Before They Were Famous

Before ASAP Rocky would become a chart-topping sensation in the hip-hop scene as a member of the A$AP Mob in 2011 and release classic solo albums like “Long Live A$AP”, “At Long Last A$AP”, and “Testing”. Before ASAP Rocky would begin dating his long-time friend Rihanna at the tail end of 2020. One of hip-hop’s most popular spitters and a true counter-culture maverick, A$AP Rocky is renowned for his multitude of talents; his ability on the mic, his flair for fashion, his enjoyment of psychedelic drugs, and his very public love life that includes exes like Kendall Jenner and Iggy Azalea. The most successful member of Harlem’s A$AP Mob – a collective of MCs, producers, video directors, and designers, Rocky kicked off his career in 2011 and earned himself an eye-popping $3 Million dollar deal with Sony/RCA in no time flat. Hit songs like “Peso”, “Trilla”, and “Purple Swag” thrilled audiences from the very beginning, but few people at the time understood the struggle Rocky had to go through to get to this moment. An incarcerated father, a murdered brother, and his own stint at Ryker’s Island is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this dude’s absolutely insane story. But in the end, A$AP Rocky would triumph over it all on his journey to becoming one of the most popular rappers to ever hail from the East Coast.

The title of Rihanna’s 2016 smash-hit single, “Work”, could also undoubtedly serve as her own personal motto. Riri is easily one of the busiest and most successful women on the planet and her absolute litany of income revenues have added up to a $600 Million fortune, making her the wealthiest female musician in the world. For those of you keeping track at home, that also makes her one of the wealthiest self-made women under the age of 40 – and Riri doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. But as passionate as Rihanna is for how she goes about making her money, she’s equally adept at spending it – regularly showing up on red carpets (when those were a thing) wearing not only some of the nicest outfits from her own Fenty line of fashion but also some of the most expensive jewelry on the planet. She also knows how to invest in real estate, having owned a ton of different properties over the years, including this absolutely gorgeous resort-style home in Barbados. Rihanna might have made her mark as one of the world’s most popular singers in the world with hit songs like “Umbrella” and the aforementioned “Work” but music isn’t the only revenue stream that allows her to afford all that nice stuff. Over the years, Rihanna has also evolved into a powerful businesswoman and style icon thanks to entrepreneurial ventures like her Fenty Beauty Make-Up line. So, sit back and enjoy yourselves because this is going to be a full one.

After Earl Sweatshirt would become one of the breakthrough stars of the Odd Future collective only to disappear for a few years soon after. After Earl Sweatshirt would return to the world of hip-hop and release albums like “I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside” and “Clay Feet”. Earl Sweatshirt was crowned a lyrical genius long before he ever turned 20-years old. After dropping his debut mixtape “Earl” in 2010 and a video for the title track that would go wildly viral his mother would step in, worried over how her son’s actions might be influenced not only himself, but others, and would send her son to a Samoan private school called Coral Reef Academy for at-risk boys. As Odd Future continued to explode, Earl’s absence would create an air of mystique around him and have his fans clamoring for his return. But the burden of navigating celebrity wasn’t just something his mother was worried about, it was something Earl was worried about too. Feeling more like a commodity than someone people actually understood, Earl has kept a relatively low profile over the years and despite being heralded as one of the most talented rappers in the game, he refers to “Earl” as an “operation” and a “thing” – not the man he is.

Before Tyler, The Creator would break into the music scene as a member of the hip-hop collective Odd Future and create music that would later see him banned from the countries of the United Kingdom and New Zealand for multiple years. Before Tyler The Creator would strike out on his own as a rapper and recently land his first Number One spot on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with his newest self-produced album “Igor”. Tyler the Creator has been making music since he was a kid, creating album covers and tracklists out of nothing more than paper and crayons. Despite not having a dad around growing up, nothing was ever going to stop Tyler from becoming a creative force, but it might surprise you to find out that for a long time, a whole bunch of people legitimately thought that Tyler was doing more harm than good in the world of music. When his hip-hop-skate collective, Odd Future debuted, people found their liberal use of antigay slurs as homophobic, which made corporations fearful about signing deals with Tyler, venues afraid to book him, and countries willing to ban him for a full five years for lyrics that were dangerous enough to be classified as a terrorist threat. Yikes. Over time though, Tyler has evolved and so has the world’s perception of him. Tyler gradually moved away from the viral controversy of his early music to more conceptual and ambitious music that he would make on his own. Slowly but surely, he began to overturn not only people’s opinion of his music but their very idea of who he was as a person.

After Limp Bizkit would dominate the late 1990's with albums like Three Dolla Bills Yall, Significant Other and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water. After Fred Durst would be linked romantically to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and would famously feud with System Of A Down, Insane Clown Posse, and of course Eminem. After Limp Bizkit's performance at Woodstock 1999 was the match that lit the fire to a 300,000 person riot. From the late '90s to early '00s, Fred Durst was a name music fans couldn't avoid. The group was at the top of the charts and white men everywhere were rocking Red Baseball caps backwards in the millions. A lot has changed in the past 20 plus years and Fred Durst is now in his 50's. Over on his Instagram, all the posts are photos of old Station Wagons. I'm not even kidding. I don't know if that's as weird as what Wes Borland is doing on his IG.

