Tory Lanez

Prior, he released his sixth and seventh albums—the 1980s-inspired Alone at Prom (2021) and Sorry 4 What (2022).

Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson (born July 27, 1992), known professionally as Tory Lanez, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and convicted felon.

Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson was born on July 27, 1992, in Brampton, Ontario, to a Bajan father, Sonstar, and a mother from Curaçao, Luella.

The family was based in Montreal, before moving to Miami, Florida.

Following his mother's death, his father began working as an ordained minister and missionary, causing them both to move frequently throughout the United States.

Lanez's father later remarried and the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where Lanez met his friend Hakeem, who at the time was a janitor.

The nickname "Lanez" was given to him by Hakeem, as a comment on Lanez's thrill-seeking tendencies, that sometimes saw him mucking around in the street, not looking for traffic and playing in the lanes.

In 2006, he was sent to live with his cousin Dahir Abib, Orane Forrest, in Jamaica, Queens, New York because of his behavior issues.

Lanez then was forced to move to Toronto with his grandmother.

Since she refused to take care of him, he was on his own at the age of 15.

"I ended up moving downtown with these three dudes that I didn't really know. I came into the house and I didn't realize how things worked. From like fifteen to eighteen, I was just fighting them. It was every man for himself. That's what made me a man, having to fend for myself and being in a situation where there is no dad, no grandma and no mom to help you. It changed the person that I am today", he says.

He started rapping again, giving himself a nickname, Notorious, which is a reference to the late rapper Notorious B.I.G., whom he idolized, and adopted into his new moniker "Tory Lanez".

At the age of 16, Lanez dropped out of the tenth grade, and he would begin performing songs at the outdoor concerts.

At the age of 17, Lanez began singing, which he found an interest in.

However, he had never received any vocal training.

In 2009, Lanez released his debut mixtape T.L 2 T.O.

While living in South Florida, he began directing some of his music videos, and posted them on his YouTube channel.

Sean Kingston was interested in Lanez after seeing a video of him freestyling over Lloyd Banks' "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley".

In February 2010, Kingston contacted Lanez requesting a meetup while on tour with Justin Bieber, resulting in Lanez performing on the tour.

In 2010, Lanez released the mixtapes, Just Landed, One Verse One Hearse, Playing for Keeps and Mr. 1 Verse Killah. In 2011, Lanez signed a record deal with Kingston's Time is Money Entertainment and released a trio of mixtapes: Mr. Peterson, Chixtape, and Swavey.

He later left the label to be an independent artist.

In the following three years, he released additional mixtapes: Sincerely Tory (2012), Conflicts of My Soul: The 416 Story (2013), and Chixtape II (2014).

He received initial recognition from the mixtape Conflicts of My Soul: The 416 Story, released in August 2013.

In April 2014, Lanez released two episodes of the "Public Swave Announcement", of behind the scenes of the "These Things Happen Tour" with G-Eazy and Rockie Fresh.

On June 2, 2014, Lanez released the song, "Teyana", as a tribute to singer Teyana Taylor.

Taylor responded with the track, "Dreams of Fuckin' an R&B Bitch".

On June 6, 2014, Lanez released "The Godfather", a song to announce that he was going to start a series called, Fargo Fridays, only releasing songs, albums, or videos on Fridays on HotNewHipHop.

The songs, "I'll Be There", "Talk On Road", and "Balenciagas" were released later that month.

After releasing a number of songs from the series, he released a song called "The Mission" to celebrate his tour announcement on August 14, 2014.

Lanez kicked off his first headlining tour, the "Lost Cause Tour", in conjunction with the mixtape Lost Cause.

The mixtape was supposed to be released on September 29, 2014, but got pushed back to October 1.

In an interview, Lanez claimed he has ghost-written songs for artists such as Akon ("Been Gettin' Money" with Jeezy), Casey Veggies ("Actin' Up"), August Alsina ("My Niggas" with Meek Mill), as well as T.I. and Travis Scott.

In 2015, Lanez signed to record producer Benny Blanco's Mad Love Records, an imprint of Interscope Records.

Lanez' debut studio album, I Told You (2016) explored alternative R&B and was commercially successful.

It included the singles "Say It" and "Luv," which peaked at numbers 23 and 19 respectively on the US Billboard Hot 100.

His 2016 single "Luv" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Song, with Lanez also having received four Juno Awards from eleven nominations throughout his career.

He is currently incarcerated in California serving a 10-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of first-degree assault with a firearm, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and having a concealed firearm in a vehicle.

Both released in 2018, Lanez' second and third albums Memories Don't Die and Love Me Now? delved further into hip hop and were met with continued commercial success despite mixed reviews; the former became his first number one album on the Canadian Albums Chart while the latter spawned the double platinum-certified single "Talk to Me" (with Rich the Kid).

His fourth album and final major label project, Chixtape 5 (2019) peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200, while his fifth album, Daystar (2020) peaked at number ten.

On August 8, 2023, Lanez was sentenced to ten years in prison for his involvement in an altercation in 2020, when he shot Megan Thee Stallion multiple times in the foot in Hollywood Hills, California.