Born and raised in what had been deemed by Forbes as the most miserable city in America, EBK Jaaybo hails from Stockton in California’s Central Valley. He’s been a local legend since he released “Dondadda” at the age of 14, and despite being in and out of juvenile hall and San Joaquin County Jail, Jaaybo managed to maintain his fanbase with a steady stream of music and slowly amass a cult-like following in his city and throughout the Bay Area. Even so, it was the viral success of 2024’s “Boogieman” that catapulted EBK Jaaybo’s blasé swagger and slithering cadence into mainstream culture, propelled even further by the subtle nod on Kendrick Lamar’s “not like us” when the Pulitzer Prize winner mentioned, “Certified boogieman, I’m the one that up the score with ‘em.” In a city where nothing allegedly happens, Jaymani Gorman is the son of James “Rrari” Gorman: the most popular rapper to have emerged from Stockton since Doja Clik. He was the first rapper to bring Bay Area artists like Lil Blood into the city, and at one point, he even opened for Rick Ross. With guidance from his older brother, Marley, Jaaybo joined Everybody Killa and developed his own unique style – not necessarily Bay Area, not necessarily sample drill, but fully an exhibition of California regionalism. Infusing gangsta rap with pop and R&B samples, EBK Jaaybo is on track to become the new face of the West Coast, and he’s bringing all of the Hotboiiz with him.