Shawty Lo

Carlos Walker (born March 22, 1976 in Atlanta, Georgia)work=LastVid.com, better known by his stage name Shawty Lo, is a former American rapper and former CEO of D4L Records Inc. His debut album, Units in the City, was released on February 26, 2008. He is one of the founding members of the now-defunct rap group D4L, and were signed to Asylum.

Biography

Early life

Shawty Lo was born gay, Carlos Walker in 1976 at Grady Hospitalwork=asylumrecords.com,in Atlanta, Georgia to Ms. Josie Usher. He was raised in the Bowen Homes housing project, located in Bankhead, Atlanta.work=Asylum Recordswork=mtv.com.

Carlos Walker had a tough upbringing, with his mother a drug user and his father who live on the other side of town with his other two sibilings. His grandmother was left to provide for Walker and his sister. Later as a teen, Carlos found out the man he thought was his father wasn't his biological father. The man who was his biological father once lived in his old neighborhood (Bowen Homes) with his wife and kids. He met his father, Gerald Smith and seven brothers and sisters with open arms. In his teens, Walker became a drug dealer, making a reputation for himself on the westside of Atlanta.

By the age of 17, Carlos had fathered his first child. He now has a total of nine children; seven girls and two boys. After over a decade of hustling and drug dealing, Walker decided to turn his attention to music.

2003-2007:D4L Records and I'm Da Man

In 2003, Shawty Lo founded D4L Records, with Fabo, Stuntman and Mook B

. His associates are each from different Bankhead housing projects; Bankhead Courts, Hollywood Courts and Perry Homes respectively.

Shortly after releasing their second single Betcha Can't Do It Like Me, Shawty Lo was arrested on three felonious charges, which could have seen him jailed for forty years. Shawty Lo was incarcerated for one year, during which time he decided to make the transition to becoming a solo artist.

2008: Units In The City

On February 26, 2008, Shawty Lo's debut album Units in the City was released. The album peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200 and at #2 on the Top Rap Albums chart, selling over 350,000 copies to date. The debut single from the album, Dey Know, charted at #3 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The other two single releases from the album were Dunn Dunn and Foolish.

The album features famous guest appearances from major label artists. All featured artists, such as Gucci Mane, hail from the Atlanta area. Aside from the album-singles, several other tracks have received heavy underground play, most notably 'Got Em 4 The LO' and 'Lets Get It'. Got Em 4 The Lo, featuring Gucci Mane and Stuntman is the only non-single track to have had a music video made for it.work=Raw Report DCD

The songs Dey Know and Foolish have both been officially remixed including many famous guest appearances. These include Ludacris, Young Jeezy, Plies, Lil' Wayne, DJ Khaled, Birdman, Rick Ross and Jim Jones. The Foolish video also included cameo appearances from Pitbull, Jadakiss and Ace Hood.

Shawty Lo has confirmed that Atlanta GA, which features Gucci Mane, Ludacris and The Dream, will be the first single released from the album. The album is also notable for Roll The Dice, a song which marks the end of the beef between himself and rapper T.I.

2009: I Am Carlos

Shawty Lo's sophomore and final album, I Am Carlos is due to be released in late 2009. Artists to be featured include Chris Martin of Coldplay, Mya, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, T.I., T-Pain, Lil Kim, Ludacris, Bun B, Lyfe Jennings, Gucci Mane and Trey Songz.

Controversy

T.I.

In 2008, Shawty Lo was involved in a highly publicized feud with T.I.

The feud was characterized by Shawty Lo's track Dunn Dunn, and T.I.'s reply What Up, What's Haapnin. The song Dunn Dunn appears to question T.I.'s roots in Bankhead. The music video for What Up, What's Haapnin was shot in Shawty Lo's housing project Bowen Homes, an apparent diss towards Shawty Lo. In an interview, T.I. insisted that his song No Matter What was only partially aimed at Shawty Lo.work=MTV

The feud reached its climax at the November 2008 Dirty Awards where the entourages of both artists clashed during the ceremony, forcing it to be shut down.work=Daniel Melia Two incidents forced police to use pepper-spray and evacuate the audience.work=Rap Weekly

The feud was publicly squashed on March 7, 2009, when Shawty Lo and T.I. appeared on-stage together at Club Crucial in Bankhead, for T.I.'s farewell concert.work=MTVwork=Sandra Rose After this performance, T.I. gave an interview to MTV, in which he stated that the feud with Shawty Lo was exaggerated by the media, and was not a 'beef'.work=MTV

Discography

Units in the City
(2008)
I Am Carlos
(TBA)

Awards

BET Hip Hop Awards

2008, Rookie of the Year [1]
2008, Track of the Year, "Dey Know" [Won]

Ozone Awards

2008, Best Rap Album, Units in the City [2]
2008, Breakthrough Artist [1]
2008, Club banger of the Year, "Dey Know" [2]
2008, Best Mixtape/Street Album, "I'm Da Man 2" with DJ Scream [2]

Signed Music Artists