Rising Rap Superstar Gelo Releases New Single “Backyard Ball”

LISTEN HERE

MORE MUSIC COMING SOON

Lacing up for another chapter, Gold-certified breakout Los Angeles rapper GELO (LiAngelo Ball) unleashes a scorching new single entitled “Backyard Ball” via Def Jam Recordings. Listen HERE.

GELO sounds as victorious as ever on “Backyard Ball.” An energetic synth loop brushes up against tense hi-hats, and he delivers a fast-paced flow spiked with swagger and style. He drops classic hoop references into his bars and makes an ESPN First Take-style proclamation, “Like the Bulls in the 90s, every year my year.” Confident and charismatic all at once, he lets the competition know, “My team undefeated.”

Last year, GELO rocketed to the forefront of the culture. He shook the game with the Platinum-certified “Tweaker” and his full-length debut, League of My Own. Beyond posting up hundreds of millions of streams and attracting collabs with Lil Wayne and GloRilla, it earned widespread acclaim from the likes of Stereogum, VIBE, Bleacher Report, and more. Billboard christened him 2025’s “Hip-Hop Rookie of the Year,” and UPROXX affirmed, “Few rappers these days see the kind of breakout success from a debut effort as GELO has.” Not to mention, he earned a spot among XXL’s coveted “Freshman Class” 2025, gracing the cover. Moreover, he hit the stage for stunning performances at the BET Awards Pre-Show, 2025 ESPY Awards, NBA All-Star Game, Rolling Loud, and more.

With “Backyard Ball,” it’s clear he’s back in the game, and he isn’t playing around.

Be on the lookout for more soon.

ABOUT GELO:
When GELO gets on the microphone, his hunger is practically audible. The Southern California native born LiAngelo Ball raps with an unmatched level of drive and ambition fueled by his lifelong passion for music. Over the years, he has quietly filled dozens of notebooks with rhymes, spent countless hours freestyling, and recorded hundreds of songs. This under-the-radar grind has prepared him for his moment. As a kid, he developed a deep appreciation for music. Upon hearing 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, he decided to grab a pen and write raps of his own. At 18-years-old, he recorded in a studio for the first time. Simultaneously, he excelled on the court, playing basketball internationally, earning a contract with the Detroit Pistons, and shining on the Greensboro Swarm. At the top of 2025, he entered the world-famous Paramount Recording Studios in Hollywood and left with “albums’ worth of material.” The breakout “Tweaker” would just be the first one to pop. Beyond debuting in the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 and amassing millions of streams, it catapulted to #1 on the TikTok Top 50 Viral Chart, #1 on the Apple Music Hip-Hop Chart, #1 on the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap Songs Chart, #1 on Genius, and #1 on US Shazam. It’s no wonder GQ hailed it as “the year’s first genuine heater,” and Complex predicted, “‘Tweaker’ is probably not going anywhere anytime soon.” Now, he introduces himself with a deluge of new material and his forthcoming debut project A League of My Own with Def Jam Recordings.