Cordae Amari West Brooks (né Dunston; born August 26, 1997), known mononymously as Cordae (formerly YBN Cordae and Entendre), is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop collective YBN.
His 2019 debut studio album, The Lost Boy, peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200 and was met with critical acclaim. At the 62nd Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Rap Album, while its single, "Bad Idea" (featuring Chance the Rapper), was nominated for Best Rap Song. After the group disbanded in 2020, he dropped the "YBN" from his stage name. His second studio album, From a Birds Eye View (2022), matched the chart position of his previous, and was met with similar critical reception. Cordae released his third studio album, The Crossroads, in November 2024. It was a commercial failure but received positive critical reception.
Brooks was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He lived in nearby Zebulon, until he was 9 years old, when his family moved to Suitland, Maryland, where he was mostly raised. As a young child, he took an interest in music after his father played classic hip-hop artists such as Rakim, Nas, Big L, and Talib Kweli. He began writing raps around the age of fifteen. As he got older, he researched artists through YouTube, attempting to find music like his father played.
Brooks became more interested in pursuing a rap career as he grew older. He prioritized his studies, but often became distracted by writing lyrics. He graduated from high school in 2015 and decided to attend college at Towson University. He dropped out in 2018, explaining that college was "bigger than him" as a first-generation student, and he was mainly doing it for his mother. He moved to Los Angeles shortly afterward.
2014–2019: Early beginnings, record deal, and The Lost Boy
He released three mixtapes as a teenager under the name Entendre: Anxiety (2014), I'm So Anxious (2016), and I'm So Anonymous (2017).
Cordae began taking his rap career seriously in early 2018. When visiting Los Angeles, he hung around YBN Nahmir and YBN Almighty Jay, whom he'd met through social media. Nahmir had reached out to Cordae after hearing a song by Brooks, the only member of YBN who hadn't been introduced through video games. Cordae said he already felt like a part of YBN, and so changed from "Entendre" to "YBN Cordae". He also said that Entendre had been a name that he'd wanted to change for while: "I was just always around Nahmir and shit, those were just like my brothers... And, I was thinking, yo, I need to change my shit to like, Cordae, and shit, my actual first name. I was already "YBN" without the social tag".
In May 2018, Cordae released his first single, which he called his "introduction to the world": a remix of the 1999 song "My Name Is" by Eminem. He released the song along with a music video via WorldStarHipHop on YouTube. He then released "Old Niggas" as a response to "1985" by J. Cole, followed by the tracks "Fighting Temptations" and "Kung Fu".
In May 2018, Cordae made his debut live performance at the annual Rolling Loud music festival, where he performed with YBN Nahmir and YBN Almighty Jay. He performed with the duo again at the 2018 XXL Freshman Show in New York City, after Nahmir was announced as an inductee of the yearly freshman class. Brooks was then announced to be joining Juice Wrld on his North American WRLD Domination tour from May to September 2018, along with Lil Mosey and Blake, ended up reaching 28 cities.
Soon after, it was announced that the YBN collective would make a month-long tour in Europe. Brooks said he would release singles until his debut project was complete. On August 2, 2018, Nahmir and Cordae released a video for their single "Pain Away". On August 12, YBN Nahmir announced that an official YBN Mixtape featuring the trio would be released September 7, 2018. Cordae released the music video for his single, "Scotty Pippen", on August 23, 2018.
On January 28, 2019, Cordae released a music video for a new song, "Locationships", on his YouTube channel. In March, he released "Have Mercy", the lead single from his debut studio album, The Lost Boy. He was named as one of the members of XXL's "2019 Freshman Class" on June 20. Cordae released "Bad Idea" and "RNP" as the second and third singles from the album, and finally the album itself on July 26, 2019. The album landed YBN Cordae two nominations at the 62nd Grammy Awards: Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song for the single "Bad Idea". In November, YBN Cordae announced that he would be headlining "The Lost Boy in America Tour", which began in January 2020.
2020–present: Disbanding of YBN, From a Birds Eye View, and The Crossroads
On August 6, 2020, YBN Nahmir announced on Twitter that the YBN collective had disbanded after a period of tension during which he and Cordae had stopped communicating. Cordae subsequently dropped the YBN from his stage name and asked YBN Nahmir for his blessing of the name change. On August 27, Cordae released a new single, "Gifted", featuring Roddy Ricch.
On April 22, 2021, Cordae released the EP Just Until..., featuring Q-Tip and Young Thug, in anticipation of his second studio album. On October 7, 2021, he released the single "Super".
Cordae released his second studio album, From a Birds Eye View, on January 14, 2022. The 14-song album features Eminem, Stevie Wonder, Gunna, and others.
Cordae is featured by NF in the song "Careful", is the third song of the album Hope, released on April 7, 2023. This song reached the Billboard Hot 100 for a week and landed on position 85.
In July 2023, Cordae performed on the Lyrical Lemonade track "Doomsday" alongside the late rapper Juice Wrld; the song is the first single off the Lyrical Lemonade debut compilation album All Is Yellow (2024).
On November 15, 2024, Cordae released his third studio album, The Crossroads.