Before Chris Farley would light it up in the '90s appearing on Saturday Night Live alongside close pals Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Robert Schneider & David Spade. Before Chris Farley would transition to the big screen appearing in films Wayne's World, Coneheads, Billy Madison and later take the lead in Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, and Beverly Hills Ninja. Before Chris Farley would make unforgettable late-night appearances like this one on David Letterman in 1996. Before Chris Farley would pass away at the age of 33 in his Chicago apartment, In his all-too-brief career, Chris Farley created hilarious characters that have stood the test of time. For me, as a child The White Ninja, Tommy Boy & his SNL appearances were must know and everyone would have a turn trying to do their best impression of his brilliance. Even in smaller roles Chris always managed to steal the show. Beginning in the Midwest, Farley moved his way through the Chicago improv and sketch comedy scene at IO and Second City. He broke through as a cast member of Saturday Night Live in 1990 before landing roles in several iconic big-screen comedies. Behind the clown, there were plenty of personal demons and struggled with both drug and alcohol abuse. He was in and out of rehab more than a dozen times within a two-year span. We got lots of info in and tidbits even die-hard fans won't know like his future projects that were in the works including him voicing the character of Shrek before his passing.

On the BRIGHT SIDE OF FAME – Donald has had what many people would consider a successful career in multiple revenue streams. And I do mean, successful -- in October of 2018, the New York Times estimated that Donald had become a Millionaire by the age of 8! Okay, yeah, that had a lot more to do with his father’s questionable business practices than it had anything to do with the Donald, but still, his dad wouldn’t have made him the President of the family business by 1971 if he wasn’t bringing anything to the table, right? We also have to give it up to Donald for building landmarks like the Trump Tower and no matter what way you cut it, he had a remarkably successful media career in the years prior to achieving his political ambitions. Of course, there’s almost always a DARK SIDE TO ALL THAT FAME. And in Donald’s case that might even be something of an undersell. Truly the breadth of Trump’s controversies is beyond huge. Even before the Presidency there were accusations of mafia ties, unscrupulous business dealings, racial discrimination and more. In fact, Trump has been dodging allegations for the better part of 40-years and to pick through each and every one of them would require hundreds of hours, no cap. So today I hope you guys will join me as I take a look at some of the biggest Donald Trump controversies of all time in this newest episode of The Dark Side of Fame.

After Wide Neck would amass over 1 Million Instagram followers and achieve worldwide notoriety and would wow the world with his endless number of mug shots. After Wide Neck would be hanging out with the like of Floyd Mayweather before being sent back to prison shortly after finding online fame. After Wide Neck would team up with Daddy Long Neck and his former collaborators Supreme Patty and A. Millz. Although the wide neck is celebrating his newfound freedom apparently he's still got some pain in his neck over business deals that went bad while he was in prison.

Before Morray would break onto the scene of hip-hop thanks to his honest and biographical track: Quicksand. Before Morray would receive co-signs from the likes of J. Cole and even DaBaby as the next big thing in the world of rap. Before Morray would have over 8K followers on Twitter, 250K followers on Instagram and over 186K subscribers on YouTube at the time of this recording. Late last year, Morray dropped his song “Quicksand” and just like that, he became your favorite rapper’s, favorite rapper. The single appeared seemingly out of nowhere, but it quickly made its mark thanks in part to Morray’s unique style of combining rap with soulful singing and his willingness to open up about the struggles and triumphs of his youth. In fact, this Fayetteville rapper has already drawn the attention of big leaguers like J. Cole who took to Instagram to let the world know how good Morray’s new track was and that he was going places. On the heels of that shout out came even further exposure when DaBaby took to social media to pay respect to his fellow North Carolina hit song. All of this love and support has taken Morray a bit by surprise but when you get to know him as a person, that humility fits with his persona. After all this is the man who told XXL that what he wants his music to represent for people is “positive influence”.

For many, it might seem like Conor McGregor was always destined for superstardom as a prize-fighter, but his journey to the top of the fighting world started from the humblest of beginnings. Born into a working-class family from the suburbs of Ireland, Conor would make his way through childhood gyms and begin his working career as a plumber’s apprentice before eventually achieving worldwide fame. When he finally made his debut in the UFC he quickly rose up the ranks to become one of their most popular stars and his stellar record earned him the nickname the King of Combat Sports. Since his rise to the top of the mountain, Conor has taken a few losses, announced retirement, and had a slew of controversies that had many questioning his future in the world of sport and celebrity. The thing is with Conor despite all the mistakes and naysayers he’s always bounced back and ready for the next fight... with the current exception of a boxing match with Jake Paul. Enjoy UFC 257.