Herbert Wright (born October 8, 1995), better known by his stage name, Lil Herb, is an American hip hop recording artist from Chicago, Illinois. Lil Herb grew up in Terror Town, a neighborhood within South Shore, Chicago known for its high levels of violence and gang activity. Growing up he was influenced by artists like Young Jeezy, Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti, Meek Mill and Lil Wayne.He is close friends with fellow rapper Lil Bibby, with whom he has collaborated on numerous songs. Both artists are associated with the gang N.L.M.B., which was originally formed from the merger of No Limit, a renegade faction of the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation, and the Muskegon Boyz, a renegade faction of the Gangster Disciples, although the initials N.L.M.B. are also currently used by the gang to signify "Never Leave My Brothers," and "No Limit Muskegon Boys.Lil Herb, however, has stated that N.L.M.B. is a "brotherhood" rather than a gang.
Lil Herb and Lil Bibby first gained attention with the song "Kill Shit," which has since been viewed over 7 million times on YouTube. Several other songs including "4 Minutes of Hell Pt 3," "All My Niggas," and "Versace (Remix)" attracted significant YouTube viewership. Both Lil Herb and Lil Bibby gained broader attention within the hip-hop community when the rapper Drake tweeted that they were "the future.
Herb's third mixtape, Welcome To Fazoland, was released on February 17, 2014. The mixtape features guest appearances from King L, Lil Durk, Lil Reese, Lil Bibby and KD Young Cocky. The mixtape combines a gruff voice, along with a delivery and flow that ranges from slow to quite rapid. The tracks are mostly centered around gang violence and Herb's reflections on it. The project currently has over 245,000 downloads on Datpiff.
Welcome to Fazoland was met with broad critical acclaim. Complex magazine praised Herb's "dexterous" rapping style as well as the mixtape's "Titanic drill beats" and "contemporary vitality. BET awarded the mixtape four out of five stars, lauding the mixtape's use of "heavy bass, rapid fire snare and the occasional synth to accompany [Herb's] stories of paranoia, drug dealing and constant danger that tend to consume his psyche," while also commenting that Lil Herb, like other Drill artists, has helped "to do for his city what N.W.A did for Compton in the '80s: bringing awareness to what life is like in a city that has spent recent years as one of America's most dangerous places to live.The Chicago Reader described Lil Herb as "a fierce, gifted rapper who captures all the intensity, hostility, and emotion of a particular moment in just a few lines, and [who] can do it with such speed that by the time you've unpacked what Herb's said, he's already moved onto the next few grim portraits of his environment.XXL magazine gave the mixtape an L, saying "Herb does a solid job of taking drill music and adding his own twist to it through his variation of soul-inspired production on the tape and lyrical approach," while also praising the mixtape's "vivid imagery and creativity" and calling it "a vicious curveball.The Fader commented that, "since drill rose to prominence a few years ago, lyrical bankruptcy has remained one of its most common critiques; Herb's way with words defies the stereotype." Welcome to Fazoland is named in honor of Fazon Robinson, who was one of the first of Herb's friends to be killed by gun violence in Chicago.
On December 26, 2014, Herb released the mixtape Pistol P Project, named for a friend of his who was killed by gang violence. The mixtape received a positive critical reception. Stereogum commented that on the tape Herb displayed "the scorched-earth nihilistic intensity of his young Chicago peers, but also the technical command and verbal dexterity that a rap classicist can appreciate. Complex magazine claimed that the mixtape's "wide array of sounds shows considerable growth" and that "the tape's eclectic tastes shine throughout.
