- GloRilla (née Gloria Woods) is an American rapper from Memphis, Tennessee.
- Her breakout year was 2022 when “FNF (Let’s Go)” was considered the song of the summer.
- She collaborated with Cardi B on “Tomorrow 2”, which earned her a gold record and her first Billboard Top 10 hit.
- She is one of the acts performing at Coachella 2023.
The next generation of rap superstars is here, and riding high at the top is GloRilla. “It’s really cool. I’m actually excited to be a part of it because it’s a new wave,” she told Refinery29. “I’m excited to actually be one of the people leading the new wave.” The new wave crashes into Indo, Calif., for the 2023 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Taking place over three days over two weekends (April 14-16, April 21-23), Coachella will feature some of the biggest names, some of the smartest tricksters and some of music’s most undeniable legends .GloRilla is set to perform on Sunday, the same night that sees Frank Ocean return to the music. This year’s lineup is also included Bad rabbit and BLACK ROSE as headliners and acts as A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Latto, Rae Sremmurd, and No name will be joining Glo to help bring the weekends to an epic finish.
Glo has been climbing the hip-hop ranks for a while now. “I would describe (my background) as staying humble, and I just kept working,” she told Refinery29. “I never gave up and I always had a vision. That’s all you need to have; that vision and drive.” So if she leaves November 20 empty-handed, it won’t be long before she’s back to collect her flowers and reap the rewards of her hard work.
GloRilla also proved she was on her way to the top when Audiomack, the first music streaming artist, named her their latest #UpNow artist. Audiomack’s #UpNow program spotlights the next generation of stars, and alumni include Black Sherif, Pooh Shiesty, EST Gee, Sheff G, Omah Lay, and Ayra Starr, among others. “They’ve been instrumental in helping me connect with fans in a new way,” Glo said of Audiomack, who will make her the cover of the #UpNot playlist as she ramps up her presence on the platform. “I appreciate the Audiomack team for always showing love and look forward to building more with them in the future,” she added.
As Glo prepares for its future — and the world prepares for Coachella — here’s what you need to know about GloRilla.
GloRilla is a rapper who hails from Northside Memphis.
“I grew up in church, but we still used to watch 106 & Park and BET,” Glo told XXL in September 2022. I used to love Bow Wow, Soulja Boy and Lil Wayne.” Describing herself as a quiet child with nine siblings — six boys, four girls — she was homeschooled until fifth grade when child services forced her mother to enroll the school-aged children in public school.
The church was her first taste of music. “I got a lot of solos in the church choir, and growing up the only music my mom let us listen to was gospel. We used to sneak off and listen to the other music.”
As a teenager, she lost the shy persona. She gained confidence and started rapping in secret (only playing her music for one of her brothers and her cousin.) It wasn’t until 2018 that she took her dreams seriously.
Her overnight success was years in the making
Glo uploaded her first freestyle to Facebook in 2016. Two years later, her cousin suggested she focus on her music career and record on something other than her phone. She hit a local studio and released “14 Freestyle” in December 2018. In 2019 she released her independent EP, Most likely nextwith P Status year 2020.
Her journey was not easy. “I never stopped putting music out. I got discouraged a lot of times, but I never stop—I was starting to go broke,” GloRilla told Gillie Da King and Wallo26 on a November 2022 episode of Million dollarz worth of games (h/t AfroTech). “I was losing everything like my apartments, my cars. I was almost down to nothing. It was like the end of last year and the beginning of this year. I just started all over and thought, ‘D-mn, I gotta go back to work.” I was just doing sh-t, surviving last year, and then it got to the crummy part, and I just started going broke as hell and living with my friends and st.
During a local rap show in 2021, she met the beatmaker hit kid The meeting resulted in Set the tone EP which featured Glo, Shine up, K Col, Slimeroni, and Aleza – five female MCs – together. Glo and Hitkidd would work together again on a track that would change her life.
