Why the LiAngelo Ball Viral Rapper Experiment is Working

I don’t think anyone expected a LiAngelo Ball song to be the first rap hit of 2025, but here we are.

The middle Ball brother, who is rapping under the alias G3 Gelo, officially released “Tweaker” this week on WorldStarHipHop, and the song has been dominating the algorithm, racking up 5 million views on YouTube as of this writing, trending No. 1 on YouTube Music, and becoming a viral sensation on X—formerly Twitter—en route to a nod on the Rolling Loud Los Angeles’ lineup. The gaudy streaming numbers aren’t surprising. When LiAngelo shared a snippet of his debut track on a Kick stream a week ago, fans created a mini rollout of memes and reactions as they built hype for the full release. “Tweaker” is still working its way onto lovers of 106 and Park nostalgia rap, playoff-bound NFL locker rooms, and local news reporters.

As “Tweaker” continues to squeeze itself into every corner of life, one comparison continues to jump to the forefront: New Orleans. In what feels like an instant, LiAngelo went from the middle child in the Ball family—who had a very short stint in the NBA—to the lost member of Cash Money and No Limit. Fans online quickly stamped the viral song as a direct byproduct of ‘90s-era New Orleans rap. The song continues to pick up steam with Memphis’ Moneybagg Yo and Baton Rouge legend Boosie Badazz publicly declaring they want to be on the remix.

The first minute of “Tweaker” can be seen as Big Tymers-coded due to two main components. The elongated “Wooaahhhoooaahh” and “Shoooowoooaahh” in the hook—which is the best part of the song—is reminiscent of the hook on the Big Tymers’ 1998 classic “Big Ballin.” The beat’s layered piano and organ keys, short synth stabs, and, most importantly, perfectly timed bass pattern feels eerily similar to “Get Your Roll On.” These highlights do the heavy lifting.

But this isn’t a New Orleans song. LiAngelo, who is 26, grew up in Chino Hills, California. And other than the fact that his older brother Lonzo spent three years playing for the New Orleans Pelicans, he seemingly doesn’t have many ties to the city. (Lonzo has a songwriting credit on “Tweaker” but claims that LiAngelo deserves most of the credit.) And despite how the song sounds, he doesn’t pretend to be from New Orleans. When he raps about spending his time in the South, he only shouted out Memphis. The best attempt is in the first verse when G3 labels his dad Lavar as a “soulja.”

“Tweaker” is a song fit mostly for mass online consumption, whether G3 was intentional about it or not. What any of the Ball brothers or their father does, and how much success the endeavor gains, has been on the forefront of our attention spans since Lonzo and, mainly, Lavar were creating viral moments almost weekly on any number of sports talk shows. Hyperfocusing on it feels right, and Liangelo’s foray into music is no different. It also comes at a perfect time.

“Tweaker” is a fun meme song that plays into our new found appreciation for rap culture of the early aughts. Our palates have been prepared for anything that feels nostalgic for a while now, whether it’s in music or fashion. It’s not a coincidence that “Tweaker” arrived shortly after Playboi Carti brought Pelle Pelles and backwards NBA jerseys back from the dead. Artists like Tisakorean and Tony Shhnow have been able to tap that same well of nostalgia in recent memory with relative success. It doesn’t matter how much “Tweaker” actually wants to be influenced by ‘90s New Orleans rap if it properly hits the sensibilities we’ve grown accustomed to and have deemed cool again.

As a born and bred New Orleanian who has seen how a devastating storm, a death of a hometown legend, or a Drake feature can impact the city’s mood for a decade or a few months, I have complicated views about a song not from the city that borrows so much of the New Orleans sound getting so big—especially, during a time where we have New Orleans risers like JPay, La Reezy, 504Icygrl, abd T99zy who are already working with an updated recipe that resonates with their peers.

But then also it’s better to toss aside any serious thoughts about what “Tweaker” will do to change the rap landscape or its overplayed homage to New Orleans. It does its job of hitting baseline levels of slide phone and overly long diamond chain rap; a track easy to digest, meme, and reminisce about without doing too much experimentation or boundary-pushing.

And “Tweaker” is probably not going anywhere anytime soon. As the NFL playoffs are right around the corner, expect the song to blossom from an organic viral moment in locker rooms to a tongue-in-cheek song choice as ESPN rolls a Lamar Jackson highlight to a commercial break. Hell, NBA on TNT has already embraced the song.

The latest G3 Gelo snippet—teased by Lonzo from the Chicago Bulls locker room after a win—probably means more viral-worthy music is on the horizon. LiAngelo gave us the first viral rap moment of the year. Can he do it again?