Before They Were Famous

Since the untimely passing of the artist known as XXXtentacion, his legacy and impact on his many fans have only grown, and in many ways has taken a life of its own. From wild memorials and multiple posthumous albums, it truly seems like X’s fans will commemorate him any way they can. XXXtentacion-born Jaseh Onfroy has led one of the most polarizing and infamous careers in hip hop history, one tha...

Amber Rose isn’t here to make apologies. Not for her body, not for her tattoos, not for her signature buzz-cut, and most definitely not for her sexiness. Anyone who heads over to her Instagram account is bound to get lost spending the next hour or so staring at post after post of Rose’s unique brand that somehow manages to blend sensuality with empowerment. It’s a difficult line to walk for most p...

Most people eat to live, but speed eating competitor Matt Stonie lives to eat. I mean, how else could you possibly explain this dude’s ability to crush 14-and-a-half pounds of super-sweet birthday cake in just 8 minutes? Matt first began competing in Major League Eating events in 2011 and by 2015, he was shocking the world by defeating the then eight-time champion Joey Chestnut at Nathan’s infamou...

Tony Yayo spent a good chunk of his early life with a young 50-Cent, teaming up to rap, hustle, and generally struggle through life together on the mean streets of New York City. But when 50 finally began to hit his stride in the early 2000s, suddenly, Yayo was nowhere to be seen. Turns out, his prior criminal activities had finally caught up with him, landing him behind bars for well over a year....

You may have recently come across a massively muscled and bearded figure on TikTok eating things like bull testicles and taking ice baths while delivering some inspirational pep talks. This is the man known as the Liver King and he’s almost always -- at all times -- shirtless. After all, a shirt would only get in the way of his message that the modern world has made men soft and the only way to re...

Lil Keed, the melodic rapper from Atlanta a member of Young Thug’s YSL label, has died under mysterious circumstances at the age of just 24. While the cause of death has yet to be revealed to the media we do have some intel that’s been released from his brother Lil Gotit and girlfriend Quana Bandz. As well as confirmed statements given to Complex and XXL by representatives from the artist. Needles...

When it comes to celebrities, influence, viral moments, making hits, and carving out your own monumental spot in the zeitgeist of pop culture, is there anybody more iconic than Ray J?! Yes thee Ray J, you know, One Wish, Sexy Can I, business tycoon, Brandy’s brother, Ray J, or maybe you know him from that home movie with uh, actually ya know what we will get there later on this video. Of course, y...

Over the past couple of years, few musicians have made the type of impact that Jack Harlow has. This Kentucky native, known for his inoffensive style and easygoing bars, landed a spot on the Billboard Hot 100 while being little more than internet famous at the time. Over the past couple of years, there have been plenty of young people who’ve accomplished their 15-minutes of fame thanks to social m...

Wack 100 has gone on to earn himself a net worth estimated to be in the range of around $3 Million. That’s more than enough money to keep Wack 100 fully stocked when it comes to the coolest kicks because as it turns out, this guy’s a pretty avid collector -- even going so far as to dole out a lot of money for a pair of shoes with a complicated and sordid history. Of course, all that money also aff...

After first popping-up on Young Thug’s single, “Floyd Mayweather” in 2016, Gunna would then sign to Thug’s record label that’s known interchangeably as both Young Stoner Life and Young Slime Records but more often than not simply referred to as YSL. At first, on the Bright Side of Fame, these two produced an undeniable flow, earning themselves millions of streams on platforms like SoundCloud and Y...

On the Dark Side of Fame, these new accusations go far beyond the bizarre. Thug has been charged with conspiracy to violate the RICO act, and what’s worse there are further accusations that include participation in street gang activity, armed robbery, and murder. And while this is by far the most trouble that Young Thug has ever found himself in, it’s by no means the first time he’s been in hot wa...

Over the past little while, rapper Smokepurpp has had himself a few tough days in the office. During a show in Michigan last month, a TikTok user captured a video of the rhymer’s set at a local club, which shows the once-popular rapper spitting on the mic to what basically amounts to a very empty venue. It’s a strange turn of events for this Miami artist who signed to Alamo Records in May of 2017...

