Southern Plug Magazine: Leaders of the New School 2017 Volume 2 Issue 1 A | Page 40

R&B singer August Alsina spent the first several years of his life in New
Orleans, Louisiana, but his mother moved his family to Houston, Texas
to gain distance from the troubled lives led by his crack-addicted father
and stepfather. In 2007, as a young teenager, Alsina uploaded covers of
songs by Musiq Soulchild and Lyfe Jennings, which racked up thousands
of views on YouTube. His home situation deteriorated, and he moved
back to New Orleans, where he turned to dealing drugs. The shooting
death of his brother was a wake-up call; motivated to develop his talent
as a singer, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia and recorded a 2012 mixtape,
The Product, which featured Lloyd on the track "Sucka.“ Downtown: Life
Under the Gun
Early in 2013, Alsina released "I Luv This Shit" as the first single from
his second mixtape, The Product 2. An EP, Downtown: Life Under the
Gun, followed in August 2013. "I Luv This Shit" subsequently peaked at
number 13 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart and crossed
into the Hot 100, where it reached number 48. Alsina's proper debut
album, Testimony, was released in April 2014. It featured appearances
from Rick Ross, Pusha T, and Fabolous, and reached number two on the
overall albums chart. The same year, he was hospitalized for seizures
and was diagnosed with degenerative eye disease, but he continued to
record. This Thing Called Life, his second proper album, was released in
December 2015. Over the next year, Alsina stayed largely quiet, briefly
popping up as a guest on DJ Khaled's "Do You Mind" single. In 2017, he
reemerged with "Drugs," the lead single off his third full-length album
of the same name. Tentatively slated for release in August of that year,
Drugs also featured the singles "Lonely" and "Wait."