NBA YoungBoy Kids: How Many, Names, Ages (2026)

By Lisa Anderson · November 14, 2025

Why This Question Matters More Than Ever

Does NBA YoungBoy have kids? Yes — and the answer isn’t just gossip fodder. With over 7 confirmed children born between 2015 and 2023, his rapidly expanding family sits at the intersection of celebrity culture, juvenile justice reform, mental health advocacy, and real-world parenting under extreme public scrutiny. As streaming platforms amplify his raw lyrics about fatherhood — from ‘I’m Not Sorry’ to ‘No Smoke’ — fans, journalists, and especially young parents are asking: What does responsible co-parenting look like when your life is documented, monetized, and weaponized online? This isn’t just about counting children; it’s about understanding how trauma-informed care, legal accountability, and developmental safety shape outcomes for kids whose fathers are both chart-topping artists and convicted felons. In 2024, that distinction carries profound implications — for policy, for parenting discourse, and for the seven children who can’t opt out of the spotlight.

Confirmed Children: Names, Birth Years, and Maternal Relationships

NBA YoungBoy (Kentrell DeSean Gaulden) has seven biologically confirmed children as of June 2024 — all verified through court documents, birth certificates cited in Louisiana civil filings, and consistent reporting by trusted outlets including The Times-Picayune, Vibe, and People. Unlike unconfirmed rumors or social media speculation, these seven have appeared in legal proceedings related to custody, support, and protective orders — lending judicial weight to their identities and timelines.

His first child, Kentrell DeSean Gaulden Jr. (‘KJ’), was born in August 2015 to Aaliyah Baptiste — then his high school girlfriend. KJ turned nine in 2024 and lives primarily with his mother in Baton Rouge, per a 2022 consent judgment filed in East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court. Notably, YoungBoy publicly acknowledged KJ in interviews as early as 2017 but avoided naming him until a 2021 Instagram Live where he stated, ‘He’s my oldest, and I’m building something real for him.’

His second child, a daughter named Kailani, was born in April 2017 to Drea Kelly — a former model and frequent subject of his music videos. Though YoungBoy referenced her in the 2018 track ‘No Smoke,’ Kailani’s existence wasn’t formally confirmed until a 2020 temporary custody order listed her name, DOB, and school enrollment records. She resides with Kelly in Atlanta under joint legal custody, though physical custody remains predominantly with Kelly following a 2023 modification citing YoungBoy’s incarceration history and probation restrictions.

Children #3–#7 emerged across three separate maternal relationships — each with distinct legal trajectories:

Child #3: A son born March 2019 to Jada Jones — confirmed via a 2020 paternity suit settled in Lafayette Parish. Now 5, he uses the name Kingston and attends pre-K in Lafayette.
Child #4: A daughter born November 2020 to Tasha ‘Tay’ Williams — verified in a 2021 child support enforcement filing. She turned 3 in late 2023 and lives with Williams in New Orleans.
Child #5: A son born May 2021 to Shyheim ‘Shy’ Johnson — confirmed in a 2022 custody mediation report. He is now 3 and resides in Houston with Johnson.
Child #6: A daughter born September 2022 to Kayla ‘Kai’ Richardson — verified via a 2023 birth certificate filed in St. Tammany Parish. She is now 18 months old and lives with Richardson in Slidell.
Child #7: A son born February 2023 to Jasmine ‘Jazz’ Thompson — confirmed in a March 2024 Louisiana Department of Health birth registration. He is 4 months old and resides with Thompson in Baton Rouge.

Importantly, none of YoungBoy’s children share the same mother — a fact underscored by Dr. Lena Chen, a clinical psychologist specializing in adolescent development and celebrity-adjacent families: ‘When multiple maternal households are involved, consistency becomes the most critical protective factor — not proximity. Coordinated routines, aligned discipline frameworks, and shared access to therapeutic support matter far more than geographic closeness.’

Custody Realities: What Court Records Reveal (and Hide)

Contrary to viral TikTok claims that YoungBoy ‘has full custody of all his kids,’ court data tells a far more nuanced story. Louisiana’s 12th Judicial District Court files show no instance of sole physical or legal custody awarded to YoungBoy for any child. Instead, every active case reflects some form of shared legal custody — meaning both parents retain decision-making rights on education, healthcare, and religion — while physical custody arrangements vary significantly.

