Before They Were Famous

Today Michael McCrudden interviewed a well-known drill rapper from South London - Lucii. He blew up last year with his hit "Ritz" on @Pressplay Media which gained almost 10 million views thanks to TikTok, his devilish verses, and Brookmill Park controversy. In this interview, he will open up about his departure from Block 6, growing up in South London, what exactly happened that day at Brookmill P...

When we last covered Drakeo The Ruler on this channel he was just starting to gain mainstream notoriety, success which was long overdue following his complicated legal that stemmed from a 2016 serious criminal charge that he was eventually acquitted of. We will touch on this more in just a minute but we do believe that Drakeo was appreciative of our storytelling here at Before They Were Famous. Ou...

Over the course of the past year, IShowSpeed has catapulted up the ranks of YouTube’s most-watched content creators and gone from only having a few thousand subscribers to 3 Million, including earning over 1 Million of those subs in a matter of days! This variety streamer has become popular for figuring out his own “way to do things”, but just recently that may have gotten him into some hot water...

Gamer-girl, Belle Delphine hit us all like a tidal wave and then disappeared nearly as quickly. Best known for bottling up and then selling her bathwater at $30-a-pop, this 20-something model has a surreal and sultry persona that made her a fan-favorite among the online community. Belle would regularly post anime] face images over on Instagram and YouTube as a way to publicize her highly successfu...

The Island Boys exploded in popularity over on Tik Tok and managed to parlay that notoriety into reaching the top of the world of influencers. The boys even got booked at exclusive venues like Club Liv in Miami, although the audience reaction wasn’t all that great. Typing their name into Google Trends the twins are still pulling in a ton of interest following their recent walk out on The Impaulsiv...

We all know that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is easily the most anticipated Spider-Man movie ever. But why is it exactly that everyone is looking forward to this flick so much? I’d say a lot of it has to do with the fact that they’re bringing the whole team back! Former original trilogy stars like Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Thomas Haden Church have already been confirmed to be reprising their...

Larry Hoover has been incarcerated since 1973. At this rate, it’s highly unlikely he’ll ever see the outside world again. This former leader of Chicago’s Gangster Disciples is currently serving multiple life sentences at the prison known as ADX Florence, which has a reputation for being one of the most psychologically punishing correctional facilities in the entire world. After being charged with...

In just 18-short-years-of-life, rapper Lil Snupe earned himself a whole bunch of accolades. Whether he was being dapped-up as Meek Mill’s protégé or being called “The Freestyle King”, once Lil Snupe hit the ground-running in 2012 he instantly became one of the most well-respected MC’s in the business based solely on his talent on the mic. His absolutely lethal flow partnered with that trademark so...

Chicago born rappers KTS Von and KTS Dre were two brothers with heaps of promise and talent to spare. Both young men worked hard to establish themselves in Chicago’s already crowded hip-hop market by creating some viral singles that eventually got lost in the shuffle of their ever-increasing criminal profile. In fact, the last time that either of these two released a track was back in 2018, shortl...

Unless you have been living under a rock then you are 100% familiar with Sidetalk NYC and their viral videos that are taking New York City and the entire world by storm. It’s like everywhere you go any time you open your phone we are met with the infectious Bing Bong sound clip, it’s become a popular sound on Tik Tok and very quickly became the rallying cry for New York Knicks fans after the trend...

Chicago born rappers KTV Von and KTS Dre were two brothers with heaps of promise and talent to spare. Both young men worked hard to establish themselves in Chicago’s already crowded hip-hop market by creating some viral singles that eventually got lost in the shuffle of their ever-increasing criminal profile. In fact, the last time that either of these two released a track was back in 2018, shortl...

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...

Back in August of 2020, a black man named Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, leaving the young man paralyzed and kicking off multiple nights of rioting as a response. It was on the third night of these riots that 17-year-old Kyle fired on three men with a military-style semi-automatic weapon, ending life of two and seriously harming the third. U...

