Before They Were Famous

American YouTube star, TikToker and Instagram personality Lofe has been steadily building a reputation for himself as one of the internet’s most promising new voices in comedy over a period of almost four years now. After a particularly tumultuous youth which would see him battling with depression, loneliness, and fixating on failure resulting in suicidal thoughts, Lofe would finally find his calling at the age of 18 when he first began uploading a series of promising sketches displaying a range of comedic abilities that have since become undeniable. In fact, Lofe might very well now be one of the best pranksters in the history of the art form. And if you don’t think pranking is an art form, well after listening to this dude’s story your opinion on that might change a little bit. So, if you’ve ever wanted to learn about the many obstacles Lofe had to overcome to see himself blow up over the course of the past year, then stay tuned to our newest episode of Before They Were Famous to find out!

BEFORE a just barely thirty-year-old man with a mop of brown hair would earn himself enough crypto-currency clout to be known simply by his initials -- SBF -- Sam Bankman-Fried was born on March 6th, 1992 on the campus of Stanford University. As the son of two Jewish Stanford Law professors, Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman, Sam spent a large percentage of his childhood playing games like chess, bridge, “Magic the Gathering” and the video game series “League of Legends” when he wasn’t busy attending class at an elite prep-school known as Crystal Springs Uplands where he excelled academically in almost every subject. By the time he was ready to move onto a post-secondary institution, Sam set his sights on studying physics at Massachusetts’ Institute of Technology where he wound up juggling several extracurriculars alongside his regular academic schedule while living in a co-ed group home called Epsilon Theta – a place that likes to promote itself as an alcohol-free zone for activities like playing board games, square dancing, and debating logic problems.

BEFORE becoming one of the most promising female Emcee’s to emerge out of New York City in a hot minute, Murda B was actually born in late October in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, which means there’s a pretty good chance that that “B” in her name – well, it might stand for Boston. So, how did Murda B become the next big thing out of Sev-Side if she’s really from Bean-town? Well, to hear her tell it, Murda B had herself a boyfriend from that area of New York City and after meeting his crew, she formed connections and relationships that would last her a lifetime. These hook-ups would pay off in the long run because back when she was younger, Murda B spent most of her free-time expanding her horizons by learning new things. She not only taught herself how to a play wide-range of instruments, she also developed a passion for make-up and singing as well. As for how Murda B went from singing to getting involved in drill-rap? Well, according to her, she did it to prove a point to an ex-boyfriend, someone who liked to fancy himself a pretty spectacular rapper but then got showed up by his partner when she decided to spit-fire in his face. He might not have been embarrassed badly enough to quit his own aspirations all together, but Murda B still left her ex behind in the dust as her career eventually took off and his continued to stall. Prior to that, Murda B was often encouraged by her friends to pursue the artform in a meaningful way because they believed that as talented a female rapper as she was, she could have a chance to go all the way.

BEFORE being detained in Russia and eventually being exchanged in a prisoner swap for the notorious criminal known as “The Merchant of Death”, women’s basketball star Brittney Yevette Griner was born on October 18th, 1990 in the city of Houston, Texas. For the most part, Britney’s upbringing was relatively ordinary as the youngest of four children being raised by a homemaker and a police officer. But sooner rather than later it became clear to Griner, as well as everyone else, that she was far from what most people would consider to be ordinary. In the pages of her memoir, “In My Skin”. Brittney knew from an early age that she was attracted to girls -- and because that didn’t fit in with the preconceived notion that many people had back then for girls attending middle-school, she was often taunted and referred to as a boy. The worst times came in Seventh Grade and at the end of far too many school days, Brittney would retire to her room to cry and question why she was even alive in the first place.

BEFORE being used as a bargaining chip in a one-for-one prisoner swap that freed women’s basketball star Brittney Griner, convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout otherwise known as the “Merchant of Dеаth” -- was born on what’s believed to have been January 13th, 1967. Douglas Farah, a senior agent at the International Assessment and Strategy Center who once co-authored a book on Bout told CNN in 2010 that Viktor’s early days are still largely a mystery, even to high-up government officials. That being said, according to multiple passports, Bout was likely raised in Dushanbe, Tajikstan as the son of a bookkeeper and an auto-mechanic. At the age of 18, he was conscripted into the Soviet Army after having spent much of his youth playing competitive volleyball according to a New Yorker profile. After being forced into military service, Viktor served two years in an infantry brigade in western Ukraine, before graduating from the Military Institute on Foreign Languages, which has a reputation for being a well-established feeder school for Russian military intelligence. In other words – the likelihood is that Viktor was a Soviet officer, ranking as highly as perhaps even a Lieutenant. During his time in the Russian forces, Bout worked in war-torn areas like Mozambique and Angola, where Russia had large military presences at the time. He first landed on the radar of the wider world at large when the United Nations began to investigate him in the early-to-mid 1990s. That’s also right around the time the United States began to get involved as well.