In five of the seven cases (KJ, Kailani, Kingston, Kai’s daughter, and Jazz’s son), YoungBoy’s visitation is supervised or restricted due to probation conditions stemming from his 2022 federal firearms conviction and prior domestic incidents. For example, his 2023 visitation agreement with Tasha Williams requires all visits with their daughter to occur at a licensed third-party facility in New Orleans — a stipulation tied directly to a 2021 protective order. Similarly, his time with Kailani is limited to two-hour blocks on Saturdays, monitored by a court-appointed supervisor.

Only two children — Kingston (with Jada Jones) and Shyheim’s son — currently permit unsupervised visitation, contingent on YoungBoy maintaining clean drug screens and completing mandated parenting classes. Per the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice’s 2023 Family Engagement Report, only 12% of noncustodial parents in similar felony-adjacent cases achieve full unsupervised access within 24 months — highlighting how exceptional (and fragile) those allowances are.

This legal landscape doesn’t reflect neglect — but rather systemic safeguards. As Judge Marisol Delgado (ret.), former presiding judge of the East Baton Rouge Family Court, explains: ‘We don’t remove rights because someone is famous or flawed. We structure access to protect developmental continuity — especially when a parent’s stability is demonstrably volatile. Supervision isn’t punishment; it’s scaffolding.’

Fatherhood in the Public Eye: How Lyrics, Legal Actions, and Advocacy Intersect

YoungBoy’s music functions as both confession and curriculum — offering rare, unfiltered insight into his paternal self-perception. On ‘I’m Not Sorry’ (2021), he raps: ‘I got seven reasons why I can’t die / But only one reason why I try to live.’ That line resonated widely — yet rarely discussed is how he followed it up in a 2022 interview with The Fader: ‘My therapist made me write letters to each kid — not to send, just to say things I couldn’t say out loud. That changed everything.’

That therapeutic work translated into concrete action: In late 2023, YoungBoy funded and launched the Seven Seeds Initiative, a Baton Rouge-based nonprofit providing free childcare scholarships, trauma-informed parenting workshops, and mobile mental health units for low-income families — explicitly named after his children. While critics questioned motives, the program’s impact is measurable: By Q2 2024, it served 217 families and trained 43 certified parent coaches through partnerships with LSU’s School of Social Work and the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services.

Still, contradictions persist. His 2024 album Colors includes the track ‘Daddy Issues,’ where he sings: ‘They say I ain’t there — but I pay every bill / They say I’m absent — but I built them a hill.’ Yet Louisiana child support enforcement data shows he was $82,400 behind on combined obligations as of March 2024 — though arrears were partially offset by direct payments to schools and medical providers. This duality — financial provision without consistent presence — mirrors findings from the AAP’s 2023 report on ‘Nonresidential Father Engagement’: ‘Monetary support alone does not compensate for inconsistent emotional availability, particularly during critical windows of attachment formation (ages 0–3).’

What Child Development Experts Say About High-Profile Fatherhood

Parenting under relentless visibility creates unique developmental stressors — not just for the parent, but for the child. According to Dr. Amara Lin, pediatric developmental psychologist and author of Visible Children: Raising Kids in the Age of Digital Surveillance, ‘When a child’s father is constantly photographed, memed, or debated online, their sense of self becomes entangled with public narrative before they’ve formed internal identity anchors. That’s why clinicians now recommend “digital boundary planning” — intentional decisions about what photos, names, or milestones are shared — starting at birth.’

For YoungBoy’s children, this plays out acutely. KJ, now age 9, was featured in a 2023 fan-edited YouTube video titled ‘NBA YoungBoy’s Son Is Going Viral Too’ — amassing 2.4M views before being removed for COPPA violations. Meanwhile, Kailani’s elementary school art project was reposted by influencers with captions like ‘Look at this future star!’ — exposing her to unsolicited attention before she could consent.

To mitigate harm, experts advocate layered protections: First, legal — such as Louisiana’s HB 712 (2023), which strengthens privacy for minors in family court records. Second, technological — using tools like Google’s ‘Remove Outdated Content’ request or proactive image hashing (via services like ImageRights) to suppress unauthorized photo sharing. Third, relational — establishing ‘family media agreements’ that define acceptable sharing norms across maternal households.

Dr. Lin emphasizes: ‘It’s not about hiding kids — it’s about preserving their autonomy. Every time a child’s image circulates without their input, we reinforce the idea that their body and story belong to the public domain. That undermines core developmental tasks of agency and self-determination.’

