Cordae is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Raleigh, North Carolina, who is also known as YBN Cordae and earlier as Entendre. He is associated with hip hop, trap, jazz rap, conscious hip hop, neo soul and pop rap.

Early life and beginnings

Cordae Amari Dunston is born in 1997 and moves from Raleigh to Suitland, Maryland. He grows up listening to classic hip hop played by his father, including Rakim, Nas, Big L and Talib Kweli. He begins writing raps around the age of fifteen, but initially treats it as a hobby. He researches artists online through YouTube and says the recommendation system helps him discover more music. He focuses on education first, graduates from high school in 2015 and later attends Towson University before dropping out in 2018, saying college is bigger than him as a first-generation student and that he mainly does it for his mother.

Early releases as Entendre

As a teenager, he releases three mixtapes under the name Entendre: Anxiety in 2014, I’m So Anxious in 2016 and I’m So Anonymous in 2017.

Breakthrough in 2018

He starts taking rap seriously in early 2018 after spending time around YBN Nahmir and Almighty Jay in Los Angeles. Nahmir hears a song he makes with his brother Simba and reaches out to him. Cordae changes his social media handles from Entendre to YBN Cordae, saying he already feels part of YBN and wants to use his actual first name.

His first single is a remix of Eminem’s 1999 song “My Name Is”, which he describes as his introduction to the world. He follows it with “Old N***as”, a response to J. Cole’s “1985”, and then releases “Fighting Temptations” and “Kung Fu”. Videos for the first two remixes appear on WorldStarHipHop’s YouTube channel and bring a strong response from mainstream media and the online rap community.

Live appearances and YBN period

His first live performance takes place at Rolling Loud in May 2018, where he performs with YBN Nahmir and Almighty Jay. He also appears with them at the 2018 XXL Freshman Show in New York City. He joins Juice WRLD’s North American WRLD Domination tour with Lil Mosey and Blake, which covers 28 cities, and YBN later announces a month-long European tour as a collective. He releases “Pain Away” with Nahmir in August 2018, then “Scotty Pippen” later that month.

Cordae is a member of YBN, the Young Boss Niggas collective, from 2018 until it disbands in 2020. He is the only YBN member who is not introduced as a gamer.

The Lost Boy and recognition

In 2019 he releases “Locationships” and then “Have Mercy”, which becomes the lead single from his debut studio album, The Lost Boy. He is named in XXL’s 2019 Freshman Class. He later releases “Bad Idea” and “RNP” as the album’s second and third singles. The Lost Boy is released in 2019 and receives a nomination for Best Rap Album at the 62nd Grammy Awards. The single “Bad Idea” also receives a Best Rap Song nomination at the same ceremony.

After YBN

In August 2020, YBN Nahmir announces that YBN has officially disbanded, and Cordae drops YBN from his stage name. He then releases “Gifted” featuring Roddy Ricch, his first release of 2020. He is working on a second album.