Rap Trivia: 35 Fascinating Facts About the Hip-Hop Industry

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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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."

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.'

32. 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.

33. 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."

34. 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.

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