50 Little Known Facts about Rappers

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."

27. 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.

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

29. 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?"

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

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”.

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

33. 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.

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

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

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

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. 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.

40. Akon has a "high end" clothing line, has had 6 children with 3 women, owns a diamond mine in South Africa, has his own charity for underprivileged children, was in jail for being part of an auto-theft ring, and is also banned from the country of Sri Lanka.

Rapper Whiz Khalifa once claimed that he spends upwards $10,000 a month on cannabis. He then partnered with a medical marijuana dispensary. He helped develop and promote the “Khalifa Kush” strain, so he now no longer pays for cannabis.

42. Korean rapper Tablo (Daniel Lee) and his family received death threats because no one could believe that he completed his bachelor's and master's from Stanford in 3.5 years, despite Stanford acknowledging it as true. The accusation was started by an online forum, led by one user.

43. Rapper/Singer Nate Dogg joined the Marines and served as a Munitions Specialist for 3 years. When asked why he joined he said, "I wanted to see if I was a man."

44. Rapper Nelly missed out on a potential bone marrow donor for his dying sister who had leukemia because people protested his fundraiser due to his music video 'Tip Drill.'

45. Rapper Obie Trice was shot in the head in 2005 while driving. Doctors decided it was too dangerous to operate on, so the bullet is still lodged in his skull.

Canadian Rapper Snow spent 1 year in prison in 1989 while awaiting trial for two counts of attempted murder. He was eventually acquitted and freed. The incident was the inspiration for his hit song "Informer."

47. Rapper Shawn "Solo" Fonteno, otherwise known as the voice of Franklin from GTA V, once knocked out the popular rapper Ice Cube and took his chain.

48. Rappers Warren G and Dr. Dre are step-brothers.

49. In 2003, Rapper Mystikal was sentenced (and served) 6 years in state prison after pleading guilty to forcing his hairstylist to perform sex acts and for extorting money.

50. Rapper O.D.B. was on the Pras track "Ghetto Superstar" because he wandered into the wrong studio in an entirely different state.