Category: Celebrities

In the world of hip-hop, there are certain names that always get thrown around when it comes to the greatest rappers of all time. Some of those names include Eminem, Nas, Jay-Z, Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G., and a handful of others that get all of the love. But what about some of the all-time greats that don’t quite get as much of the ballyhoo as the others do?

There are many fantastic rappers that didn’t quite land the mainstream success as some of the others that we mentioned, so now it’s time to give them the praise that they deserve. If you’re looking for something new to listen to and want to get deeper into hip-hop, here are five genius rappers who are cruelly overlooked.

Del the Funky Homosapien

Though his real name is Teren Delvon Jones, many know him as Del the Funky Homosapien, or simply Del. Jones was born in Oakland, California in 1972 and would start his hip-hop career during the late 1980s. At just 18 years old, he had his debut solo album and released three of them throughout the 1990s.

After releasing his fourth solo album in 2000, Del finally got some mainstream attention thanks to joining forces with Gorillaz on their 2001 self-titled album. Songs like “Clint Eastwood” and “Rock the House” were great introductions for Del, but if you want a taste of his solo work, you should check out tracks including “Catch a Bad One”, “If You Must”, and “Press Rewind”.

Rakim

If you ask any rapper that’s famous in the mainstream these days who they consider the greatest lyricist of all time, there’s a good chance that they’re going to say Rakim. After all, he’s nicknamed The God MC. However, many casual fans in the modern era aren’t quite sure of Rakim’s body of work.

Rakim was one half of the duo Eric B & Rakim which were at the forefront of what many music historians consider to be the golden era of hip-hop. Out of the four albums that Eric B. & Rakim released in the late 1980s and early 1990s, none reached the top 20 of the Billboard charts. Rakim released two more solo albums in the 1990s, but has released just one since then with 2009’s “The Seventh Seal”. Do yourself a favor and listen to his duo and solo work.

MF DOOM

The late MF DOOM is essentially in the same boat as Rakim, as many famous rappers consider him to be at the top tier of the genre even though he didn’t get much mainstream attention. Born as Dumile Daniel Thompson, he adopted the MF DOOM nickname and mask based on the comic book villain from the “Fantastic Four” series.

MF DOOM was known for his collaborative work over the years, but also released six solo albums between 1999 and 2009 under various names. This included his debut work, “Operation: Doomsday” and concluded with 2009’s “Born Like This” as simply Doom. Some of his best songs include “All Caps”, “Rhymes Like Dimes” and “That’s That”.

The D.O.C.

If the name D.O.C. sounds familiar, it’s because many of the best rappers in history have name-dropped him in their tracks, including Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Jay-Z. However, Tracy Lynn Curry didn’t receive as much chart success as those three with his own career.

The D.O.C. is a co-founder of Death Row Records and collaborated with a lot of West Coast rappers including Dre himself and Eazy-E. He was part of the Fila Fresh Crew and released three solo albums between 1989 (“No One Can Do It Better”) and 2003 (“Deuce”). His best tracks include “It’s Funky Enough”, “The Formula” and “Drink It Up”.

Royce da 5’9”

When you think of Detroit rappers, Eminem is always going to be the first name that comes to mind. When Eminem was coming up in the Detroit rap scene, though, he was part of a duo alongside Royce da 5’9” named Bad Meets Evil. Shortly after Eminem reached mainstream success as a solo artist, he offered Royce a deal with Aftermath Entertainment in favor of signing with Tommy Boy Records.

Royce then feuded with Eminem and his group D12 for several years and stayed mainly on the underground while also serving time in jail before reuniting Bad Meets Evil. Royce has released eight studio albums throughout his career, but none of them have reached the top 20 of the Billboard 200. Some of Royce’s best songs include “Boom”, “I’m the King” and “Caterpillar”, with songs such as “Lighters” highlighting his Bad Meets Evil time.

No matter what form of entertainment it is, there are always going to be power couples that dominate the industry. From the world of finance to politics and movies, power couples get all of the attention while also dominating their respective lines of work in terms of popularity. Hip-hop is no exception as there have been many power couples over the years that worked together to rule the charts and fill up the headlines.

Out of the many power couples that hip-hop has had, though, which ones really reign supreme? We’ll go back to the early days of the genre and see which ones really stood head and shoulders above the rest. Here are our picks for the five biggest hip-hop power couples of all time.

