigy of Fabo, which would leave a lasting impression on an entire generation of local up-and-comers. But those are just two of D4L’s many offerings. The strip club anthem “Make It Rain,” with its sax blurts and deflating synth notes, is an unexpectedly functional posse cut, and snap deep cut “Diggin Me,” which is a snapshot of Lo before he found his stride, are both wonderfully weird.
“Trap Stay Boomin” ft. Young Ralph + Parlae
Though his contributions are typically overshadowed by Atlanta trappers with more sustained careers, Shawty Lo helped see trap through its most important transition in the mid-to-late ’00s. A product of the trap himself, Lo was the voice of small-time hustlers making closed-hand transactions outside project buildings, a strong contrast to the grandiosity of T.I.’s regal trap or the number-crunching business savvy of Young Jeezy.
“I didn't idolize Michael Jordan or nothing like that,” Lo once said. “I used to see the dope boys talking to the girls in their Cadillacs.” He helped create space for those dope boys in Cadillacs—intermediate guys like DG Yola and Gorilla Zoe—and built a bridge to national radio for mid-tier flash-in-the-commercial-pan trappers (with assistance from Young Joc’s “Goin’ Down” and later OJ the Juiceman’s “Make the Trap Say Aye”). Early mixtape cut “Trap Stay Boomin,” from the second installment of Lo’s I’m Da Man series, encapsulates his dope wholesaler’s enthusiasm.
Shawty Lo + Gucci Mane — “Typical Morning” + “Dope Boy Knot”
Shawty Lo and Gucci Mane didn’t just have a close working relationship—they were fast friends with ties outside of rap. Back in 2010, Lo and DJ Holiday waited outside the Fulton County Jail to receive Gucci after a sixth-month stint behind bars. “When my career started and Gucci's career started, we was in the struggle. We was blackballed,” Lo once told MTV. “So me and Gucci, we feel like we’re brothers from a different mother.” That closeness and understanding produced great chemistry on many songs, especially “Typical Morning,” which has appeared on several mixtapes including their collaborative project Guapaholics. On the hook, they move in intervals, with Shawty Lo drawing extra breath out of each syllable to close each stanza. For “Dope Boy Knot,” Lo does something similar, pressing into casual mentions of whipping dope, his voice loose and filled with excitement. Gucci stands eagerly alongside him, ever the showman.
“Sick of Myself”
Shawty Lo wasn’t a particularly talented writer, and the content of his raps wouldn’t surprise any wordplay nerd, but overanalyzing his lyrics misses the point. The charm of Lo’s work was entirely in its presentation. He had the unique ability to give phrases life even when they didn’t have meaning. Take a song like “Sick of Myself,” which scans as a recitation of rapper cliches upon first listen (“God damn I’m fresh if I say it myself”). But the remarkably buoyant verses are ear candy: it isn’t what he’s saying, it’s how he says it. In fact, some of his phrasings are appealing simply because he said them—a rare gift for any entertainer.
“Easily I Approach” + “Dey Know”
Despite being poorly received upon release and mostly forgotten in the years since, Shawty Lo’s only solo album, 2008’s Units in the City, is a one of trap’s great artifacts. It is a singular work that pushes forward on sheer vocal dynamics. Units in the City’s crown jewel is “Easily I Approach,” which heaves on pronunciations of “capiche” and “daaaaaamn” and has some sneaky good one-liners (“I don’t believe in karma/I believe in numbers”). You’ve probably heard “Dey Know,” with its triumphant horns, dragging vowels, and one of the most memorable verse cappers of all-time: “Big ups to all my haters!” It’s telling that the official remix drew big names like Wayne, Jeezy, and Ludacris, and even got the attention of Bay Area legend E-40. It also spawned countless freestyles from beat jackers. (It even got a remix from Prefuse 73.) If Shawty Lo only has one truly great artistic achievement, it’s Units in the City, an album that is still a joy to listen to.
“B.H.C.” + “Bumpin”
Shawty Lo was always tied to the Bankhead community in Atlanta and the since-demolished Bowen Homes project he grew up in, often referring to himself as the King of Bankhead. His verbal dispute with T.I. was even rooted in his territorial claims; on the single “Dunn Dunn,” Lo raps, “Who mention Bankhead and didn’t say my name?”—a dig at T.I.’s constant shoutouts, which prompted a response in the “What Up, What’s Haapnin’” video. Lo’s 2010 Gangsta Grillz mixtape, Bowen Home Carlos, was an unofficial love letter to the project that raised him and the man it made him. It opens with a story about how Bowen Home Carlos was born: He got robbed for $25,000 and then bought a new Lexus the next week to show off for the streets. The tape then leads off with two of Lo’s best mixtape cuts: “B.H.C.” and “Bumpin.” His voice evaporates into cascading Lex Luger-esque horns on both, and it’s a fitting end to an era. After helping to establish trap, Lo was now co-opting the sounds of its next generation.
“Exotic” ft. Rick Ross + Boosie
“Exotic,” from 2014, is the last substantial Shawty Lo song. His voice was usually suspended, somewhere between rapping and singing but never one more than the other, but here he leans heavily into singsong, following the trend he and Fabo influenced. The title seems appropriate. Shawty Lo always was slightly unusual, a rapper both distinctly from Atlanta but also slightly foreign to its stylistic tendencies. He was one of a kind, an artist who exploded onto the scene and then disappeared, but left an indelible mark nonetheless. At the end of the day, that’s all any of us can ever ask for.