Matthew Tyler Musto (born November 27, 1990), known professionally as Blackbear (stylized as blackbear) , is an American hip hop recording artist, singer, songwriter and record producer. Blackbear is best known for his rap and R&B-oriented music.[1] He has collaborated with several well-known musical artists such as Justin Bieber, G-Eazy, Mike Posner, James Blake, Maejor Ali, Palisades, Machine Gun Kelly, Mod Sun, Rivers Cuomo, Childish Gambino, Pharrell Williams, and Linkin Park.[2] He co-wrote "Boyfriend" by Justin Bieber, which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] He also produced the title track from G-Eazy's album These Things Happen. Early life Musto was born on November 27, 1990 in Daytona Beach, Florida and resided in Palm Coast, FL. He was discovered at an early age as a rock-leaning singer-songwriter and grew up playing in garage bands, such as signed band Polaroid. Musto earned his GED while on tour. He was discovered in 2008 by talent manager Tabari Francis and later connected with manager Mister who runs Compound Entertainment, an artist incubator started by recording artist Ne-Yo. Musto moved to Atlanta, Georgia at age 18 and spent two years developing his sound and learning from songwriters like Sam Hook, Maejor and Ne-Yo.[citation needed] At age 20, Musto moved to Los Angeles and re-invented himself as a rapper and R&B oriented singer. Career 2012–2014: Early career Musto co-wrote Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend",[4] a number two hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 2012. Intent on pursuing a career as a rapper and R&B singer, Musto released his debut EP Foreplay on April 20, 2012 and his debut mixtape Sex on October 31, 2012. Both releases were under the name Blackbear, and Sex featured collaborations from fellow "Boyfriend" co-writer Mike Posner, along with producers, singers, and songwriters James Blake and Maejor Ali.[5] He also appeared on MGK's Lace Up. Blackbear released an EP, The Afterglow, on April 20, 2014.[6] This landed him as number four on Billboard's Uncharted listing of releases from upcoming artists.[1] In 2014, Blackbear became the first independent artist to monetize off Soundcloud.[7] 2015: Deadroses and Help Blackbear released his first full-length album, Deadroses, a self-released set of 10 tracks, on February 14, 2015. This album is said to have pleasantly mixed together a plethora of genres, sounds, and emotions to create a completely cohesive and unique project.[8] The lead single, "Idfc", charted on Billboard's R&B Hot 100 and held a spot on the Billboard R&B charts for over a year. The track has earned millions of streams on both SoundCloud and Spotify. It has been streamed over 22.5 million times on SoundCloud and Idfc (Tarro Remix) has over 93 million views as of April 2017. Idfc shot Blackbear to fame and in the top 20 of the Billboard (magazine) charts.[9] The second single, "90210", features G-Eazy and currently has over 11 million streams on SoundCloud and over 9 million streams on Spotify.[10][11] The songs "4u" and "Dirty Laundry" also performed well on streaming services such as SoundCloud and Spotify. The influence of his punk-rock background, mixed with his hip-hop and R&B sound is also quite evident throughout the project, especially in the feelings elicited. Deadroses was soon followed by an EP, Dead, which features acoustic versions of four Deadroses tracks, as well as one new track, "Weak When Ur Around".[12][13] blackbear in 2016 He released his second full-length album, Help, on November 27, 2015.[14] Although Help didn't match the success of Deadroses, its track "Different Hos" has been featured on celebrity Kylie Jenner's Snapchat several times. In addition, blackbear's music video for "Slide Thru" caught significant attention on Twitter and Youtube for its Wes Anderson vibes through its whimsical, colorful videography. 2016: Drink Bleach and Cashmere Noose EPs blackbear performs at UC Irvine On April 20, 2016, Blackbear released his fourth EP, Drink Bleach, which featured appearances from "Boyfriend" collaborator Mike Posner as well as American hip-hop recording artist and The HBK Gang co-founder P-Lo.[15] During the rest of the year, Blackbear was featured on several tracks from other artists and toured with Hoodie Allen, whose 2016 track and Happy Camper promotional single "Champagne and Pools" also featured Blackbear. Other activity in mid-2016 included joining Super Duper Kyle & Tinashe on their tours that year, and having the Blackbear track "NYLA" featured in the documentary Hot Girls Wanted on Netflix.[16] On August 2, 2016, Blackbear released his fifth EP, titled Cashmere Noose, through SoundCloud.[17] He handled the EP's production entirely on his own through his production collective Bear Trap Records. The EP originally included a feature from American rapper Mod Sun on the track "Spent All My Money On Rick Owens Cargo Pants", but this track was removed from the EP's final cut and replaced with "Wanderlust" and "Flirt Right Back".[18] The original version of Cashmere Noose, however, can still be found on Blackbear's SoundCloud page.[19] The final version of Cashmere Noose peaked at number one on the iTunes R&B charts and number six overall on iTunes, just behind Beyonce's Lemonade and Drake's Views.[20] On September 15, 2016, Blackbear was featured in Olivia O'Brien's single "Root Beer Float".[21] He also formed the alternative hip hop and R&B duo Mansionz with frequent collaborator and singer-songwriter Mike Posner. Mansionz released their debut single, "Stfu", on December 9, 2016. The song featured rapper Spark Master Tape. 2017: Mansionz and Digital Druglord Mansionz released two more singles in early 2017: "Rich White Girls" and "Dennis Rodman", the latter of which features the former professional basketball player Dennis Rodman. Both of these singles, along with "Stfu", were featured on Mansionz' self-titled debut album which was released on March 24, 2017 and featured guest appearances from the likes of G-Eazy, Soren Bryce, CyHi the Prynce, and Snoozegod.[22] On April 2, 2017, just over two weeks before the release of his third studio album, Digital Druglord, Blackbear released a short acoustic EP titled Salt. American rock band Linkin Park has recruited Blackbear to add extra production to their seventh studio album, One More Light. The album is currently set to be released on May 19, 2017.[23] Blackbear released his third full-length album, entitled Digital Druglord (stylised as digital druglord), on April 20, 2017. It featured the single "Do Re Mi" along with promotional singles "Make Daddy Proud" and "If I Could I Would Feel Nothing".[24]