Huey

Kinloch Roots

Huey was born Lawrence Franks Jr. on September 12, 1987, in Kinloch, Missouri, a small north St. Louis County city that was the first city in Missouri incorporated by African Americans. He moved to the Walnut Park neighborhood on the north side of St. Louis at age five and returned to Kinloch as a teenager. He started rapping at 14, with his aunt Angela Richardson serving as his manager, and later earned his GED.

Pop, Lock & Drop It

While still a teenager, Huey signed with Jive Records through the Hitz Committee imprint. His debut single, "Pop, Lock & Drop It," was released in September 2006. Produced by D'Andre "Po Po" Smith with Calvin Miller, the song reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 6 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 2 on the Rap Songs chart, spent 23 weeks on the Hot 100 and earned RIAA platinum certification. It arrived the same year as "Chain Hang Low" by Jibbs, another teenage St. Louis debut. A remix featured Bow Wow, T-Pain and Romeo.

Notebook Paper and Redemption

His debut album, Notebook Paper, arrived on June 19, 2007, on Hitz Committee, Jive and Zomba. It peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200, No. 10 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 4 on Top Rap Albums. Guests included Lloyd, T-Pain, Bow Wow, Trey Songz and Yo Gotti, and "When I Hustle" with Lloyd followed as a single. His second album, Redemption, was released on EMI on September 14, 2010, led by "Smile & Wave" featuring Dorrough; "Payow!" with Juelz Santana and Bobby V had appeared in 2009. "Pop, Lock & Drop It" remained his biggest hit.

Later Years

Huey released the mixtapes Who the F*ck Is Huey? (2011) and Project H (2014), and in 2013 announced he had signed with Waka Flocka Flame's Brick Squad Monopoly. In a 2013 St. Louis Post-Dispatch interview he described his music as "hood, it's street and it's urban pop." He issued the single "Pulled Away" in 2020. On the night of June 25, 2020, he was shot outside his home in Kinloch in a double shooting and died of his wounds at age 32; reports list his date of death as June 25 or June 26. St. Louis County police said the investigation remained open.