Before They Were Famous

Atlanta-based rap-sensation, Gunna got his first taste of the spotlight after appearing in Young Thug’s 2016 single, “Floyd Mayweather”, where his performance would facilitate Thug offering him a spot on the YSL roster. Two months later, Gunna dropped the first in what would become his “Drip Season” series, a project that has just finally wrapped-up some six-years later with the release of “DS4EVE...

JiDion is an American YouTuber and comedy prankster who, over the past couple years, has become immensely popular and seen his YouTube subscriber count jump by 2 Million in the closing months of 2021! How has he done it? Well, he’s been creating his content since late 2018 and over that span of time he’s concocted some truly outlandish stunts that have his fanbase continually coming back for more....

One of YouTube’s most controversial figures of all time and the man most of us know simply as Leafy, has made his long-awaited return to YouTube after having been permanently banned from the platform back in August of 2020. Leafy’s entire YouTube career has been a bumpy ride to say the least, chock-full of the highest of highs which were then followed up by the lowest of lows. Whether he was stirr...

Having broken through with a viral hit when he was no older than 17-years-old, YBN Nahmir cashed in his “Gamer” tag for a microphone, going from a prolific online gamer to a burgeoning rap star virtually overnight. Alongside his friends, YBN Almighty Jay and YBN Cordae, these three made up the primary membership of the YBN collective and worked together to find enormous success by dropping singles...

Renowned for his vocal dexterity, not mention his wicked improvisations and frenetic energy, Chicago rapper Famous Dex first made a name by producing a brand of hooky, Southern-influenced hip-hop music. After creating a handful of self-released mixtapes, he finally found chart success in 2018 thanks to his debut studio album, “Dex Meets Dexter”. Unfortunately, soon afterwards, he’d undergo a serie...

London’s ever-growing drill market remains one of the most exciting and totally unpredictable music scenes in the entire world. Quite simply put, you never know what kind of character is going to emerge next. Case in point, Lewisham rapper DigDat claimed a Top 20 entry on the British Charts back in November of 2018 for a remix to his hit song, “Air Force” -- the highest a drill track had ever clim...

Look, for a whole bunch of men, life isn’t always simple. No matter how much we prepare, work hard, or dream of fulfilling our life’s goals, we just don’t seem to be able to manifest the reality we desire. But now, two men are looking to change all of that completely by taking a Simp and turning him into a Pimp. Myron Gaines and Walter Weekes, or -- as they’re probably better known to most -- the...

Brooklyn rapper Bobby Shmurda has spent the better part of 2021 a free man after nearly seven years under lock and key. Since seeing release in February, Bobby has been planning his comeback for the past eight months – and yet to this point, he’s only released one solo track. Instead, Bobby’s fans have had to settle for viral content of him busting out his trademark shimmies and thrusts at basical...

As one of the funniest voices of his generation, Bob Saget would find new, creative, and often vulgar ways to express his own frustrations with life. And yet, let’s be honest, many of us will remember him in a totally different light as that “TV Dad” we all wish we had growing up. His portrayal of Danny Tanner was everything a father was supposed to be; loving, considerate, funny, and accepting –...

Blueface, the rapper who named himself after his early School Yard Crips gang ties, catapulted from local Los Angeles obscurity to hip-hop notoriety thanks in large part to his ubiquitous 2018 single, “Thotiana”. Prior to that, he had laid the necessary groundwork with singles like “Respect My Crypn’”, but unlike with “Thotiana”, none of those tracks had stars like YG or Cardi B jumping on their r...

From nearly the moment he debuted there were people who believed that Lil Pump was nothing more than a joke. I’m not sure if it was the multi-colored hair, the ample number of cartoonish tattoos that occupy the majority of the real estate on his face, or the fact that he created one of the most obnoxious catchphrases of all time with “Eskeetit”, but when he first arrived on the scene circa 2017, y...

California rapper, Lil Xan, debuted a few years ago and developed a drugged-out soundscape that helped propel his early single “Betrayed” to nearly immediate viral success. By writing about hedonistic topics that often focused on drugs, his music was an honest reflection of his own life, because, well, at one point, Lil Xan had a BIG problem with drugs. But not long after blowing-up Lil Xan would...

