Who is Ian? Everything to know about the rising freestyler rapper amid his Tyler, The Creator name-drop

19-year-old rapper Ian Smith, was born in Dallas and has gained recognition recently with his breakout hit Figure it Out. The rapper has been posting songs on Soundcloud from 2018 under the username "suburbancerberus" and has a Spotify account with almost 700k monthly listeners and no profile picture.

Figure it Out has around 2.6 million plays on Soundcloud. The rapper name dropped Tyler, the Creator in a freestyle for Lyrical Lemonade's freestyle series, which was released on March 10, where he sings,

"Back then, I really loved Odd Future/I can't never sat down trying to mock Future. I ain't want to show no disrespect / So I kept my mouth shut, and that's not human / Damn, I would've been a dumba** thing to do."

His freestyle is a response to an interview Tyler, the Creator did with Maverick Carter last year where he called Smith, a "white kid, regular Caucasian man" and alleged that his getup mocked Future and Gucci Mane.

"It's not ever satire, it's like 'I'm just joking, I'm just mocking.' But I'm like, no, no, no. You can't. And I hold rap music so close and I'm a nerd about this sh*t. This is like...weird. I'm looking at it and something about it don't sit well with me. In comparison to someone like a Mac Miller or an Eminem. Who it didn't seem like they was mocking it, they had a genuine love for it."

It seems that Tyler, the Creator has a problem with Ian Smith, taking to rapping as a Caucasian male, in an industry where the majority is black.

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More about emerging rapper Ian Smith

Ian Smith started his career as a producer and Soundcloud artist, under the pseudonym "sububancerberus", as reported by Hot New Hip Hop. He released mixes of other artists' music and transitioned into a solo artist in 2019.

In 2019, Smith produced tracks for Izaya Tiji and Lil Xelly, and released his debut single G63 in July 2022, and his first EP, Only For a While, in August 2022.

His breakout song, Figure it Out, in early 2024, is what made him famous. The rapper originally released the track on Triller, where it caught the attention of TikTok users. Videos of the rapper playing his music in SoHo, New York City, went viral and the song became a viral sensation.

His image of a suburban white 19-year old, clad in a white button down t-shirt and white shorts, has been questioned by the rap community.