When BigXthaPlug took Billboard out for barbecue in Los Angeles, the rapper — and self-confessed “ribs guy” — opted for the smoked links at Max City BBQ. While sampling those links (and a surprise addition of ribs from the establishment), the Dallas native talked about how solitary confinement during a jail stint helped spark his career.
Imprisoned after violating probation, the then-20-year-old was locked up on his son’s 1st birthday. “It took a toll on me,” BigX recalls, “and made me very emotional. So they [jail officials] had to confine me by myself. And in that confinement, I felt like I was losing myself mentally.”
Asking fellow inmates how they maintained their mental health, BigX parlayed one suggestion to write poetry into writing rap verses, which he did on medical forms since regular sheets of paper weren’t available. After completing the jail term, he says, “I wasn’t planning to be a rapper.” But in pledging to his autistic son Amar that “you’ll never not be with me ever again,” he began thinking about what he could do “to still be here for your child and still provide.”
Fast-forward to 2025. In the aftermath of several platinum and gold-certified hit singles, including “Texas,” “Mmhmm” and “The Largest” — plus the 2023 gold album Amar and 2024’s platinum Take Care — BigXthaPlug is busy promoting his third album, I Hope You’re Happy. Ahead of its release, the rapper — and now father as well to toddler daughter Leilani — received the Innovator Award at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2025.
Arriving Friday, the anticipated UnitedMasters release finds the rapper delving into his love of country music. In addition to the Hot 100 (No. 4) and Hot Country Songs (No. 1) hit “All the Way” with Bailey Zimmerman, the 11-track album features notable pairings with, among others, Jelly Roll (“Box Me Up”), Shaboozey (“Home”), Luke Combs (“Pray Hard”), Ella Langley (“Hell at Night) and Ink (“24/7”), the latter of whom co-wrote “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “American Requiem” for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter.
Watch the latest installment of Billboard’s Takes Us Out series with BigXthaPlug, as he talks more about the album (whose emotional themes stemmed from a breakup), his collaborators — including those who didn’t make the album — plus the joy of being a dad and his prediction for the 2025-26 football season.
This story originally appeared on Billboard
