Words: Peter A. Berry Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in the Spring 2021 issue of XXL Magazine, on stands now. If it hadn't been for a flawed justice system, 42 Dugg the rapper might not exist. While behind bars for carjacking and felony firearms charges he caught at age 15, Dugg wrote his first raps in solitary confinement after getting into a fight with an inmate. A mix of boredom and instinct powered his initial forays into the genre. “I just wanted to get my story out,” he says, reclining in a chair in XXL’s New York office on a cold February afternoon. Four years after his prison release, Dugg’s terse street tales have made him a 26-year-old burgeoning rap star with a feature on a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 single, a joint record deal with Lil Baby and Yo Gotti, and nothing but time and opportunity to become the biggest new rap star Detroit’s seen in a decade.