Houston-born emcee and actor Marqus Clae focuses on acrobatic wordplay and confident, narrative-driven storytelling. First known as Young Marqus, he began rapping as a child, releasing his first mixtape at the age of ten and touring as the opener for Lupe Fiasco the following year. A chance meeting with Master P led to Clae signing with No Limit Forever, which released the mixtape The Ghetto Poet in 2017. He later joined the Def Jam roster and issued the full-length THE MECCA in 2022, and he asserted his place in the hip-hop pantheon with his 2023 single "Kendrick, Clae & Cole."