Nicholas Alexander Simmons (born December 18, 1999), known professionally as YBN Nahmir (Initialism for Young Boss Nigga Nahmir), is an American rapper.[3][4] He was the de facto lead member of the short-lived hip hop collective YBN, and is best known for his 2017 single "Rubbin Off the Paint", which peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100.[5] His 2018 single, "Bounce Out with That" peaked atop the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. His 2019 single, "Opp Stoppa" (remixed featuring 21 Savage) peaked at number 78 on the former chart and preceded the release of his debut studio album Visionland (2021), which was met with critical and commercial failure.[6]
Early life
Nicholas Simmons was born on December 18, 1999, in Birmingham, Alabama. He was raised in a home with his mother, his cousins and his aunt.[7] Simmons attended Clay-Chalkville High School in Clay, Alabama, though dropped out following the success of "Rubbin Off the Paint;"[8] he graduated in May 2018.[9]
Simmons' interest in music started when he was fourteen years old and was gifted an Xbox 360 for Christmas.[7] Simmons began to play the video game Rock Band (which he would later use to record his first song.)[10] and eventually moved to playing Grand Theft Auto V and then started recording gameplay videos where he would generate a following on YouTube.[11] During his time playing Grand Theft Auto V, Simmons would freestyle in Xbox Live parties and alongside numerous other friends, established the Young Boss Niggas collective.[12]
Simmons uploaded his first song onto YouTube when he was fifteen with fellow YBN member, YBN Almighty Jay. The song, titled "Hood Mentality" was uploaded on March 21, 2015, to barely any reception.[12][14] Simmons uploaded several more songs to YouTube before releasing his first mixtape on January 2, 2017, titled Believe In The Glo on SoundCloud.[15] Simmons uploaded his second mixtape to SoundCloud on January 21, 2017.[16]
Simmons released "Rubbin Off the Paint" on September 18, 2017, to WorldStarHipHop's YouTube channel.[17] The song quickly went viral with Simmons explaining it as "blowing up overnight."[18] After the success of the song, Simmons began to skip school due to hot weather and exceptional popularity, and was forced to start online classes.[7] The song debuted at 79 on the Billboard Hot 100[19] and peaked at 46.[20]
In November 2017, Simmons was involved in controversy following his song being claimed by a record label after his manager sold the instrumental for the song to a third-party.[21] In response, Simmons now has an in-house producer for his instrumentals who is a member of the YBN collective.[7] Simmons released six more tracks in 2017.
On January 23, 2018, Simmons released "Bounce Out with That" on Lyrical Lemonade's YouTube channel.[22] The song wasn't available on streaming services for up to three days after the release of the music video. The song has accumulated over 159 million views on YouTube after its release.[23]
On March 22, 2019, he released "Baby 8".[30] On June 10, 2019, he released a music video called "Opp Stoppa".[31]
On March 26, 2021, Simmons released his debut album Visionland.
On July 9, 2022, Simmons has confirmed to have signed a new recording deal with Def Jam Recordings, making him the second artist to draft instantly to the latter from Atlantic Records since Fabolous in 2006.[32][33]
On February 23, 2024, he released “BEAM” with Indian Rapper MC NIKHIL.
In an Instagram story in July 2024, Nahmir confirmed he was an independent artist.
Musical style
Nahmir lists his main influences as rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area such as E-40.[12] Talking on his influences in an interview with Billboard, Simmons stated that the lack of mainstream rappers from Birmingham made him listen to more artists from the West Coast such as Eazy-E and Tupac.[34][35]
Personal life
Simmons currently resides in Los Angeles, California. In August 2018, he began a relationship with social media influencer Sahlt. In 2021, it was announced that the two had ended their relationship.
