Happy Birthday, CeeLo Green!
Today, May 30, Atlanta rap star and Goodie Mob member CeeLo Green turns 44.
CeeLo goes by many nicknames in the music world, from Suga Baby to CeeLo Sinatra , but Thomas DeCarlo Callaway got his start in music as a member of one of the Dirty South's first super-trios, Goodie Mob.
The Mob, along with ATL duo OutKast, worked with producers Organized Noize to change the soundscape of Southern music in the late 1990s. The Mob's debut album, Soul Food (1995), and OutKast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994) are seen as defining moments in Southern hip-hop.
CeeLo branched out on his own from the Mob in 2004, and dropped two solo albums in the same year, Cee Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections and Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine. He teamed up with Danger Mouse in 2006, under the alias Gnarls Barkley to deliver the infectious anthem "Crazy."
The rapper found his greatest solo success with the 2010 breakup song "Forget You" but has had a hand in many other people's hits like TLC's "Waterfalls" and The Pussycat Doll's "Don't Cha."
Over the years, CeeLo has dabbled in acting, producing, composing and even being a judge on reality TV competitions like NBC's The Voice.
His last album was 2015's Heart Blanche. Now the artist is focused on his next creative endeavor: Gnarly Davidson. CeeLo has been dropping songs under the new alias Gnarly Davidson since the end last year. Videos for "F*** Me I'm Famous" and "Jay Z's Girl" feature a little person in CeeLo's likeness, taking on his rap persona. Most recently, he dropped a solid remix to Childish Gambino's "Redbone."
At the very end of 2017, CeeLo revealed that he and producer Danger Mouse were cooking up a brand-new Gnarls Barkley album.
Keeping things funky in 2018, the dynamic Peach State native made time to appear on Nipsey Hussle's debut album, Victory Lap. He also dropped off a hilarious video for "Brick Road," a cut he originally unleashed at the tail end of last year. Here's to hoping CeeLo drops a new album soon.
Happy Birthday, CeeLo!
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