King Louie

Hand-to-hand beginnings

Louis King Johnson Jr. was born on December 27, 1987, and grew up on the East Side of Chicago. He started pursuing music seriously around 2006, building a following with homemade mixtapes passed out at bus stops and parties. His first tape, “Boss Shit,” came out in 2007, and “Cloud 9” followed. A serious car accident that broke both of his legs slowed his progress for a time before he returned to recording.

YouTube and the drill vocabulary

Videos from his 2010 tape “Man Up Band Up,” starting with “I'm Arrogant,” brought him attention beyond the city. He is widely credited with coining “Chiraq,” the nickname comparing Chicago's gun violence to a war zone, and he titled a 2011 tape “Chiraq Drillinois.” That run of work made him one of the older, more established voices as the drill scene took shape around younger artists such as Chief Keef.

Epic Records and “Yeezus”

While visiting Los Angeles in 2012 he signed with Epic Records, around the time Kanye West praised him publicly. In 2013 he performed a verse and the hook on “Send It Up” from West's album “Yeezus,” and he also appeared on “Familiar” by Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment. His “Drilluminati” series began in 2012, with a second volume in 2013 and “Drilluminati 3: God of Drill” in 2015, alongside tapes such as “March Madness” (2013) and “Soprano” (2014). He has also recorded as King L.

Later years

On December 23, 2015, he was shot while sitting in his car in Chicago's Ashburn neighborhood and survived. He took part in the anti-violence collaboration “Put the Guns Down” with other Chicago rappers, and he released “Life With Louie” in 2022.

Read the story: Chicago Rap, Decade by Decade: From Hip House to Drill