This is where the end of 2016 and turning point for the group comes in to play. The Migos were riding a high from features on songs with the likes of Rae Sremmurd, Rich The Kid, and Gucci Mane, as well as enjoying the success of their hit single “Say Sum”. Quavo blew up in his own right as a solo artist, rapping on Young Thug’s “Pick up the Phone”, 2Chainz’s “Good Drank”, and Kanye West’s “Champions” (all of which charted incredibly high). After this string of successes, the Gwinett natives capitalized commercially, appearing on the Donald Glover (Childish Gambino)-produced Atlanta on FX, playing themselves. The Migos followed this up with “Bad and Boujee”, the first single off their sophomore album Culture that will be released January 27th. “Bad and Boujee” immediately took off in to the stratosphere, catapulting the budding young rappers Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff in to global superstardom. The song sat at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart until the Golden Globes on January 8th. Donald Glover took the stage that night to give an acceptance speech for Atlanta winning Best Television Series. Glover took a moment to shoutout his fellow Atlanta rappers in front of an incredibly mainstream and commercial crowd saying, “I’d like to thank the Migos—not for being on the show, but for making ‘Bad and Boujee.’ That’s like the best song ever.” He continued even more, “I think they’re the Beatles of this generation, and I don’t think they get a lot of respect beyond Atlanta.” Some in the crowd laughed nervously, not knowing what Glover was talking about, but by morning everyone had heard the pulsating bass and chant-style hooks of these young Atlanta natives.
While the song was hot going in to January 8th, the Glover shoutout can not be overstated enough. The very next day, “Bad and Boujee” jumped Rae Sremmurd and Gucci Mane’s “Black Beatles” as the number one song in the country and thus secured Migos’ first chart-topping record. According to Billboard, streaming of ‘Bad And Boujee’ in the US increased by 243% between 7am and 9am on the morning after the Golden Globes. As Migos eyed a release date for Culture at the end of January, they released two more singles off the album, “Call Casting” and “T-Shirt”, both of which are among some of the hottest songs in America right now. Their star power continued to climb when a video of them performing “Bad and Boujee” to a packed-out and incredibly hype crowd in Lagos, Nigeria went viral.
With their first number one hit, a starring cameo in an award winning TV show, and a co-sign from one of the most important artists in the business in Glover, the Migos have proved their true staying power in an otherwise fickle industry. Couple this with Culture dropping at the end of January, and you have a formula for maximum exposure and popularity across most genres and demographics. And the Migos aren’t just looking to reign king over the exploding Atlanta trap scene, they want to be global superstars. Like Quavo said, “We're here to just set records and set trends and follow the footsteps that have been shown to us.” They have indeed done that and more. And currently the Migos are one of the industry’s top trend-setters, and 2017 is theirs for the taking.