If you spend a large portion of your day over on social media then there’s a pretty good chance you’ve run across a new meme that’s been popping up a whole bunch lately – it’s referred to online as “African Lore” and the clips often involve obscure comedy sketches involving a rotating cast of characters -- but especially a little person who goes by the name of Jack Bauer – I swear. In actual fact,...

TikTok is a weird place. Alongside the thousands of viral dances, sounds, and all those influencers, it’s a verifiable breeding ground for meme culture. One of the newest and most popular memes taking over the platform is something (or is it someone?) called Quandale Dingle. Now believe it or not, but Quandale, he’s actually a real person. Not that this meme really has all that much to do with him...

YouTube sensation Kevin Samuels, a multi-talented individual who spent the past few years taking the internet by storm through image consultations and dating advice, has died. Rumors of his death sent shockwaves through the Twitter verse and brought about mixed reactions to say the least -- because it seems like for every person that Kevin helped with his advice, he left two or three more people r...

If you’ve been on TikTok lately then there’s a strong chance you’ve run across the gentle voice stylings of up-and-coming English rapper named Louis Theroux methodically chanting the words “my money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds.” Alright – he’s not actually an up-and-coming rapper, he’s more like a world-class documentarian who just happened to go viral thanks to an appearance on the popular YouT...

If you’ve clicked on this video odds are you already know just who Andrew Tate is – a former professional kickboxer who’s now re-invented himself as the very definition of what’s known as the “Manosphere” over on social media – a loosely affiliated group of websites, blogs, forums, and individuals concerned with modern-day masculinity and men’s issues. To be honest, summing Andrew Tate up in words...

In the Fall of last year, the music industry would change forever with the sudden emergence of the icon known as Fake Drake in a Miami club. Okay – on second thought, that’s a lot of hyperbole. Fake Drake might not have changed the game in any meaningful way when he sprung up fully-formed and rockin’ that Certified Lover Boy haircut – but he did kickstart a movement that has seemingly carried into...

The road to success can be long and filled with all types of roadblocks -- just ask the Massachusetts-born rapper Millyz. He’s been building his reputation in the underground rap scene since the late 2000s and over the past couple of years, all that hard work has finally begun to pay off. Hailing from the home of Harvard University and MIT, Millyz made the decision at only 14-years-old to jump int...

The man known as Big30 doesn’t so much rap as he does fire off lyrics at a break-neck pace -- and his not-stop delivery, not to mention those combative lyrics, paint a picture of the harsh environment he had to force his way out of. Check out any one of his songs and you’re bound to hear tales about shoot-outs, block wars, and the drug trade in uncomfortable detail. His breakthrough moment took pl...

For most of her young life, Bia has been traveling along in a lane of her own making. Now, this Massachusetts-born and bred rapper is proving to be a force to be reckoned with as she shoots up to the top of the hip-hop charts thanks to collaborations with some big-time stars like Russ and Nicki Minaj. But make no mistake, Bia has been active in the industry for a number of years now, it’s just tak...

Long Beach Griffy, aka, “The Guy with the Gap” took the social media and comedy worlds by storm in 2017 when his original brand of sketch comedy turned him into an Instagram and YouTube icon. Over the next few years, this California native would continue to push the boundaries of his content further and further, something that over the past few months has gotten him into a bit of hot water and has...

Elon Musk is a whole lot of things. Rocket mogul. Electric car salesman. Start-up business savant. And now, quite surprisingly, the owner of Twitter. Oh, and he just so happens to also be the world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of nearly $265 Million. And Elon did it all in the span of just two decades -- going from a fresh-faced international student in Canada with over $100,000 in...

Danielle Bregoli, aka, Bhad Bhabie, aka the “Cash me ousside how bow dah?” girl, wants you to know one thing – you should really keep that last name outta your mouth. How come? Well, because she says she’s proven to be worth a lot more than just that and she’s kept the receipts to prove it. A few days ago, she hopped onto Instagram Live to let her followers know that a new era was dawning in her c...

Labeling hip-hop mainstay Benzino as a professional agitator would probably be something of an understatement. Over a career that’s spanned decades, the man has held a number of different titles – rapper, hip-hop executive, CEO of The Source, “Love and Hip-Hop” reality television star, father to rapper Coi Leray, and, most infamously, Eminem’s biggest nemesis. Back in the day, these two were engag...