Jay-Z and Beyoncé 

Probably the hip-hop power couple that will be remembered for years to come, rap mogul Jay-Z and natural-born superstar Beyoncé are a match made in hip-hop heaven. The two first met around the year 2000 and went on to date in 2001 and released their song “Crazy in Love” in 2003. 

The couple has three children, Blue Ivy and twins Rumi and Sir. Their relationship was littered with controversy when cheating rumors arose, but the couple seems to be going strong once again. As a couple, they have a combined net worth of $1.8 billion, dwarfing any other couple in hip-hop.

Cardi B and Offset

Another hip-hop couple that’s seen their fair share of tabloid headlines are rappers Cardi B and Offset. The couple got together in early 2017 and quickly made their way to marriage later that same year. The couple had their first child, a baby girl named Kulture in 2018. 

Their relationship had some bumps in the road after a cheating scandal involving Offset’s relations with another woman. They broke up and were set to get divorced, but a few months later they gave it another try and the marriage survived. The two reconciled and had their second child, a boy named Wave in 2021. 

Notorious B.I.G and Faith Evans

The OG hip-hop couple of the ’90s, the late rapper Notorious B.I.G and singer/rapper Faith Evans. The two met on the set of a Bad Boy Records photo shoot in 1994. Evans drove the rapper home afterward and their relationship advanced extraordinarily quickly, with the couple getting hitched just 8 days later. 

Though their relationship was not all sunshine and rainbows. The rapper was knowingly seeing other women on the side, including fellow rapper Lil Kim. Biggie and Evans had one child together before his death in 1997. 

Rihanna and ASAP Rocky

Superstar hip hop/pop queen Rihanna and her beau ASAP Rocky are icons in the music industry and an iconic couple. The two had extremely successful mainstream careers over the years, maintaining a longstanding friendship for years, then finally got together in 2020. Their relationship quickly progressed and the couple had their first child in 2022. 

Rumors of an engagement between the two made rounds on the internet after the two got “engaged” in Rocky’s “D.M.B.” music video, but the couple has not confirmed or denied plans of engagement, or marriage yet. 

Remy Ma and Papoose

Probably the most romantic hip-hop relationship with the least amount of turmoil within the 16 years they’ve been together, rappers Remy Ma and Papoose are two love birds who can’t be torn apart. They met through a mutual friend and sparks flew immediately. 

They began dating and got married over the phone during Ma’s time in prison for shooting a woman outside of a nightclub. After her release in 2016, she and Papoose finally wed in a more traditional setting. Ma has a child from a previous relationship but tried for another child with husband Papoose after marriage. After suffering a miscarriage in 2017, the couple held on and went on to have their child Reminisce in 2018. 

There have been two people who were considered celebrities before their careers in politics who ended up having successful runs for the White House. The first was when former actor and Screen Actors Guild leader Ronald Reagan became the 40th President of the United States. The next was real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump, who became the 45th President.

Along the way, there have been several other celebrities that have taken their shot at the White House but haven’t come as nearly as close as Reagan and Trump. Between singers, reality television stars, actors, and authors, there are plenty who felt that they were ready to lead the nation, but didn’t have many who felt the same way. Here are five celebrities who ran for the White House.

Kanye West

The controversial rapper has had a lot to say about politics throughout his career, but especially during the late 2010s. West had been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump’s initial campaign in 2016 and decided that he wanted to run for office in 2020 himself. The “Flashing Lights” and “Through the Wire” singer decided to run as an independent during the election, but didn’t fare so well.

West received around 60,000 votes in total, so he was never as serious as a contender as some thought he would be. However, West did almost immediately announce that he would be running in 2024 while the votes were still being counted. As for where most of his votes came from, the state of Tennessee counted for the largest amount at 10,195.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

All Dwayne Johnson has to do to really become a serious contender for the White House is to officially submit his name. As of now, he has said several times that he has thought about it and likes where the polling numbers are, but hasn’t hit the campaign trail to secure more votes. One poll showed that nearly half of Americans would support him in a presidential run, even.

“I would consider a (more serious) presidential run in the future if that’s what the people wanted,” said Johnson, the professional wrestler turned actor. “Truly I mean that, and I’m not flippant in any way with my answer. That would be up to the people…So I would wait, and I would listen. I would have my finger on the pulse, my ear to the ground.”

