50 Little Known Facts about Rappers

After Chamillionaire won a Grammy for “Ridin’”, he approached ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic on the red carpet, thanked him for the “White and Nerdy” parody and told him “I think your parody is a big reason why I won this Grammy, because you made it undeniable that my song was the rap song of the year."

2. When Will Smith was 12, his grandma found his profanity-laced notebook and wrote, “Dear Will, truly intelligent people don't have to use words like this to express themselves. Please show the world that you're as smart as we think you are,” on the back -- inspiring him to be a “clean” rapper.

3. Wu-Tang Clan member Gza is a science nerd and has spoken at Harvard and hosted a Physics lecture at MIT.

4. During Notorious B.I.G.'s funeral procession through the streets of Brooklyn, someone interrupted the somber atmosphere by playing "Hypnotize" at full volume, which prompted the public to dance and sing along. It was no longer a mourning of his death, but a celebration of his life.

5. Lil Wayne was saved at the age of 12 by a white police officer named Uncle Bob. “He was white as snow...my life was saved by a white man. I don't know what racism is. I know a good mother f*cker named Uncle Bob though.”

Once, while on a tour bus, Busta Rhymes heard one of the songs on Eminem's "Slim Shady EP" and got so into the music that he smashed his head on the windshield of the bus, breaking the whole windshield because he said Eminem's music was so compelling and powerful.

7. Rapper Logic played Mario Kart against different rappers every night on stage for one of his tours and won all 35 games.

8. In 2013, Kanye West's "Yeezus" was voted both "Most Overrated Album" and "Most Underrated Album" by Pitchfork readers.

9. In 2017, Chance the Rapper donated over $2 million to Chicago Public Schools. Working with 20 principals and his non-profit SocialWorks, he helped the schools gain $100,000 over 3 years and selected the schools based on budgetary and individual needs.

10. Rapper Busta Rhymes voiced Reptar from Rugrats.

In 2015, Dr. Dre donated all of his artist royalties earned from “Compton”, his first album in 16 years, to help fund new performing art and entertainment facility in Compton.

12. Gangsta's Paradise is one of the few Coolio songs to not feature profanity because it was the only way Stevie Wonder would authorize the sampling of his song 'Pastime Paradise.'

13. Rapper Ice-T served 4 years in the army, was a squad leader for the 25th infantry division and received an honorable discharge.

14. Nas listed his daughter Destiny as an executive producer on Stillmatic so that she would always receive royalty checks from the album.

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

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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

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

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

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.

22. 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.”

23. 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.

24. 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."

25. 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."