ASAP Rocky is one of the biggest stars of American hip-hop right now. The artist was born on October 3, 1988 in New York, but has Barbadian roots. His real name is Rakim Athelaston Mayers and was named by his mother after Rakim, an American rapper and poet. She has an older sister, Erica, and a brother, Ricky, who tragically died in 2012. A big role in his life is played by his grandmother, with whom he has a strong bond.
The 33-year-old rapper made his debut in August 2011, when he released his first single entitled “Peso”, which was eagerly played by radio stations in the United States. So far, he has released three studio albums, and his fourth album “Don’t Be Dumb” will soon appear on store shelves. His greatest hits include such songs as: “Everyday”, “Praise The Lord (Da Shine), “A$AP Forever” or “Love$ick”, where he appeared as a guest artist with British producer Mura Masa.
Mura Masa ft. A$AP Rocky – Love$ick
ASAP’s youth was not easy
The rapper’s childhood was not a bed of roses. When he was 12, his father Adrian Mayers went to prison for drug dealing. This event forced the whole family to live in poorhouses – in Harlem, the Bronx, Philadelphia and North Carolina.
The poor financial conditions of the family meant that young Rakim quickly followed in his father’s footsteps and started dealing. At the age of eighteen, he even spent two weeks in prison on Rikers Island. A few years later, in 2012, his father died of pneumonia. The rapper remembered him with the words:
I got one piece of advice from my dad and I used it. He told me to always be myself and to always be comfortable with whatever decision I make. Because I take it. Just because something doesn’t fit into the generally accepted framework doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong.
A tragic fate also befell the artist’s 20-year-old brother, who was murdered. The rapper told more about this event when he visited one of the shelters where he lived together with the station crew:
Ricky, my older brother, was shot dead on this block. He was 20 years old. I was walking to school at the time and I remember my mother running up to me screaming that my brother had just been shot. He was a very strong man. I thought she was going to make it out of this. But when we got to St. Luke’s gone. February 22. We were informed of his death that day.
Those years could have had a huge impact on the rapper’s behavior. He also has occasional run-ins with the law. In July 2019, he was detained in Sweden after a fight in one of the streets of Stockholm. For this reason, his concert at Open’er was canceled. Also in April 2022, he was arrested at the Los Angeles airport. He was suspected of a 2021 armed attack. The rapper managed to leave the detention center after paying a giant bail and visited Poland, giving a concert at last year’s edition of Open’er.
A$AP Rocky feat. Skepta – Praise The Lord (Da Shine)
The rapper’s love life has always been on the tongues
Ever since ASAP gained international prominence, the media has been as interested in his love life as in his music. Especially since he has dated many popular women in the past. These were e.g. Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, British singer Rita Ora, American model and Victoria’s Secret Angel Chanel Iman and two sisters from the Kardashian family – Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner. The relationship with the latter was particularly observed by the media. The rapper and the model dated for over a year – from July 2016 to August 2017.
He started dating Rihanna in mid-2020, although the artists met much earlier. They had their first contact with each other in 2012, when ASAP appeared, among others on in the remix of Rihanna’s single “Cockiness (Love It)”, which talks about the singer’s sexual domination over her partners. The following year, he accompanied her on an international tour, where he was her support during concerts in North America.
A few years later, they began to be seen together, incl. at the British Fashion Awards in 2019, but there was no talk of love between them at the time. The media only at the beginning of 2020 began to speculate about a possible romance. Emotions reached their zenith when in August the rapper took part in a campaign for Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty skincare products, where he posed for photos with the singer. At that time, their relationship was almost certain for many. That is why the media reports from December 2020 were a shock to the few, when they went on a Christmas cruise to Barbados, where, according to the “People” magazine, the rapper was supposed to meet Rihanna’s family.
They decided to inform the world about their happiness only in May 2021, when the rapper in the magazine “” called the singer “the love of his life” and “his lady”:
She’s one in a million. I think when you know she’s the one, you feel comfortable going into monogamy (…) So yeah, I guess you could say it’s serious.
Rihanna, in turn, in an interview with “Vogue” said that it is not easy for her to move from the sphere of friendship to something more.
It certainly took me a while to get over how well I know him and how much he knows me, because we also know what kind of trouble we can get into.
She also recalled their performance at the VMAs in 2012 when “he grabbed my ass on stage. It wasn’t part of the rehearsal! I thought, ‘What are you doing?!’ My manager said, ‘Oh God, she must like this guy a bit. She never lets things like that get away with anyone.’ Their relationship developed from friendship to love during the pandemic, with the singer stating that ASAP Rocky “became her family at that time”.
In January 2022, the couple decided to inform the world about the artist’s pregnancy. During her stay in New York, the singer was dressed to expose her pregnant belly, decorated with jewelry. The artist wore an orange creation that strongly emphasized the figure. On May 19, 2022, it was confirmed that she gave birth to a son, who was born on May 13 in Los Angeles. In December last year, she showed his image for the first time, sharing a recording with a baby on TikTok.
In his musical career, he made a breakthrough in American hip-hop
By entering the mainstream, ASAP showed that it can be done while remaining faithful to the underground. He wanted to definitely stand out from the generic style of New York hip-hop, which was associated with talking about expensive cars to template beats. He himself once loudly criticized the local scene. His debut mixtape “Live.Love.A$AP”, self-released in October 2011, was considered pioneering in many ways by many critics.
After that, his career skyrocketed and now his market value is estimated at around ten million dollars. This makes the musician earn about a million dollars a year. In December, during a concert for Amazon Music Live, he said that he is working on his fourth studio album, which will be called “Don’t Be Dumb”. He also revealed that the album will be produced by Metro Boomin from Atlanta, which will make the project a combination of Rocky’s characteristic alternative New York rap with the rhythm of contemporary rap from the South. The release is promoted by singles such as: “DMB”, “Sh*ttin’ Me”, “Chit Chat” and “Same Problems?”.
A$AP ROCKY – Same Problems (Amazon Music Live Performance)
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Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