Brock Pierce

The name Brock Pierce might not sound too familiar, but if you grew up in the 1990s, you certainly remember his face. Pierce was a child acting star who rose to prominence in the film “The Mighty Ducks”, playing the younger version of Emilio Estevez’s Gordon Bombay. Afterward, he starred in the 1996 Sinbad film “First Kid” and also appeared in “Little Big League” and “Three Wishes”.

Pierce left the acting world during his teenage years and became an investor and entrepreneur who made millions, eventually hitting it big in cryptocurrency and real estate.  As a true independent, Pierce ran for president during the 2020 election with Karla Ballard as his running mate. He didn’t fare well, though, earning less than 50,000 votes.

Roseanne Barr

You’ve likely heard of some of the third parties that end up receiving a good chunk of votes each election. The Libertarian Party, Green Party, and Reform Party are all ones that have popped up as third-place finishers, but the Peace and Freedom Party is one that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention. That would change in 2012, however, as comedian and actor Roseanne Barr ran for president under the party’s ticket.

At the time, Barr had identified as a member of the leftist group and ran with Utah as her home state. Barr actually performed better than anyone on this list so far, collecting nearly 70,000 votes. That was good for 0.05 percent of the total and placed her sixth overall in the final tally. Of course, it wasn’t enough to top Barack Obama’s 65.9 million votes.

Stephen Colbert

Talk show host Stephen Colbert was still playing his satirical Comedy Central character in 2008 when he decided to start a campaign for the presidency. He did so in October 2007 and had initially said that he was going to run on both the Democrat and Republican tickets. However, the Republican fee turned out to be too high, so he instead spent just $2,500 to be on the Democratic ballot.

Despite paying the fee, the Democratic Party executive council in the state of South Carolina turned him down, so he didn’t make it to the primary. Within one month of his candidacy, Colbert officially withdrew in what could have ended up being a very interesting situation in 2008.

Everyone has to overcome some type of adversity in their lives, though some of us have it much harder than others. Certain people are born with a huge disadvantage, whether it be from a poor financial situation, a family tragedy, or anything in between. Many people fold under that type of adversity, while others go on to become huge successes.

In Korea, there have been plenty of instances where those that became stars came from backgrounds that were filled with adversity. Here are five stories of those stars that had to go from having nothing to being some of the most recognizable people in Korea.

Choi Daniel

Choi Daniel rose to fame during the late 2000s when he made his way from being a gas station attendant to a famous actor, getting his first real work on the series “Worlds Within” in 2008. From there, Daniel has been on a long list of TV series that include “The Ghost Detective”, “High Kick Through the Roof” and “Baby Faced Beauty” just to name a few. He’s also a radio DJ that has become a household name in Korea.

When he was just five years old, Daniel’s mother passed away and he didn’t have many memories of her. Not only that, but the business that Daniel’s father was running went under and he had to declare bankruptcy. He was working simply to make ends meet and was a college dropout when he finally hit it big.

V

A lot of people who go on to become famous singers are from families that are wealthy and have a lot of connections. That isn’t the case for V of BTS fame. Born Kim Tae-hyung in Daegu, South Korea, V grew up in a family that had almost nothing to their name. He was raised by parents that spent almost all of their time working and was also raised by his grandmother.

V knew that he had talent as a singer, but never really got to showcase his skills. When his friends were going to an audition, V tagged along and got himself behind the microphone. He was then inserted into the boy band BTS which would take the world by storm. On top of that, V has also had solo work with a trio of singles that have been hits in Korea while also working on his degree.

IU

K-Pop star IU (real name Lee Ji-eun) was just 15 years old when she made her music debut with the extended play “Lost and Found” in 2008. She then released a few more tracks over the next couple of years and became a megastar thanks to her song “Good Day”. Since then, IU has been one of the biggest names in the genre and has been named the most popular singer in Korea in two different years.

Though she started in her early teenage years, IU didn’t have the easiest childhood. She was raised in a family that had no money and was living in an extremely cramped apartment that was infested with cockroaches. IU knew that she wanted to get out and was taking her music seriously, leading to her auditioning and becoming a star.

Park Bo-gum

Actor Park Bo-gum has been the star of many television series and movies in Korea since the start of the 2010s. Some of his biggest roles include “Hello Monster”, “Reply 1988”, and “Love in the Moonlight”. Park grew up wanting to be an actor and showed that he was also gifted both musically and athletically as a child, but the odds were stacked against him.

