Richmond rapper Gunner Shepardson, known by his stage name ‘Nettspend’, released single-pack ‘Gone Too Soon’ on Aug. 22 in preparation for his potential album ‘early life crisis.’
The bundle includes songs ‘stressed’ and ‘her friends,’ eight months after the release of the 18 year old’s first album ‘Bad A** F****** Kid.’
Clover Hill senior Ben Collins thought highly of Nettspend’s new music.
“I think [‘her friends’] is generational. It shows that Nettspend is an up and coming talent in the rap game and I think more people need to put respect on his name,” Collins said. “‘stressed’ is definitely a change of style but it’s still generational.”
Nettspend has been teasing his upcoming album through both his website and social media accounts. On his most recent Instagram post on Sept. 23, Nettspend presented pictures of his outfit seen at Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2026 show for Milan Fashion Week with the caption: “I swear there’s an album.” The post has since been taken down.
Nettspend has also created a new Instagram account named ‘earlylifecrisis,’ featuring a picture of the album’s potential cover: a flipped INEOS Grenadier with a parental advisory label in the corner. The picture has since been taken down.
In early July, Nettspend released the ‘Early Life Crisis’ video game on his website earlylifecrisis.com. On the website, players guide a red ball through a series of mazes. After each level, players unlocked a video clip. These clips ranged from videos of Nettspend throwing a football, to him meeting up with fans, or recording music in a studio.
Since the release of his popular single ‘drankdrankdrank’ in 2023, Nettspend has grown more popular, reaching 1.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 617.8k Instagram followers as of Sept. 30, 2025. His rise to success is largely due to his popularity on platforms such as SoundCloud and TikTok.
GQ writer Eilleen Cartter wrote about Nettspend’s growth and appeal in Mar. of this year.
“The ethereally baby-faced teen has become a compelling figurehead. If he wasn’t busy rapping about “sl*t trucks” and Percocet, you could imagine him, in another era, featured within the pages of Tiger Beat,” Cartter said.
The rapper has made his home town a large part of his image, referencing Richmond in songs like ‘drankdrankdrank,’ ‘we not like you,’ and ‘nothing like uuu,’ which was removed from streaming platforms in July 2024 due to copyright restrictions. Fans on social media platforms like TikTok have also coined him the ‘Richmond Reaper.’
Despite Richmond’s impact on his career, Nettspend moved to Los Angeles in 2024, according to Cartter.
Clover Hill Senior Matthew Cathey commented on Nettspend’s success and what it means to Richmond.
“I think the venues might be a little too small for him now. The National might not be big enough,” Cathey said. “I don’t really think he is underground anymore.”
A release date for the album is not currently available and little has been released regarding the album since late September. Its highly anticipated release will likely be announced under the @nettspend_ or @earlylifecrisis Instagram account.
