All About Asap Rocky's Life Before Fame

 A$AP Rocky is a world famous American rapper, music producer and record executive.

He is a well-known spitter in the hip-hop genre and a true counterculture. A$AP Rocky is well known for his many skills, including his command of the microphone, his sense of style, his love of hallucinogenic drugs, and his extremely public love life, which has included ex-girlfriends like Kendall Jenner and Iggy Azalea, the most prominent member of the Harlem's, among others.

But before these, before A$AP Rocky began dating his old buddy Rihanna at the end of 2020, before A$AP Rocky rose to fame as a member of the ASAP mob in 2011 and made iconic solo albums like "Long. Live. A$AP," "At. Long. Last. A$AP," and "Testing", he was just like any other boy in the hood who has had it rough growing up.

Rocky began his career in 2011 and quickly secured a staggering $3 million deal with Sony RCA. Few people at the time realized the struggle Rocky had to go through to reach this point, despite the fact that flat hit songs like "peso," "trilla," and "purple swag" delighted fans from the very beginning.

When it comes to this guy's utterly insane backstory, a father in prison, a brother who was murdered, and his own stint in rikers Island are just the tip of the iceberg. However, A$AP Rocky would ultimately overcome everything on his way to becoming one of the most well-known rappers to ever come from the east coast.

Here's a more recent look at the rise of the hip-hop icon, A$AP Rocky.

A$AP Rocky was born Rakim Athelaston Myers was born on October 3, 1998 in Harlem, New York. His parents named him Rakim in honor of the legendary rapper with the same name. And conidering they almost named their daughter Erica B after Rakim's Dj, Eric B, they were either dancing to his biggest stands or playing his music on repeat. 

His parents helped develop their young love for the rap industry from an early age because they are avid hip-hop aficionados.

His father even gave him a gold necklace for his fifth birthday, and the whole family applauded him as he put on a red jacket and started parading down the hallway in his house. Rocky had his first taste of superstar at that point and was immediately hooked.

Rocky spent his childhood in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which is about a three-hour journey from his birthplace. In order to keep them away from the illegal activity he was involved in on the streets, his father relocated the entire family there.

As a result, Rocky would frequently visit the Harrisburg Mall, particularly the Tower Record Store, where he encountered the first significant crossroads of his life. He had to choose between purchasing an album by his namesake Rakim or the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. He made the choice to pick up Rakim's after having a brief conversation with his brother Ricky.

Even if the Mortal Kombat theme song was a banger, it's probably best for the rest of us that he chose to listen to Rakim's album because it was that record that ignited Rocky's passion for music.

He started out listening to Rakim's music before moving on to other artists like Dipset of Harlem MCs, Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang Clan, Run D.M.C., and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Rocky was influenced throughout this critical period of his life by the fresh things each new artist he listened to had to offer. He was actually becoming so engrossed in the music that he would even have Ricky pound out rhythms on tabletops as he began spewing his own lines for the first time.

At the age of 12, just as his life was beginning to turn for the worse, his father was arrested and imprisoned for drug-related offenses. That left his family in ruins, and things would get rough for his mother and his siblings soon.

They quickly started moving in search of anything as basic as a roof over their heads. Once in North Carolina, they discovered that they were homeless and living in a shelter.

The family didn't stay there for very long before returning to New York City. His mother did this in the hopes that they would be able to survive better there in a place that was more familiar to them. Sadly, the complete opposite took place.

Rocky's older brother Ricky, who had supported him through it all and helped him explore his newfound passion for music, was shot and killed a few blocks from his house when he was just 13 years old.

Rocky claims that because God put him through so much hardship in his early life, he can be confident that the rest of his life will be real smooth.

Even though his brother's passing was a horrible occurrence, Rocky continued to work those same streets. Rocky initially sold marijuana before moving on to sell crack and eventually earning as much as $50,000 per month because the want to generate money was too strong for him to ignore. He has, however, always claimed that he didn't consider himself to be a big-time hustler selling drugs, since his heart simply wasn't in it.

