Belly Gang Kushington’s name isn’t even the most striking detail about him. The rapper, born Victor Thomas to a white mom and Black dad, is nearly white-passing and rocks ginger hair but sounds like the golden era of 2000’s Atlanta trap music — drawing comparisons to Jeezy.
Then, there’s the way most people were introduced to him: when he shut down I-20 to perform a song. The video, for popular music platform 4 Shooters Only, went viral earlier this month. Kushington jokingly dodged questions about why and how that performance occurred (“I don’t even know how that happened, to be honest with you,” he said).
But beneath the rough edges lies a more nuanced story of a Westside Atlanta native (Adamsville, to be exact) who ditched a life of selling drugs (his stage name is a play on his past life and his size) to fully focus on a music career and care for his 6-year-old son, who is autistic.
Over the past four years, Kushington dropped a steady collection of singles — generating local buzz while getting co-signs from Kevin Durant, Rod Wave and Killer Mike, who featured him on his 2024 album “Songs for Sinners & Saints.”
“It definitely made me have to be locked in to the point where I can’t even play about nothing,” the 34-year-old said via Zoom while in New York City, crediting his son as his biggest motivation.
A new signee of Atlanta-based label LVRN (Love Renaissance), Belly Gang Kushington is ready for his takeover. His debut album “The Streets Is Yours,” out Friday, paints an autobiographical portrait. Across 14 tracks, it goes beyond merely T.I. or Jeezy cosplay. His music bleeds with vulnerability, and he’s not afraid to detail his darkest moments. For example, on standout track “Sorry Mama,” he digs deep into his strained relationship with his mom: “Now picture me as a lil kid trying to figure out what I’m worth/Now picture me as a lil kid trying to figure out if I’m cursed.”
“I believe that if you are exactly who you say you are, then you’ll attract what you need in life,” he said.
A few days before his album dropped, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution talked to Kushington about his family history, new music and where he falls in Atlanta’s trap lineage.
This Q&A has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: How are you feeling about releasing your debut album?
A: I’m feeling good. It’s been a long time coming — two years putting this together. It’s my first body of work, so I really feel like this gonna show them I’m here to stay for a long time. I feel good. The title is “The Streets Is Yours.” We taking over the streets. We’re taking over the industry.
Q: You literally took over the Trap Music Museum in Atlanta at your album release party. What did it mean for you to have the party there?
A: That’s kind of what made me who I am in rap. All the artists that’s there inspired me, so it felt great.
Q: Growing up, did you always want to be a rapper?
A: Yeah, at first, when I was a little kid. But then, as I became a teenager, I ain’t really care to be a rapper. All the dope boys would just be like, ‘Rappers ain’t got no money for real,’ so I just fell out of love with it as a teenager. But as I started seeing that it’s real money in being a rapper, that’s when I wanted to do it.
Q: How would you describe your childhood?
A: My mama left when I was born. I never knew her at all. My daddy was in the streets and stuff like that, so my aunties and cousins raised me. We were in the hood, but it wasn’t bad. It was ghetto fabulous. My grandma cooked for the pastors every Sunday. Wednesday was Bible study at her house. The whole hood would come up to her house and eat. I have like 80 cousins.
Q: So it seems like you were surrounded by a lot of love.
A: Exactly. The love I lost on (my mom’s) side tripled on the other side.
Q: You talk about your mom’s absence on “Sorry Mama,” which samples Eminem’s “Cleanin’ out My Closet.” Tell me about the inspiration behind that song.
A: I wanted to have one on there to tell my story, like that part of my story. I love getting on beats that I grew up on. When I heard the beat, I was just like, ‘I gotta tell my story on this.’ I don’t really talk about it that much. Especially before rap, I ain’t really talk about it that much. But now I realize that probably had a lot to do with how I live.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Q: On the introduction to the album, there’s someone asking whether you’re Black. Who is that and what made you want to include it?
A: That’s from a voice memo that someone sent via DM. I was just going through my DMs one day, and I heard that one. I was like, ‘This is crazy. I gotta put this on the intro’ … My supporters got a part of this album, too. Or whoever they are — haters, supporters. This is me. I embrace the good, bad and ugly.
Q: Do you get asked about your race a lot?
A: Online? Yeah. In person? Nah. I don’t know if it’s my demeanor or what, but I don’t get checked a lot on that in person. Girls tend to ask for sure, but other than that, not really … I ain’t had to address that in no cell block nowhere in America, like I ain’t had to address that in nobody else’s hood when I’m out here trapping. I’m just me.
Q: What was your mindset when making this album and what message did you want to convey?
A: I would just want to convey what’s going on in the streets for me. It’s just about my life, and my point of view of taking over the streets. That’s exactly what it is.
Q: What made you want to leave the street life to pursue music?
A: I always wanted to leave that life. When I became an adult, I didn’t really want to do it no more. At that point, it was just like I had a lifestyle to keep up. I had kids to take care of, so I was just doing it for that reason. And then, I was addicted to that life, also. I started focusing on rap two years ago. I met my manager Monday, and he was just like, ‘Bro, you gotta stop. You can’t do one foot out, one foot in.’ So I just stopped … I feel a lil bit more purposeful in life now.
Q: Do you feel like the comparisons people make between you and Jeezy and T.I. are fair?
A: I think it’s fair. I think an artist like me is going to always have a lane because hip-hop pretty much follows what the hood does in real life … I don’t necessarily think I sound like them. I think it’s just the closest thing people can compare to.
Q: What do you think makes your sound unique?
A: Vulnerability. I don’t care about what (listeners) know about me. I just speak whatever it is. If I fell in a crowd of 1,000 people, I’d rap about it.
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