Leaders of the Carolinas 2017 (Jesse Davis) carolina mag jesse | Page 11

A South Carolinian with a self-described
"gumbo of crunk, snap, and other popular
Southern rap styles," Lil' Ru earned his first
stutter-start as a teenager in 2001 when fellow
Palmetto-stater Angie Stone took him under
her wing and got him inked to Elektra Records.
While label shake-ups would stall the MC's
breakthrough, Lil' Ru continued to compose
local classics, his trawling drawl only a slight bit
less guttural than Lil Jon's. By 2009, the rapper
had rebounded to Capitol Records and had a
breaking hit with the strip club-touting "Nasty
Song," off his debut 21 and Up.