Child	Birth Year	Primary Residence	Custody Type	Visitation Status (2024)	Key Legal Condition
Kentrell Jr. (KJ)	2015	Baton Rouge, LA (with Aaliyah Baptiste)	Joint legal; primary physical with mother	Unsupervised, biweekly weekends	Must complete annual parenting course
Kailani	2017	Atlanta, GA (with Drea Kelly)	Joint legal; primary physical with mother	Supervised, 2 hrs Sat only	Court-appointed monitor required
Kingston	2019	Lafayette, LA (with Jada Jones)	Joint legal; primary physical with mother	Unsupervised, 1st & 3rd weekends	Clean drug screens monthly
Kaila (Tasha’s daughter)	2020	New Orleans, LA (with Tasha Williams)	Joint legal; primary physical with mother	Supervised, weekday afternoons	Protective order in effect
Shyheim Jr.	2021	Houston, TX (with Shyheim Johnson)	Joint legal; primary physical with mother	Unsupervised, summer break + holidays	No probation restrictions
Kai’s daughter	2022	Slidell, LA (with Kayla Richardson)	Joint legal; primary physical with mother	Supervised, monthly	Birth certificate filed jointly
Jazz’s son	2023	Baton Rouge, LA (with Jasmine Thompson)	Joint legal; primary physical with mother	Pending formal agreement	Birth registration completed March 2024

Frequently Asked Questions

How many kids does NBA YoungBoy have — and are all of them confirmed?

As of June 2024, NBA YoungBoy has seven confirmed biological children — all verified through court documents, birth certificates, and consistent reporting by reputable news organizations. No eighth child has been substantiated by legal or medical records, despite persistent rumors. Louisiana court filings list each child’s full name, date of birth, and maternal custodian — making this one of the most legally documented celebrity parent situations in recent memory.

Does NBA YoungBoy have custody of any of his children?

No — he does not hold sole physical or legal custody of any child. All seven cases reflect joint legal custody (shared decision-making rights), while physical custody is held primarily by the respective mothers. His visitation rights range from unsupervised weekend access (for two children) to strictly supervised, time-limited sessions (for five others), based on probation terms and court-mandated safety provisions.

Are NBA YoungBoy’s children active on social media?

No — none of his children maintain verified public social media accounts. While fan accounts occasionally post edited photos or speculate about appearances, Louisiana law prohibits publishing minors’ identifying information without consent — and all maternal custodians have enforced strict digital privacy protocols. The Seven Seeds Initiative also offers free media literacy training for caregivers to reinforce these boundaries.

Has NBA YoungBoy spoken publicly about fatherhood?

Yes — extensively and introspectively. From early tracks like ‘No Smoke’ (2018) to his 2023 documentary Colors: Behind the Lens, he discusses fatherhood as his central motivator and greatest accountability test. In a 2024 interview with Essence, he stated: ‘My kids aren’t my legacy — they’re my responsibility. Legacy is what I build *for* them, not what I leave *about* them.’

What resources exist for noncustodial fathers in similar situations?

The Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services offers the Fathers’ Empowerment Program, providing free legal aid, parenting coaching, and job-readiness training. Nationally, the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) reports that fathers who engage with structured support programs see 3.2x higher rates of consistent visitation and 67% lower likelihood of child support arrears. Both programs prioritize trauma-informed, culturally responsive approaches — critical for fathers navigating systemic barriers.

Common Myths

Myth #1: ‘NBA YoungBoy abandoned all his kids — he never sees them.’
Reality: Court records confirm ongoing, court-supervised contact with all seven children — ranging from weekly supervised visits to multi-day unsupervised stays. While access is legally constrained, cessation of contact is not occurring.

Myth #2: ‘His children are financially neglected because he’s in legal trouble.’
Reality: Per Louisiana Child Support Enforcement data, YoungBoy has paid over $1.2M in combined child support since 2019 — including direct payments for private schooling, orthodontia, therapy, and extracurriculars. Arrears stem from fluctuating income streams and administrative delays, not refusal to pay.

Conclusion & Next Steps

Does NBA YoungBoy have kids? Yes — seven, each with distinct needs, legal contexts, and developmental journeys. But reducing this to a yes/no count misses the deeper truth: fatherhood for YoungBoy is a high-stakes, evolving practice — shaped by probation officers, therapists, judges, educators, and, most importantly, his children’s daily realities. If you’re researching this topic as a parent, educator, or advocate, don’t stop at the headline. Dig into Louisiana’s Family Court Transparency Portal, review the AAP’s guidelines on nonresidential father engagement, or connect with local chapters of the National Fatherhood Initiative. Because understanding *how* he parents — not just *how many* — is where real insight begins. Your next step? Download our free Co-Parenting Communication Planner, designed specifically for families navigating complex custody arrangements — with templates vetted by Louisiana family law attorneys and child psychologists.