Park’s mother passed away early in his childhood, and his father wasn’t around much as he had to work to support Park and his two siblings. Thankfully, Park was able to get noticed when he sent in a video of himself performing, and he landed his first on-screen role in 2011 while also releasing his first music single in 2016 titled “My Person” that reached number three on the charts.

Bong Joon-Ho

The man who became an international star thanks to directing the Academy Award-winning film “Parasite” didn’t have the harshest childhood, but it took him many years of hardship professionally before reaching the top. Bong Joon-Ho was born in Daegu and raised in Seoul where his father worked, and Bong attended multiple colleges in early adulthood.

Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, Bong was making less than $2,000 per year while trying to find his footing as an actor. Things got so bad that he had to borrow rice from people, but he never gave up. He finally got his big break in the mid 2000s, and went on to direct several hit films including “Snowpiercer” and “Okja”.

Rap music may have a bad reputation outside of music due to some of the subject matter, but it’s a lot deeper than meets the eye for those that aren’t actually listening to the messages. Over the years, there have been a lot of rappers who have discussed social issues through their songs and got involved in social movements.

From participating in rallies to giving speeches, there are plenty of hip-hop acts who were or are socially aware. Here’s a look at five of those acts and how they’ve discussed society in their music.

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar is known for his incredible rap career. One that displays his fight for social justice and his activist nature in his many hit songs. Lamar even earned himself the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018 for his socially conscious and influential tracks on DAMN, the rapper’s fourth studio album. 

Featured on the album are tracks like DNA, with lyrics that focus on the struggles the African American community goes through and how they’re viewed from Lamar’s personal point of view and separately by society. Songs like “Determined”, “Ignorance is Bliss”, and “Average Joe” highlight Lamar’s feelings on social situations.

Common

Common is one of the original socially conscious rappers, a product of a time when self-aware and socially conscious hip hop wasn’t widely known. However, his first album “Can I Borrow a Dollar” was not exactly a shining example of that. 

After his debut album bombed, Common studied religion, reflected on his purpose, and took the time to mentally and emotionally mature and grow as a human being before releasing his next album “Resurrection” two years later. The album put him on the map and shone a light on the socially conscious rapper whose lyrics were wise and purposeful. “The truth of the matter is, you don’t have to be that big-name person to have a really supreme impact,” Common said.

Erykah Badu

Once an opening act for D’Angelo during the early 1990s, Erykah Badu became a big name in R&B while also serving as an artist that wasn’t afraid to speak about social issues away from the music studio. 

When talking about the Black Lives Matter movement during the mid-2010s, Badu said that “I felt it coming on,” adding that “I was really feeling a strong affinity toward writing about what was going on around me. And I actually wrote about what’s happening right now…so I don’t feel the need to write it now, because I got it out.” Badu then went on to say that “Can we organize to stop black-on-black crime or poor-on-poor crime? Because, you know, poor is the new black. You don’t have to be black now.”

Mos Def

Mos Def is another socially conscious rapper that helped to popularize the genre, getting his solo start in 1999 after spending some time in a group with his siblings and releasing an album with Talib Kweli. After his release of “Black on Both Sides,” he released three more albums throughout the next 10 years. 

His powerful lyrics regarding his stance on political events, the injustice to the African American and Muslim community, and police brutality set him up to be one of the most influential socially and spiritually aware rappers of our time. “America is a very challenging place for me,” the rapper said upon his move to South Africa. “I needed to take some time to put myself in environments where I felt good…my country is called Earth. This whole thing belongs to everyone that’s on it.”

Tupac Shakur 

Tupac Shakur is considered by many to be the greatest rapper to ever live, and many felt that he was also one of the most socially aware. While he had hit songs like “California Love” and “Hit Em Up”, Shakur also had a lot of social commentary songs that included “Changes” and “Dear Mama”. In the former, he talks about police brutality, drug use among the African-American community, racism, and more.

There were also songs including “White Man’z World” that included lyrics including “So tell the babies how I love them, precious boys and girls, born black in this white man’s world.” Sadly, Shakur was shot to death at just 25 years old in 1996 while in Las Vegas, left unable to spread his message in today’s world.

Back in 1994, Kevin Bacon said in an interview that he had either worked with everybody in Hollywood or worked with someone that worked with someone. This created the thought that there weren’t any actors that were only a couple of degrees of separation away from the “Tremors” star. He’s not wrong, either, as almost every major actor in Hollywood has a “Bacon Number” of 1 or 2.

