Biography

Taurus Tremani Bartlett (born January 6, 1999), known professionally as Polo G, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. In 2018, he rose to prominence with the singles "Finer Things" and "Pop Out" (featuring Lil Tjay). In 2019, he released his debut album Die a Legend, which received generally positive reviews and peaked at number six on the US Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Bartlett's second studio album, The Goat (2020), peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and charted ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2021, he released the single "Rapstar", which debuted at number one on the Hot 100. The song became his first number one hit on the Hot 100 and first solo top-ten single.

Early life

Bartlett was born in the Old Town area of Chicago, Illinois to Taurus Bartlett and Stacia Mac. He grew up in the Marshall Field Garden Apartments. He is the second of four children, having an older sister, a younger brother and a younger sister.

Career

2018-2019: Beginnings, record deal, and Die a Legend

Bartlett's first song ever recorded was titled "ODA", which he released to YouTube. Upon creating a SoundCloud account in 2018, he released the track "Gang WithMe", which quickly racked up millions of plays. He continued gaining traction with his songs "Welcome Back" and "Neva Cared". Bartlett went on to release "Finer Things", a song he wrote while incarcerated, in the latter half of 2018 and quickly gained millions of views. In early 2019, Bartlett released "Pop Out" featuring Lil Tjay which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song's music video gained over 200 million views on YouTube and led to him signing a record deal with Columbia Records. Bartlett also released videos for his songs "Deep Wounds", "Through Da Storm", "Effortless", and "Dyin' Breed" from his debut studio album Die a Legend, which was released on June 7, 2019, and peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200. "Heartless", a single released later in 2019, featured production from Mustard, and was later featured on his second album.

2020-present: The Goat, Only Dreamers Achieve Records, and Hall of Fame

On February 14, 2020, Bartlett released the track "Go Stupid", with rappers Stunna 4 Vegas and NLE Choppa with featured production from Mike Will Made It and co-production from Tay Keith. "Go Stupid" became his second song on the Hot 100 (after "Pop Out"), peaking at number 60 on the Hot 100, number 29 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and number 20 on Hot Rap Songs. Bartlett then released his second studio album, The Goat, on May 15, 2020. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and ten songs from the album hit the Hot 100, including "Flex" featuring Juice Wrld and "Be Something" featuring Lil Baby, peaking at numbers 30 and 57, respectively. The same month he was featured alongside Lil Baby on "3 Headed Goat" by Lil Durk which peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. In July, Bartlett was featured on Juice Wrld's posthumous album Legends Never Die on the song "Hate the Other Side". The song peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first top-ten single and highest charting overall song. On August 11, 2020, he was included on XXL's 2020 Freshman Class. Later that month, he released the music video for his single "Martin & Gina", which peaked at number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100. In September, he released the single "Epidemic", which peaked at 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 30, 2020 he was featured on "The Code" by King Von off his debut album Welcome to O'Block. The song peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted in Canada. In September, Bartlett announced his own record label “Only Dreamers Achieve” (ODA) with Syracuse-based artist Scorey being his first signee.

Bartlett was honored in the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 listing, under the music category, and on February 5, 2021 he released the single "GNF (OKOKOK)". On February 12, he was featured on the soundtrack for the film Judas and the Black Messiah on the song Last Man Standing. On March 5, Bartlett was also featured on the soundtrack for the 2021 film Boogie on the song "Fashion" by late rapper Pop Smoke. Bartlett collaborated with Lil Tjay and Fivio Foreign on the song ""Headshot"", released on March 19. In May 2020, Bartlett along with social media personality Einer Bankz took to Instagram to release a snippet of an upcoming Polo G single. The video went viral quickly, racking up millions of views on social media platforms, particularly TikTok. The song was later revealed to be titled "Rapstar" and was released on April 9, 2021. It debuted at the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. On May 17, he announced that he finished recording his third studio album Hall Of Fame and would be releasing his fourth and final single "Gang Gang" with Lil Wayne on May 21.