Jalen Hughes, known professionally as thirteendegrees °, is a recording artist residing from Chicago, Illinois.

Thirteen is known for his retro style, taking heavy inspiration from the late 2000’s to early 2010’s Hip-Hop music and fashion. In terms of fashion, during an interview with Vision Vocal, Thirteen stated that he didn’t want to dress how everyone in Chicago were wearing at the time during the height of Chicago Drill, so he studied fashion and got influence in the underground music scene to find his true passion.

In terms of music, during a interview with Kingmil The 8 God, growing up he used to play sports during his childhood. While in college, Thirteen had quit playing basketball due to his future not going the way he wanted it to go. He then talked to a girl from Atlanta about the underground rap scene in Chicago, to which he discovered LUCKI and Juice WRLD, ultimately wanting to start music due to a lack of underground rappers in the Chicago scene.

In the same interview, he explained how he got his stage name, stating:

Thirteen, that was my number when I was growing up playing ball, so thirteen been my number since I was a shorty. So, when it was time to make music, thirteen was my identity, so thirteen had to be apart of my name somehow. So, I’m just thinking like, you know, trying to add like a little flavor to thirteen ‘cause you know you can’t just get thirteen. The degrees came in, it just basically means like I feel like I’m cold at what I do, and in Chicago it’s always cold in Chicago.

Thirteen had first released music in the start of 2022, with his debut mixtape Urban Junkie being released on August 11, 2023. He would quickly follow up with another mixtape Metropolitian on December 14, 2023. Thirteen also claims that all of his songs were made on his phone.

After releasing a slew of singles and tapes throughout the years, in January 2025, Thirteen started gaining attraction on social media with his breakout single “Da Problem Solva” off his fifth mixtape, Clique City, Vol 2, which would catch the attention of Rod Wave, who co-signed the rapper.

He is now expected to release his sixth mixtape BLACK FRIDAYZ … soon. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.