Yo Gotti quickly picked up the writing process and created his own wave. He’d write bars for everyone in the crew and each person had four to eight bars to shine. One of Yo Gotti’s homeboys taught him how to rap. The activity was a neighborhood bonding exercise, too. Yet, rhyming brought a particular sense of therapeutic freedom.

He was making more money in the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, than in music. Back then, he hardly thought of himself as a rapper. Free Game is the 11th studio album in a career that dates back a quarter century to 1996’s Youngsta’s On a Come Up, when he went by the moniker Lil Yo. Yo Gotti, 40, is eager to talk about his new project. “Hell nah,” Yo Gotti said with a chuckle, putting his jacket back on. Yo Gotti’s double album, CM10: Free Game, was well over a year in the making and will be released on Feb. That is, until one of the doors in the suite is blown open by an aggressive gust of wind. After pounding up those in the room - a pandemic precaution that feels safer than a dap - he starts to take his jacket off. An assistant holding an umbrella has kept Yo Gotti’s black puffer Dior jacket, black shirt and iced-out D.C. Yo Gotti strolls into Suite 25 drinking hot tea. In a field that celebrates diverse portfolios, Yo Gotti deserves to be mentioned among hip-hop’s premier hustlers. And now, he’s part-owner of a major league sports team. He’s advocating for fair treatment of prison inmates.

(The album was originally scheduled to be released in November 2021.) Yo Gotti’s Collective Music Group imprint sports an impressive array of talent, including EST Gee, 42 Dugg, Blac Youngsta, BlocBoy JB and Moneybagg Yo, whose A Gangsta’s Pain album hit No. There’s CM10: Free Game, his new double album, which drops Feb. Yo Gotti is in town for a fan appreciation event the next day and he’s more than eager to chop it up about myriad topics. Outside, a nor’easter is pummeling the city with heavy rain and, at times, heavier wind. United, one of Major League Soccer’s founding franchises, waiting to talk with the team’s newest minority owner. About the only thing not going his way at the moment is the weather.ĭays before Halloween, I’m sitting in a suite in a nearly empty Audi Field, the home of D.C. WASHINGTON - Yo Gotti is in a great space – personally, professionally and financially.

New yo gotti 2020