What happened to NLE Choppa? Hometown explored as rapper's mother raises Cottonwood fears

NLE Choppa, a rapper from Memphis, Tennessee, who rose to fame after releasing song Shotta Flow in January 2019, is reportedly missing. On Friday, October 20, the 20-year-old's mother, Angela Potts, took to her Instagram page, urging fans with information about her son’s whereabouts to reach out to her.

In a concerning Instagram post, the rapper’s mother/manager, Angela Potts, expressed her fears for her missing son, who reportedly has not been heard from for hours. Angela said that shortly before vanishing, NLE Choppa was planning to move back to his old neighborhood in Cottonwood Memphis, Tennessee, to work on a mixtape.

Angela Potts, who has been supporting her son since he first expressed interest in becoming a rapper, said that it was out of character for him to stop responding to texts. She wrote:

"Y’all help me pray over my child. He plans on moving back to Cottonwood where we worked hard to get out of just for a mixtape SMH! I ain’t talked to this boy in hours and he usually doesn’t do this. One thing I know about my son is that he doesn’t go ghost for any reason.”

Angelas urged people to contact her with any information on the rapper’s whereabouts.

“Whatever you're working on I pray GOD is guiding you. If y’all hear from him PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP! To the fans, he wants to please thanks a lot."

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What we know about NLE Choppa in the wake of his disappearance

The rapper, who was born Bryson Potts on November 1, 2002, in Cottonwood Memphis, Tennessee, went to Cordova High School and launched his rap career at the age of 15 in 2018 with support from his mother. However, before embracing his musical aspirations, Choppa had a few run-ins with the law as a teenager.

In multiple interviews, the rapper admitted that he had a troubled past and that his choices got him into a lot of trouble as a teen growing up in Cottonwood. In the second episode of The Rise of NLE Choppa, he said that a pivotal point where he decided to turn his life around arrived when he served time at a juvenile detention center.

“When I went to juvenile school that time, that really helped me a lot,” he explained. “I wasn’t realizing all the shit I was giving up if I was to fuck around, get a life sentence.”

In 2019, NLE Choppa released his first Album titled Cottonwood, where he was seen returning to the proverbial neighborhood strewn with gun bars. While walking the streets, he announced to the world that he’s a "gun-toting/drug-loving rude boy” who doesn’t care about people's opinions.

After the success of his first album, in April 2023, he went on to release Cottonwood 2. According to the Source, Choppa was scheduled for an appearance in San Antonio on Monday, October 23.