Before They Were Famous

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 fame Francis has had to address a lot of questions about his past including his ongoing career as a male model and his past work as an electronic DJ producer.

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 Park, No Remorse label, face reveal, and upcoming album "Awakening".

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. Our original video on him made it into the dialogue for his intro track California’s Hero off his album So Cold I Do Em 2 released earlier this year. For those just finding out about the star who was widely praised as one of the most talented artists to come out of LA since Kendrick Lamar – or for those of you who have listened to all 10 of his mixtapes and are long-lasting fans of his work join us as we pay tribute to his life and his career in this Gone But Not Forgotten video.

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 with the folks over at Twitch who didn’t take kindly to some of the comments he made to a female contestant on Adin Ross’ E-date series and they’d ban him from their platform. Well, I guess the good news for IShowSpeed is that he was never really a Twitch streamer to begin with. Want to find out how he fast-tracked himself to some truly monumental success on YouTube? Then keep watching our newest episode of Before They Were Famous!

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 successful Patreon account where she would post even more provocative material. After earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from her Patreon account, a series of social media controversies would result in Belle abandoning the many platforms that made her famous, leaving her fans asking “Where in the World Is Belle Delphine?” Well, today, in our newest episode of Where Are They Now – we have the answer to that question and more, so stay tuned!

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 Impaulsive Podcast with Logan, Mike & George. They also linked up with the Nelk boys just a week ago and again it was drama filled with them getting into a fight with the toughest member of the group Gabe. That’s the bad news – the good news. They’ve dropped a music video for their viral song Island Boys and it did big numbers pulling in over 2 Million views in just a week. They have also gotten into the NFT game while acting extremely festive over on cameo doing shoutouts for their fans.

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 roles while the OG Spider-Man himself, Tobey Maguire, is rumored to make an appearance. And that’s without even getting into “The Amazing Spider-Man” series cast, many of whom are set to return as well! All of this is to say that the two of us, much like the rest of you, have got Spider-Man on the brain. So, what better time than now to take a look back at the cast of the original trilogy and see what they’ve been up to since filming wrapped on “Spider-Man 3” more than fourteen years ago!

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 serious criminal activities in the 1970s, Larry would later be convicted of running the Gangster Disciples from inside his prison cell. That was in 1997 and every single day since then, Larry has been forced to spend 23-hours in solitary confinement. His case is widely regarded as hopeless because in order to be released he would need to obtain pardons at both the state and federal levels. Well, in order to accomplish just that, hip-hop superstars Drake and Kanye West recently set aside their widely publicized differences to throw a benefit concert in Larry’s name and raise awareness over his plight. So, how exactly did Larry Hoover’s reputation grow even larger from behind bars? And just why have Kanye and Drake teamed up to see him released? Those answers and more in our latest episode of Before They Were Famous.

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 southern drawl propped up his punchlines and made each bar hit all the harder. With as much potential as he had, no one would have ever imagined that only a year into his career, Lil Snupe would already be gone -- shot and killed over a bet gone horribly wrong. Have you ever wondered what really happened to Lil Snupe? Then stay with us as we revisit his legacy on our newest episode of Before They Were Gone.

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, shortly after the assassination of KTS Von. In the handful of years to follow, this family would continue to incur one loss after the next, including their patriarch, Vincent Davis Sr. and -- most recently -- the brutal loss of KTS Dre himself who was ambushed only moments after being released from prison. What led to this brutal conclusion to both of their lives? Find out on our newest episode of Before They Were Gone.