Before They Were Famous

Growing up in Houston, Texas, Travis Scott always held a fond place for the Six-Flags theme park known as Astroworld. Not only would he spend a lot of time there before the park closed its doors in 2005, but it would eventually become the basis of his most popular album, his most successful world tour, and finally, his very own festival held at the exact location of the old theme-park. For years, this seemed like a match made in heaven, but over this past weekend, tragedy struck and everything came crashing down. With his reputation for stirring up large audiences, this time when Travis took to his Astroworld stage, eight people would lose their lives in the ensuing chaos; Axel Acosta, Danish Baig, Madison Dubiski, John Hilgert, Jacob Jurinek, Franco Patino, Rudy Pena, and Brianna Rodriguez. Now questions abound – including how did this happen and what is the ultimate fate of the Astroworld festival?

Is there a more viral act tearing up the inter-webs right now then Kodiyak Redd and FlyySoulja, aka, the Island Boyz? If there is, I’m not aware of it, and considering that’s more or less my job, I think I would know. Not only do these two have a combined 3.5 Million followers on Tik Tok and just over 800K followers on Instagram, but they’ve also become a viral sensation thanks to a bare-bones clip that sees both of them singing while hanging out in a pool. Since that clip made them viral, they’ve been featured on H3H3 AND the BFF podcast... oh, and they’ve also hopped onto a Zoom call to speak with none other than yours truly! But even though I haven’t seen a more viral act since the heyday of Kid Buu or Joker 305, that doesn’t mean everything about the Island Boyz story shines – in fact, a whole lot of it has to do with some pretty seedy and dark stuff. I’m talking calls of cultural appropriation, multiple arrests, months spent in juvie, and taking advantage of the recent pandemic to land themselves a brand-new dream home where they’ve been filming the bulk of their content. So, if you want to hear all about the Island Boyz dip into the Dark Side of Fame -- keep watching!

Almost exactly a year ago, we debuted a brand-new video chronicling the “Dark Side” of Travis Scott’s fame. There, we not only covered things like turning his back on his friend and mentor, OG CHE$$, but also how he used and abused the friendship of Shane Morris who helped Travis Scott earn far more streams and fans than he ever would have otherwise. You know, normally I would dive a lot deeper into a revelation as big as that, but today, we really don’t have the time -- because there’s an even darker side to Travis Scott then simply using other people to get ahead in life and it generally concerns his absolute disregard for the safety of other people -- most importantly, his fans. Take, for instance, the story from our video of a young man named Kyle Green who was pushed off a balcony during a live Travis Scott performance and paralyzed for life. I mean, we even ended with a side-bar that Scott had once been taken into custody for inciting a riot and endangering the welfare of his audience after a number of people were injured at a Rogers, Arkansas performance. But in all honesty – even that could have never prepared us for what went down this weekend during Scott’s most recent iteration of his Astroworld event in Houston, Texas. In others, it’s happening again – history repeats itself – and this time, the consequences are simply unacceptable. At least eight people have died and hundreds were injured as chaos broke out during Scott’s performance on Saturday night in what would become one of the deadliest crowd-control disasters at a concert in United States’ history. Want to know what happened? Well, so do we -- so let’s try and piece things together now on the Dark Side of Fame.

Antoine Sallis is the President of Rapid Credit Boosters, a multi-million-dollar company that offers its clients credit management services. And in just a few short years, Antoine has managed to increase the value of his company to a reported $8 Million! Furthermore, Antoine is an accredited author and motivational speaker whose primary goal is to make at least one of his client’s dreams become a reality each and every day. But if you had met Antoine only about a decade ago, you would have never recognized him. His early life experiences, hustling on the San Diego streets, enduring homelessness, and eventually earning some extended prison time, would have him reassessing his life in order to become the very best version of himself. So, how did he go from sleeping under a bridge to owning multiple properties and a slew of exotic cars? Keep watching our newest episode of Before They Were Famous to find out!

