Music Biographies — Turk – Eric Brightwell

In the 2000s, Amoeba Music enlisted an army of writers and data entry people to work on an ambitious website that was meant to be a sort of combination of Allmusic, Apple Music, Discogs, Wikipedia, and more. Despite investing a tremendous amount of time, labor and money, the site, as envisioned, never got off the ground. In 2020 — without so much as a head’s up — the plug was pulled. Not only did all of the work of those who toiled in “the Dungeon” quietly die; the musician biographies we wrote were mothballed, Movies We Like vanished, and the celebrated Amoeblog was wiped from the website. Luckily, the Wayback Machine has preserved most of it, allowing me to retrieve my work and post it here, with minimal editing, because I think so some of what we did there was worth more than just a wage.

As a member of The Hot Boys, Turk (born Tab Virgil Jr.) was easily the most obscure of the four. After mostly being featured in cameos, he was late to launch a solo career. While the rest of the Hot Boys capitalized on their fame, Turk’s career seemed to be stalled. Then, in a botched drug raid in Memphis that turned into a shootout, his career was effectively put on ice when he ended up serving considerable time in prison.

Born 8 February 1981, Tab Virgil Jr. was raised, along with his younger brother, by his single mother in New Orleans’s Magnolia housing projects – also home at the time to rappers Juvenile, Soulja Slim, and 6-Shot. As a fourteen-year-old, he started using dope, to which he quickly became addicted. His struggles with it would negatively impact his life in ways he probably never imagined for years to come. After he began rapping, he caught the ear of another Magnolia resident, Shaliene Muhammad, better known as the bounce rapper, Magnolia Shorty. As an artist on the then fledgling Cash Money Records, she introduced her discovery to the label’s founders, Baby and Slim. Suitably impressed, they signed the then-sixteen-year-old to their label.

Turk’s style, which focused far more on mellifluous flow and style than lyrical substance, was often compared to that of his label mate Lil Wayne but, in fact, sounded remarkably like one of Cash Money’s earliest artists off Apple and Eagle, Hollygrove rapper, Lil Slim (also an influence on Wanye). Virgil made his recording debut as “Young Turk” in 1996 on “Hide Out or Ride Out” on Juvenile’s seminal album, Solja Rags.

The following year, the Hot Boys were assembled and grew, at least regionally, to be massively successful. Whilst his bandmates B.G., Juvenile and Lil Wayne successfully capitalized on the exposure the regionally successful group provided; Turk stuck to cameos on other CMR artists’ releases (in addition to his two albums as a Hot Boy). In 2000 he appeared in the film, Baller Blockin’ which, playing a Magnolia d-boy named “Teke,”s hardly required him to stretch his acting muscles.

It wasn’t until 2001 that Turk released a solo album, Young & Thuggin’ (Cash Money). Turk attributed his lackadaisical approach to his music career to shyness. In fact, he’d struggled with his drug addiction and just served a seven month sentence for felony drug and fraud charges. Although the album features some of Mannie Fresh’s best production, Turk’s limited lyrical lexicon revealed a rapper with little to say — but an engaging way of saying it. That same year, Turk and Mannie Fresh again reportedly recorded an album, Untamed Guerilla (Cash Money). But when Turk followed B.G. and Juvenile in departing the label over royalty disputes, the recordings were shelved.

In October 2003, Raw & Uncut (Koch) was released. Mostly produced by Ke’Noe (formerly of Beats by the Pound), it revealed Turk mostly mining the same vein as its predecessor, but it lacks Mannie Fresh’s Midas touch. When Turk moved to Memphis, he met Erica McClain, another rapper/ex-con who goes by Emani Da Made Woman. The two began dating shortly after. Later in the year he began working on what would be Penitentiary Chances (2004-Koch). A short record, it was nonetheless a big improvement over Raw & Uncut, with improved production and increasing introspection and positivity that seemed to reflect a changing outlook and growing maturity for Turk

In January 2004, however, all that changed. Police officers were given a tip that an apartment rented by McClain housed a large number of assault weapons and heroin. What happened next is contested, but what is known is that around 2:00pm, a group of plain-clothes narcotic officers (accompanied by a masked SWAT team) busted into McClain’s Hickory Hill apartment. After securing Sean Jackson (a visitor who was in the living room) an officer asked if anyone else was present and how many. Jackson replied that there were two people in the bedroom. Fearing he was being robbed, Turk ran to the closet and McClain dove under the bed. The cops bust into the room and 189 shots were fired. One deputy was hit four times. A SWAT officer was shot in the neck. After the officers retreated to reload, Turk dove under the bed to check on his girlfriend. When the officers heard McClain’s voice they issued the order for the two to exit with their hands visible. The two crawled out of the room and Turk was arrested. In a search, the officers supposedly found just two spoons with dope residue, six 9mm shell casings, and a 9mm. They didn’t, in other words, find any of the assault weapons for which their warrant had been issued.

When Penitentiary Chances was released in April, Turk was awaiting trial. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder. One charge was dropped when ballistics proved that, in the chaos, the SWAT officer had been actually been shot by a fellow cop. Flight, drug possession and gun possession were all violations of Turk’s probation, though. The key witness, Sean Jackson, disappeared before the trial. In August, after a seven day trial, Turk (in an Alford plea or “best interest” plea) pled guilty to second degree attempted murder in order to avoid a potentially longer stint for first degree. He’s currently serving a ten year sentence, reduced from twelve.

In prison, Turk entered a 500 hour drug program and reports that he’s been clean since 2004. The deputy that was shot sued Turk and he was ordered to pay $10 million. Still a Hot Boy (2005-Select-O-Hits) and Convicted Felons (2006-Laboratory) were released whilst Turk remains in jail. Padded with guest rappers, they amount to little more than Turk tributes or Ke’Noe solo recordings, especially the latter release. In 2008, The Hot Boys, minus Turk, re-united to record a couple of songs. Turk has announced his intention, upon release, of returning to Cash Money. It’s continually said that Turk’s going to be released soon, but so far he’s still in the Shelby County Jail, composing raps and waiting to get out.

UPDATE: Whilst in the Forrest City, Arkansas Federal Prison, Turk wrote his autobiography, The AutoThugography of Turk, and a screenplay titled Reckless. Turk was released on 12 October 2012, after serving nearly nine years. He reunited with Lil Wayne and Juvenile (BG was in prison) to release “Zip It” in December 2012. He founded YNT Empire (Young n Thuggin), through which he released Blame It On The System (2013), Louisianimalz (2013), Get Money Stay Real (2014), and Young & Thuggin’ 2 and 3 (2016, 2017). More recently, Turk released Rich Thuggin (2022) and the spiritually-themed Joseph (2025). After B.G.’s release from prison in 2023, the original line-up of the Hot Boys performed for the first time in over twenty years at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. In July 2025, Turk was removed from the Cash Money Millionaires 30th Anniversary Tour after rejecting what he called a “low-paying offer,” leading to a public legal dispute.