George Floyd was a 46-year-old African-American man from Houston, Texas. He was a rapper who worked with the Houston-based hip hop group Screwed Up Click and freestyled under the alias "Big Floyd" on mixtapes released by DJ Screw. In 2009, Floyd was sentenced to five years in prison for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Floyd moved to Minnesota around 2014. At the time of his death, Floyd had recently lost his job due to Minnesota's stay-at-home order during the COVID-19 pandemic. Floyd was the father of two daughters, aged 6 and 22.