BEFORE becoming one of the most successful and prolific underground rappers of recent memory, Lucki was born Lucki Camel Jr. on May 30th, 1996 in Chicago, Illinois at Masonic Medical Center on the city’s North Side. While he might have entered this world on the city’s North-side, Lucki was primarily raised on the West End where he attended school in the suburb of Maywood. During his earliest years, Lucki used to harbor aspirations of becoming a football player while playing wide receiver for his school team. The only problem is that he wasn’t very good at it. Like, at all. Thankfully, there was something he was much better at -- rapping. Lucki wrote his first lyrics while in the 7th Grade. He wasn’t confident enough in his ability at the time to actually perform those early songs, but his fascination with the rapper Lil Wayne meant he was writing one song after another in an attempt to improve his talent. The first beat Lucki ever wrote to was for Ron Browz’s “Jumping Out the Window.” This young kid would continue to refine his skillset over the next few years and by the time he entered adolescence he was determined to take the artform more seriously. That’s when he started heading downtown to the Chicago library and discovered the music of Chance the Rapper – more specifically, the little-known duo Chance was a part of at the offset of his career known as “Instrumentality”.

After becoming one of the hottest reality television stars of an entire generation, Tila Tequila has gone on to live one of the strangest and most troubling lives of recent celebrity memory. Make a fortune off her love life? She’s done that too. But those moments of glory feel like a million years ago compared to her more recent ventures into anti-Semitism, self-harm, and some truly bizarre religious beliefs. Long before she’d become a train wreck, Tila Tequila was born to Vietnamese parents in the country of Singapore on October 24th, 1981. Her parents fled to that sovereign island nation by boat from Vietnam when Tila was still in her mother’s womb. Alongside the rest of her family which includes her two older siblings, Daniel and Terri, Tila left Singapore when she was a year old and immigrated to the United States where she settled in Houston, Texas. When asked to reflect upon her childhood in America, Tila has often described her upbringing in Texas as challenging, to say the least

BEFORE becoming the latest twist in the ongoing Megan thee Stallion and Tory Lanez courtroom drama, Kelsey Nicole was born on August 28th, 1995 in Victoria, Texas. That’s where she grew up in what she’s described as a relatively lower-class family, which inspired her to work as hard as possible to develop her own financial freedom. Kelsey’s ties to the music industry go as far back as the day she was born. Her father was Emmitt Harris, a local rapper known as 50 Pak. Prior to the birth of Kelsey and her sister Ciara, Harris had made a name for himself as an underground artist performing at venues like the El Campo Club in Texas. Unfortunately, his relationship with both of his daughters would deteriorate over time until it got to the point where they really weren’t speaking at all. A few years ago, Kelsey and her sister decided to smooth things over and searched their father out, discovering him at an extended family members’ birthday party. But rather than approach, they wound up watching him from a distance. Sadly, it would become the last time they ever saw him alive.

AFTER making waves in the adult entertainment industry that are still reverberating to this day, Mia Khalifa is now earning nearly as much money in 24-hours as she once made throughout the entirety of her adult entertainment career while continuing to hold the medium accountable. Long before all of that, Mia Khalifa was born Sarah Joe Chamoun on February 19th, 1993 in the city of Beirut and was raised in what she’s referred to in the past as a very conservative Catholic family. After attending a French language private school in her native country, Mia would immigrate to the United States alongside her parents in 2001 to escape the dangers of the South Lebanon conflict. Once in America, Mia would settle in Montgomery County, Maryland where hers was the only family of Lebanese descent in the area. As such, she struggled to fit in.

Before becoming the first openly transgender solo artist to earn the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, singer Kim Petras was born on August 27th, 1992 in the small German town known as Hennef. Located about 40 minutes from Cologne, Petras’ hometown was very heavy on what she likes to call “farm vibes” and boasted a ton of livestock including cows and horses. In fact, her family’s nearest neighbors were located more than ten minutes away while she was growing up. Born to an architect for a father and a dance teacher for a mom, you could say that music was always an integral part of her life and household. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Kim became obsessed with the Spice Girls and fell in love with lip-syncing to Disney songs alongside her two older sisters. More than just sing-along with her siblings, Kim would also occasionally steal clothes from their closet. Even though she was assigned the male gender at birth, Kim just wanted to look like her sisters.