Megan The Stallion had an impact on her career – Sorta
In 2021, Hitkidd had a beat lined up for Megan the stallion. It was a chance to collaborate with the reigning queen of rap … but Megan didn’t answer fast enough. So, Hitkidd hit up Glo, who was about to get her lashes done, according to Vulture. She came back from the beauty meet, lit a blunt, stepped into the recording booth and dropped the hook. “I’m FREE, f—ck n—-a free / That means I don’t have to worry about no f—ck n—a cheating / And I’m SINGLE again / Out the window hanging with my lock-ass friends .”
Glo uploaded the hook to Triller, and it quickly went viral. A week and a half later, she and Hitkidd reunited in the studio, where she recorded a new first verse. They shot a music video with all of Glo’s friends, and that’s how “FNF (Let’s Go)” was born.
“Literally, it was so crazy. My car got scratched, like less than a week before I released this song,” she shared Vulture. As of November 2022, the video has over 49 million views. “A week before!”
“I feel like it’s taken off because we (were) authentic,” she told BET. “We don’t really dress up; we were just having fun, being ourselves, you know what they say? There aren’t really many people who represent females from the hood and barred females. We were just in the video having fun, doing what we normally do, and people like the authenticity — the realness of it.”
The success of the song caught the ear of several companies. Glo eventually signed on Yo Gottis CMG Records imprint under Interscope. “She’s somebody who comes in different with a new sound, a new delivery, a new feel and a new movement,” Yo Gotti told XXL. “Her potential is limitless. She doesn’t rap like every other artist. When you come up with an unheard sound, you have an opportunity to stamp it. And you know what happens after that.”
“When you think of Memphis music, you think of Gotti,” Glo told BET, you know what I’m saying, and Three 6 (The mafia) and them. It was the face of Memphis when you think of rap. They had the city in a stranglehold, and you can’t go to the club without hearing a couple of Gotti songs. So he was a big factor growing up.
GloRilla underwent a cleanse before her success
When visiting The Angie Martinez Show ahead of the November 2022 release of her EP, Anyway, life is great… Glo talked about how she and her friends did a social media cleanse/mental detox for 60 days.
“We went through something like we can’t go into 2022 the same way we were last year, you know it was, just had a lot going on… we had to get our life together, we were like” we can’t go on living like this” we were like, “okay, we’re going to go on a cleanse. We won’t talk to any guys because I felt like it was a distraction. No partying, going out, you know like saving money and working out,” she said (h/t Urban Islandz ).
“I had just come out of a breakup, and I already said this in the preview of my song, I had just had an abortion, and so I’m like ‘you know I have to clean up’ because I didn’t feel the same after that. I had mental changes, so I say, ‘no more dudes, we’re just going to clean up. I really went through something,
After breathing life into her success, her cleanse ran from March to May. In June, “FNF” was about to become the song of the summer.
She’s Got A Big Cosign – Grammys and Cardis.
In July 2022, Glo released “Tomorrow”. Two months later, she released “Tomorrow 2,” the remix featuring Cardi B. “(Cardi) had already hit me up when I was blown up. As soon as I had landed in New York and I was going through the airport, she had sent me a little voicemail, you know, giving me advice and motivating (me), like that. And so … she’d liked my stuff, you know what I’m saying?” Glo told Revolt.
“I was in the studio one day, and I was listening to all my songs, and I’m like, ‘Who can I put on this song?’ So I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m going to find a text for Cardi.’ her and I was like, “I’ve got a song I want you to put on.” She said, “Girl, I’ve already done my verse on Tomorrow Day.” I was like, “What?” (Hi Gotti) and they tried to surprise me, but I ended up finding out because I was trying to get her on another song,” Glo added. “When I first heard it, I was so shocked. I wasn’t shocked because she was fierce anyway, but like how she did that song? Like … I wanted to cry.”
It was just the beginning for Glo. In 2022, she won Best New Hip Hop Artist at the BET Awards. She also received her first Grammy Awards nomination when “FNF” was nominated for Best Rap Performance. Glo has started, and it looks like it won’t fade for a long, long time.
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