When the $uicideboy$ burst onto the scene in the early 2010s, they shocked their listeners with their depression-laced lyrics and an origin that told the story of two down-on-their-luck wannabe rappers who made a pact to end themselves if they didn’t make it by the time they were 30. Well, thankfully for all of us, especially themselves, not only have the Suicideboys made it – they’ve accomplished more than their wildest dreams on their way to a net worth that sites like TADDLR estimate to be in the $1 Million range each. But if recent headlines are to be believed, that net-worth is about to increase by an astronomical amount thanks to the Suicideboys becoming one of the most el-Fuego viral brands around, according to Billboard.com. And it’s a good thing too, because, to be honest, these two need a boatload of cash. Not only are both of them hard at work overcoming some major dependency issues by spending money at rehab clinics that definitely don’t come cheap but they’ve also had to work their way through a particularly expensive lawsuit that would see the Three-Six Mafia try and collect a piece of everything the Suicideboys have built.

In today's episode of Famous Interviews, we are having members of a legendary Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip where we discuss their legacy in the Canadian music industry, how fame changed their lives, and the last days of Gord Downie.

Has there ever been a more riveting rock-and-roll performer than Gordon Edgar Downie? There’s certainly never been a more captivating Canadian rock-star, I can tell you that. Today, you might be able to choose from any one of a ton of Tragically Hip performances to view online, but trust me when I say, experiencing Downie’s art that way simply doesn’t do it justice. In order to really get a sense of who he was and what he meant to the legion of Hip fans, you had to be there in the moment to truly feel his energy. Even after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, an extremely fast-acting and deadly type of brain-cancer, Downie traveled across Canada, drawing out every last bit of happiness he could from the fans who were preemptively mourning his loss. No major performer in the history of pop music has ever undertaken such a venture while seriously ill, and yet, it was only one of Gord Downie’s unprecedented achievements.

According to the folks over at the BBC, The Tragically Hip are “the most Canadian band in the world”, and really, is there anyone who disagrees with that sentiment? The New York Times once defined them as “the band that has come closest to defining Canada’s cultural identity.” We are talking Rock N Roll legends and I’m lucky enough to get the opportunity to sit down with the members of the band a little later this week. This upcoming October the 15th marks the 30th anniversary of the album Road Apples which took The Tragically Hip to number 1 in Canada and has since gone on to diamond certification. To look back on the massive success and the legacy that is The Tragically Hip the band members will actually be stopping by the Before They Were Famous studio a little later this week and we are going to be able to delve a whole lot deeper into the early years of the band leading up to the release of the album that really put them on the map. Make sure you are subscribed to the channel so you don’t miss these epic interviews but for now, let’s get into their Before They Were Famous.

We have already dropped a Before They Were Famous on these twins but intrigue into these two is something we haven't seen since the days of Bhad Bhabie's Catch Me Outside or Lil Tay so we decided to delve a little deeper. We also got a ton of DMs from you guys giving us a ton more details of what these boys were up to prior to their viral hit The Island Boys. We got mug shots, details on their parents, time in Juvenal detention, baby mama drama, and more so let's get into it. My name of course is Michael McCrudden and welcome back to Before They Were Famous. Since these boys exploded we have had a ton of other Florida artists reach out to us like CheckTheStar so be sure to let us know who to feature next. Alright let's get into this updated video.

Summer Walker is a talented singer and songwriter who rose to fame off the back of her exceptional acoustic covers of popular R&B tracks. Her debut studio album Over It was released in October 2019 and got universal praise from critics, debuting at number 2 on the Billboard Chart. Summer made history when this album earned the biggest streaming debut EVER for a female R&B artist and now she's gearing up to drop her much anticipated sophomore effort Still Over It. Summer is one of the industries most talented and bubbling stars however, one doesn’t make an impact on the scene like she did without racking up a controversial headline or two, between her public spats with ex-boyfriend and producer London On Da Track, to her polarizing burner account there were a few things that people got on her about since the last time we made a video about Summer Walker. Summers's journey is an inspiring one as just a few years back Summer was working on her hustle and was ultimately leading a different life from the girl we see today. With Summer releasing the follow-up to her critically acclaimed album with a sequel ‘Still Over It’ I figured why not take an updated look on Summer Walker’s journey with fame on this brand-new edition of Before They Were Famous.