Long before Baton Rouge was dominated by Kevin Gates and, a half-decade later, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Webbie and his former partner, Lil Boosie, reigned supreme in the Louisiana city colloquially known as the Red Stick. In the late '90s, C-Loc helped establish Baton Rouge as a rap haven, but Webbie—born Webster Gradney, Jr. in 1985—and Boosie emerged from those early days as the new faces of the city. That’s in large part due to how strongly their collaborative albums, 2003’s Ghetto Stories and 2004’s Gangsta Musik, resonated, with basslines as bouncy as rubber balls and the rappers waffling between growing up and reliving their glory days. On 2005’s Savage Life, Webbie emerged from the shadow of his collaborator (who later changed his name to Boosie BadAzz) with his own take on gangsta rap in Baton Rouge, drawn to the dangerous allure of the streets while acknowledging its inherent risks. Led by the Bun B-assisted “Give Me That”, Webbie showcased his preternatural hook-writing ability, establishing an emphasis on tone and delivery that would reverberate among Atlanta’s stars in the 2010s. His larger-than-life personality is both reckless and infectious―Webbie lives so we can watch. Despite the cult status of Savage Life, the album was unavailable on streaming services until 2019, showing how the rap world still needed to catch up to Webbie’s impact. The young gunner from Lousiana’s most potent rap scene has always been ahead of the times, an overlooked architect of the modern Southern-rap sound who remains intent on redefining Baton Rouge in his image.