He did to earn enough money to provide for his family, his vision, and his passion for music. Rocky, his mother, and his two sisters travelled from shelter to shelter, seldom ever remaining in one place for very long, because his father was still imprisoned and his brother had since passed away.

Harlem came first, then the Bronx, before giving way to Philadelphia and eventually returning to North Carolina. Rocky found school challenging because of all the travelling about, and he was more interested in sleeping in and having plenty of flings than he was in getting an education.

Then, in 2004, it was Rocky's turn to be caught, and he found himself incarcerated on Rikers Island. He shared a cell with fellow New York City rapper Casanova while he was incarcerated, and Casanova witnessed firsthand how well Rocky could defend himself when the young boy got into a fight over some soup in the canteen. In the end, Rocky came out on top, and before he realized it, he was one of the most well-liked prisoners on the island.

Rocky only spent two weeks behind bars, and his unexpected meeting with Casanova and the need to move on from his brother's passing inspired him to concentrate his efforts on his love of music.

He at last understood that rap music might not merely be a lifetime passion. It might also present a business opportunity. Rocky joined the A$AP mob collective in 2007, which was co-founded by the harlem-born event planner A$AP yams. Rocky was taken under yams' wing and given the moniker A$AP rocky, which is still used today. And in case you're interested, A$AP stands for a variety of things, like 'always strive and prosper', 'assassinating snitches and police', and even the very meta 'acronym symbolizing any purpose'. That name is in front of everyone who is in the A$AP mob.

Rocky started producing songs with his new group because he was determined to create something of his life and was highly influenced by his love of Houston's hip-hop scene. Rocky started working with Clams Casino, A$AP Ty Beats, and SpaceGhostPurrps, three of Asap Mob's producers, in an effort to generate experimental beats and soundscapes that didn't resemble the music from his native New York.

In 2011, he self-released the song "purple swag," the video for which was made available just two months after Rocky decided to stop dealing drugs and focus solely on his musical goals.

Although the video was highly popular online, not everyone was ready to accept Rocky just yet. Especially those New Yorkers who absolutely hated his new sound. It was difficult to handle the backlash from his classmates, but happily it wouldn't endure for long. "Peso," his subsequent self-released single, became an instant hit all around Toronto.

Before A$AP Rocky had a chance to release his debut mixtape, "Live Love A$AP", a major label bidding war had suddenly broken out. A$AP wasn't simply looking out for himself with his deal, as he would eventually sign with the Sony RCA's polo grounds music for an incredible sum of three million dollars.

He provided for his entire team, divided the money between himself and the A$AP mob, and made sure that approximately half of the three million dollars went to their record company, A$AP worldwide. A$AP released "issues," possibly his most well-known song, in October 2012; it featured drake, two chainz, and kendrick lamar.

When Long Live Asap, his debut studio album, was released in January 2013, the success of this track helped propel it to the top spot on the Billboard 200. However, it was a melancholy occasion because his father passed away in December, just before his record was released.

Rocky would get up and move on to other creative projects, starting OG, a creative agency with just two rules: never reveal what og means and always refer to rule number one in times of uncertainty. The brand launched in 2015 with mysterious purpose and has done business with collaborators like guests and under armour as well as signing up and coming talent like playboy, cardi and producing music videos for A$AP mob and tyler the creator.

He released "At long last A$AP" that same year in may, but Rocky was once again struggling with a terrible loss. At the age of 26, his close friend and mentor ASAP Yams overdosed and tragically died.

Rocky made progress in May 2018 when he released his third album, "testing," which debuted on the Billboard 200 at number four. In July 2019, a video of A$AP and his entourage fighting with men on the streets of Stockholm, Sweden, surfaced. Rocky claims he acted in self-defense, but despite this, he was detained and taken to jail as he awaited trial. 

Rocky spent a month in jail before being convicted guilty of the assault, and President Trump even got involved in an effort to get him pardoned. He was also handed a suspended sentence, which limited his jail time to the month he had previously served, in exchange for making restitution to one of the victims.

More recently, Rocky has been making waves as it appears that he and his good friend Rihanna have taken things to the next level, being spotted all around the globe in one another's company which has people talking.