Long before streaming numbers decided who got a shot, there was a DJ in Jacksonville deciding who was worth listening to. For more than three decades, Billy Plummer also known to the culture as DJ Bigga Rankin established a career in finding rappers before anyone else would, then backing them up with his own name until the industry paid attention. 

He was not on the lookout for the artists who had already made it. Instead, he was in the room with the ones who had not yet, handing out mixtapes and stage time to people that major labels would not return calls to. Here's how that career actually unfolded.

From Jamaica to Jacksonville

Plummer was born in Jamaica and spent his early childhood there before relocating to the United States with his family as a teenager. The move deeply rooted him in the emerging hip-hop scene of the era while he held onto the reggae and dancehall influences of his upbringing, he actually began his career in dancehall before he ever picked up a DJ set. The name came from there too: "Bigga" for his build, "Rankin", the Jamaican title used to signal respect.

By the 1990s, he had fully transitioned into DJing and was forging a path as one of the South's leading mixtape hosts, using his tapes to put unsigned, independent artists in front of audiences that radio and retail would not touch yet. 

Building a Home Base in Duval

In 1990, Plummer and his brother founded Cool Runnings, a nightclub in Jacksonville that became a HubSpot of the city's music scene and helped put the city on the map within Southern hip-hop circles. Jacksonville Duval County remained his home base for the rest of his career; he was locally recognized for spreading the now-famous "DUUUVAL" call that has since become a moniker for the city itself. 

He went on to become vice president of the Hittmenn DJs, one of the mixtape and promotional DJ organization acting as the primary tastemakers, A&Rs, and distributors for Southern rap music, which incredibly shaped how new Southern rap music actually reached the street before the internet did that job. 

The Artists He Helped Build

Rankin's real influence is evident in the list of artists he mentored early in their careers. Over the decades, he worked with and helped promote Rick Ross, T.I., Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti, Jeezy, Plies, 2 Chainz, B.o.B., Young Dolph, Boosie (Torence Hatch), and YFN Lucci, among other artists across Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and beyond. 

DJ Bigga Rankin with a young T.I. and AK Tha Razorman 

A 2005 photo from a Tallahassee record pool meeting captures the world he operated in: Rankin is pictured alongside a young T.I. and Akeem "AK Tha Razorman" Lawal of P$C, years before either had the national profile they would later have. 

His most notable individual role came later, as an A&R at Think It's A Game Records, where he played a direct part in developing YFN Lucci's career, something he spoke about publicly earlier this year, reminiscing on witnessing Lucci grind through free shows before his name carried weight. 

Rick Ross and DJ Bigga Rankin perform during YFN LUCCI & Friends Welcome Home Concert

Over his career he also worked in artist development and promotional capacities for Atlantic Records, Def Jam Recordings, Interscope Records, Slip-N-Slide Records, and Corporate Thugz Entertainment, an imprint of Rick Ross’s. Ross, whose early career Rankin championed, said this week that Rankin "embraced me from day one," and the two had shared a stage together in Atlanta not long before Rankin's passing. 2 Chainz has also credited him publicly for the relationship they built early in his career. 

Beyond the Turntables

Rankin's impact went past hosting mixtapes. He founded and produced the Diamond Awards, a Jacksonville-based ceremony created to acknowledge achievement in independent hip-hop, a marginalized sector of the music industry that rarely got that kind of formal recognition. He described the goal simply as giving artists who might otherwise be overlooked a reason to be seen.

He was also a pillar of the Jacksonville community work outside of music, supporting youth programs and school-supply drives, and was regularly described by people who worked with him as someone who mentored younger artists and DJs without expecting anything in return. 

Marking 30 Years

Earlier this year, Rankin sat down for an interview speaking on three decades in business; his Jacksonville roots, the heavy toll constant touring took on his family life, and his plans to scale back the road schedule while finishing a documentary about his life and expanding his mentorship work. He discussed his health struggles, including complications that required dialysis, while noting he never actually left the culture.

He was still working, still mentoring, and still showing up on stage with the artists he had helped build, right up until his death on July 20, 2026, in Jacksonville, at age 50. 

The Throughline

What distinguishes Rankin's career from most industry résumés is consistency of role: for thirty years, across labels, cities, and generations of Southern rap, he remained the person identifying talent early and vouching for it publicly before it was safe to do so. Artists across Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and beyond have spent this week saying the same thing in different words that a Bigga Rankin co-sign meant something, because he had earned the right to give one.