For those of you who don’t know him yet, Steven He is a Chinese Irish actor and comedy sketch content creator whose probably most well-known for his incredibly viral videos starring his “Asian Dad” character. But blowing up on social media platforms was never exactly in the plans for Steven. You see, he’s a professionally trained actor with a ton of experience and he’s performed on-stage all over...

What exactly is there left to say about the man nicknamed EDP445? I mean, I could tell you what his moniker stands for, but by this point, I’m sure you’re all more than aware it refers to his passion for, well... let’s just call it a “linguistic” method. Then there’s what he originally got famous for, talking about his favorite football team, the Philadelphia Eagles. His passion for the NFL would...

Back in July of 2020, Malaysian comic, Nigel Ng, introduced all of us to the brand-new character, Uncle Roger. In that video, Nigel, dressed as “Uncle Roger” with his trademarked tucked-in Orange-polo, watches as a BBC rep brutalizes an egg-fried rice recipe, much to his own horror. This comedic reaction video would strike a chord with Asian people all over the world, not to mention take an aspiri...

For nearly three-decades Mobb Deep was one of the most influential hip-hop acts on the planet, notorious for their use of violent lyrics, brooding beats, and violent beef with mainstays of the rap community like Tupac and Jay-Z. Comprised of the rappers Havoc and Prodigy, Mobb Deep would sell over 3 million records, with their two stand-out projects, “The Infamous” and “Hell on Earth” leading the...

2021 is coming to a close and although it was a fantastic year with tons of new stars like the cast of Squid Games to the Island Boys capturing the world's attention it was also another year where we experienced a tragic loss. The world of hip hop lost a few legends well before their time including Drake The Ruler, Lil Loaded & Young Dolph to name a few. There were also a number of social media st...

Dipset is Hip Hop royalty, it would be difficult to explain the story of hip hop along with the influence and impact it possesses without at least mentioning The Diplomats, Harlems very own. Comprised of its core group members Camron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Freaky Zeaky These guys have given us timeless and classic records as a group and each as a solo artist and are unique for so many reas...

Still just only 23-years-old, MrBeast -- otherwise known as Jimmy Donaldson -- is one of the most-viewed and highest-paid YouTubers ever. But believe me when I say... it wasn’t always this way. As recently as 2016, Jimmy was a college drop-out, trying to break the biggest enigma on the internet -- the YouTube algorithm. It’d take this young man the better part of a decade to crack the code, but Ji...

YoungBoy Never Broke Again first debuted back in the mid-2010s, and was moments away from making it big before a six-month prison sentence in 2017 would cool things down just a little bit. Following his release later that year, YoungBoy picked up where he left off and became a regular fixture on the Billboard charts thanks to his prolific release of mixtapes, EP’s, singles, and three studio albums...

On the Bright Side of Fame, YouTuber Nikocado Avocado, otherwise known as Nicholas Perry, has become one of the most popular vloggers on the platform with well over 4 Million followers spread across a series of six different channels, all of which document his adventures in the art of extreme-eating, also known as “Mukbang”. Ever since 2016, Perry’s consumption of an absolutely staggering amount o...

Leonard “L’A Capone” Anderson was an up-and-coming rapper from Chicago’s South Side and member of the Black Disciples’ “600” set alongside other infamous Chi-town spitters like RondoNumbaNine and 600Breezy. Looking to make it out of the Chicago warzone, Capone teamed-up with the fast-rising Lil Durk and became associated with Durk’s “Only The Family” crew. With their support, L’A Capone was set to...

You’ve probably heard the saying “scars shape us” before – after all, what better reminder do we have of all those difficult times we’ve somehow managed to survive? But few rappers alive today carry as many literal scars on their body as hip-hopper, Big Scarr. At this point, near the man’s entire body is a living reminder of the trials and tribulations he’s faced to get to where he is today, one o...

Is there a better example of a viral hip-hop star than Brooklyn rapper, 6ix9ine? I mean, after having spent close to three years in prison where he was incarcerated on racketeering charges – the guy turned into a snitch just to save himself and still earned over 43 Million views in 24-hours when he dropped his track, “GOOBA”! But here’s the truth -- anyone or anything that goes viral usually winds...

While American's appear to have become obsessed with The Island Boys over in the U.K. there has been a more wholesome creator or influencer who's garnered millions of followers and his name is Francis Bourgeois. Others online know him as The Train Guy and follow him on social media as he travels the UK in search of the most iconic locomotives and his honest reactions are priceless. Since finding f...