33 Fast Facts About Rappers Most Hip Hop Fans Don’t Know

Rapper Akon has brought solar electricity to over 1 million Africans and counting.

2. British rapper M.I.A. named her debut album "Arular" after the nom de guerre of her father, who fought in his native Sri Lanka as a Tamil Tiger. Her hope - which would be realized - was that he would one day google his old name, find her album, and reconnect with her.

3. In 1992, rapper Mac Dre was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and sentenced to 5 years in prison after he refused a police deal, which was informing law enforcement about his partners. While awaiting trial Mac Dre recorded a full album over the phone, taunting law enforcement officials.

4. LL Cool J was asked to be in a Gap commercial but was mad at how they treated him on the phone when they asked. He starred in the commercial wearing a FUBU hat and rapping "For Us By Us" in the ad, giving FUBU over $30 million in free advertising and propelling FUBU to a global brand.

5. Rapper Missy Elliot suffers from a disease called Graves' Disease that severely stunted her fast-paced, popular music career in the early 2000's.

Before he rapped, Ice Cube studied Architecture and Drafting, and he maintains a love for it to this day.

7. Big Boi from OutKast, as a child, would throw candy parties where he'd charge kids to come to his house and eat candy all day. He would DJ it.

8. Drake’s nickname among his fans in China is “gōng yā”, literally meaning “male duck”, while Kanye West's nickname in China is “kǎn yé”, which in Beijing dialect means “someone who brags a lot with no actions to follow it up.”

9. Tupac Shakur's favorite song was the folk-pop 'Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)' by Don McLean and so on his deathbed, his girlfriend played this song so it was the last thing that he heard.

10. African Rapper Sam Stigillydaa thought that "American rappers talk about crazy things- drinking, drugs, violence against women, American blacks kill blacks. I hope African rap stays African and doesn't turn crazy."

While André 3000 from OutKast was a vegan for 15 years, he recently gave it up, saying "Socially it became horrible. I was kind of just sitting at home eating a salad."

12. At 11 years old, Stanley Burrell was a batboy for the Oakland A's. He was nicknamed "Hammer" because of his resemblance to Hank Aaron. The nickname stuck, and he would later assume the rap name "MC Hammer."

13. Rapper Lil Dicky made the music video for '$ave Dat Money' a song about saving money by asking house owners, a yacht owner, and a car dealership if he could use their stuff for free. He also crashed a music video being shot by T-Pain and used it acting as if it were his own. Spending $0.

14. Donald Glover got his rapper name 'Childish Gambino' from an online Wu-Tang Clan name generator.

15. In 1992, Ice Cube released a single, "True to The Game," calling out Uncle Tom rappers who abandon hardcore rap in order to cater to white audiences. Mr. Cube has since been renewed for 5 seasons of the hit family sitcom "Are We There Yet?"

Hip-hop artist MF Grimm was expelled from his high school for assaulting the school dean because the dean owed him drug money.

17. The song “Day Dream” by Chamillionaire samples “Daydreamin’” by Lupe Fiasco, which samples “Daydream in Blue” by I Monster, which samples “Daydream” by the Gunter Kallmann Choir, which covers “Daydream” by Wallace Collection, which is based on Tchaikovsky's “Swan Lake”.

18. J. Cole graduated from St. John's University in 2009 but did not receive his diploma until 2015 due to an overdue library book.

19. Before being sentenced to prison, rapper Meek Mill's judge allegedly requested he abandon his record label to sign with her friend, and that he cover a Boys II Men song mentioning her name. At the same trial, the court clerk passed Mill a note asking him to help pay her son's tuition.

20. Rapper Big Sean had a GPA of 3.7 and turned down a scholarship to Michigan State before being signed by Kanye West.

After MTV canceled "Pimp My Ride," Xzibit's annual income was slashed by more than 85% to $67,000.

22. Rapper Tech N9ne performed for soldiers in the Middle East, broke a rib, and continued his tour anyway.

23. The song 'Crabbuckit' by k-os refers to 'crab in the bucket syndrome', in which a group of crabs in a bucket will pull down any crab trying to escape thus ensuring their collective demise.

24. Rappers Puff Daddy and Heavy D hosted an AIDS benefit in New York City in 1991. Unfortunately, overselling the event led to a stampede in which 9 people died.

25. Vanilla Ice wrote his famous "Ninja Rap" song from the movie TMNT: The Secret of the Ooze in 30 minutes on an SP 1200 drum machine while in his hotel room.