This isn’t Dale Brown’s first brush with fame, back in 2012 his work and local notoriety actually landed him a part in a Nicki Minaj and BOB music video for Out Of My Mind. The internet is having a field day reposting Dale Brown and the Detroit Urban Survival Training program content which they have been hard at work producing for the past couple of decades – the only problem is, we don’t think it...

While looking back at old school photographs of the man who grew up to become Richard Huckle it can be hard to imagine this pleasant-looking young boy turning into one of the UK’s worst criminals -- a man who would seriously harm up to 200 children before he was eventually arrested and sentenced to carry out the rest of his days in a jail cell where he would brutally lose his life in October of 20...

Straight up, most old-school financial advisors can be borings. Thankfully, I’ve recently discovered not only the music but the ADVICE of Atlanta-based rapper Money Man – I mean his name says it all - someone who isn’t only fast becoming one of the biggest rappers in the game, but is also providing sound financial advice to his many followers across social media all while flexing a ton of cash. Th...

In the span of about five years, Rico Nasty has gone from a local DMV celebrity to a global hip-hop superstar. Emerging on SoundCloud as a genre-bending musician comfortable enough to blend together rock, emo, and hip-hop, this teenaged mother had not only the tenacity to create her own style but the strength to succeed. Whether she’s feeling a little Rico Nasty, Tacobella, or Trap Lavigne, Rico a...

I’m sure a whole bunch of you know all too well who NBA YoungBoy is – but did you know that his cousin is also a part of his “Never Broke Again” crew? Going by the name NBA Ben 10, this young man has been swept up in his Cousin’s life-style and I mean that for both good and bad. He’s been there for his cousin since day one, growing up on the streets of Baton Rouge in Louisiana and whenever YoungBo...

When the underground movement of hip-hop started to gain real traction off the reputation of a bunch of SoundCloud rappers in the mid-2010s, Lil Candy Paint was right at the forefront of the scene. With roots in the great state of Georgia, Lil Candy’s career to this point in time has largely consisted of singular moments that could be split up into chapters; his early SoundCloud success, his team-...

From the very beginning of his career, Virgil Abloh was about positioning a new era of fashion designers to be heralded as rock stars. He wrote as much in an original piece he penned for the “The Brilliance” blog in 2007, and if he had been able to jump into a time machine back then to travel to right now, then I think he’d be incredibly proud to discover he managed to accomplish just that. He not...

One random day about six years ago, a high school student named Cooper Remble was sitting in his bedroom minding his own business when a buddy brought over some studio equipment. Before long, these two were recording their own songs and daydreaming of becoming hip-hop superstars. Well, flash-forward to today and the California rapper now known simply as Remble has accomplished just that off the ba...

A little over a decade ago, there was a time when Sean Kingston ruled the summer airwaves with big-time singles like “Beautiful Girls”, “Take You There”, and his Justin Bieber collaboration, “Eenie Meenie”. This Miami-born singer of Jamaican heritage broke through into the industry with the help of MySpace and became one of the first musicians to capitalize on having a significant online presence....

Hailing from the O’Block, the man known as T. Roy was a close personal friend to both Chief Keef and King Von. He helped shepherd Chief’s career through its infancy by ensuring that if a problem ever sprung up, he’d be the one to take care of it. And when you’re a wannabe rapper looking to make it off the streets of Chicago, Illinois, believe me, problems do crop up. After claiming multiple bodies...

Rapper Icewear Vezzo is more or less the personification of Detroit’s finest. He also just happens to be the city’s newest mainstream superstar, following in the footsteps of some equally big legends like Big Sean and Eminem. Of course, if you were to ask Icewear Vezzo about it, he’d also bring up names like Tee Grizzley, Babyface Ray, Peezy, and a whole lot more to prove his point that few places...

Across all musical genres, hip-hop is undoubtedly the most difficult to set yourself apart in. A lot of that has to do with the sheer number of new artists popping up every day, leading to more than a little oversaturation. Having a wealth of options to choose from can be positive, but when there’s so much choice that you don’t even know where to look, that’s when things can get out of hand. Lucky...