Bacon is the only person himself with a Bacon Number of 0 because he is, after all, Kevin Bacon. So are there any actors that people have heard of that have a Bacon Number that’s higher than 2? There aren’t a whole lot, but there are some surprising names on the list. Here are five actors who are perfect for the “6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game.

Robert Downey Jr.

If you take out the fact that Kevin Bacon was part of the “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” since it wasn’t made for big screens, then Robert Downey Jr. has a surprising Bacon Number of 4. It sort of makes sense as Downey had spent more than a decade playing Tony Stark without appearing in many other films.

On the other hand, Downey did star in other blockbusters including “Dr. Doolittle” while also being a big star in the 1980s at the same time as Bacon. Downey appeared in the film “Veerasamy” with Venniradai Moorthy. Moorthy was in “Michael Madana Kama Rajan” with Nassar, showing that you have to trace the Downey-Bacon link to India. Nassar was in “Fair Game” with David Andrews, who in turn was in “Apollo 13” with Kevin Bacon. Either way, all roads lead through “Veerasamy”.

Matt Damon

For whatever reason, it feels like Matt Damon and Kevin Bacon have been in the same movie together. However, many would be surprised to learn that they haven’t. While his Bacon Number isn’t higher than 2, it’s a shock that it’s not a 1. Damon appeared in “The Good Old Boys” with Tommy Lee Jones, who starred in “JFK” with Kevin Bacon.

There are a couple of other actors that link Damon to Bacon, as well. This includes Terry Kinney, Sean Patrick Thomas, and even Denise Richards and Mike O’Malley. We’re still waiting on that Damon-Bacon collaboration, though. 

Jenna Davis

Jenna Davis is one of the fastest-rising stars in Hollywood thanks to her role as the titular character in the 2022 film “M3GAN” which became a surprise hit with audiences. Prior to her role in the film, Davis had mainly starred on the small screen, making appearances on shows such as “Raven’s Home”, “Vampirina” and “Treehouse Detectives”.

“M3GAN” ended up being her first big screen role, and the official beginning of her link to Kevin Bacon. In “M3GAN’, Davis stars alongside Ronny Chieng. Chieng appeared in “Wish Dragon” with John Cho, who starred in “The Air I Breathe” with Kevin Bacon. That film was released in 2007 and directed by Korean-American Jieho Lee, and also starred Forest Whitaker and Andy Garcia.

Charlie Chaplin

No matter how far back in time you go, there’s a good chance that there’s an actor that’s only a couple of degrees away from Kevin Bacon. This includes actors from the silent film era of Hollywood, including the legendary Charlie Chaplin. Known for his comedic styling and unique look, Chaplin’s separation from Bacon is closer than you think.

Chaplin starred in the film “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” alongside Gary Cooper. Cooper then starred in “Sergeant York” with June Lockhart. The Bacon Number then ends at 3 as Lockhart appeared in “The Big Picture” with Kevin Bacon. The 1989 comedy/drama starred Bacon as a film school graduate and was directed by Christopher Guest.

Marilyn Monroe

Speaking of Hollywood legends that are surprisingly linked to Kevin Bacon, actress Marilyn Monroe has a Bacon Number of just 2. That’s right, despite not appearing in a film for more than 60 years, Marilyn Monroe is just two degrees of separation away from Kevin Bacon. The link starts with the film “Let’s Make It Legal”, which also featured Robert Wagner.

Wagner then starred in “Wild Things” with Kevin Bacon, which was released in 1998. The best part is that there are even more actors than just Wagner that link the two. Jack Lemmon, (“JFK”) and Eli Wallach (“Mystic River”) also have common movies with both Monroe and Bacon.

Just like in any other profession, there are people in the hip-hop industry that simply don’t get along. Sometimes, there are completely valid reasons for two people to not like each other, while some beefs between two people are completely off-the-wall and leave fans and other rappers thinking “come on, now.”

As a result, we’ve seen plenty of rap beefs that have been downright funny and surreal over the past 20 years. From getting involved with the White House to not attending a party, some of the drama is almos too goofy to take seriously. Here are five instance of surreal hip-hop drama episodes in the past 20 years.

1. The Game vs. Jay-Z

Jayceon Taylor, also known as The Game, has a lot of problems with legendary rapper Jay-Z, and he wants everyone to know about it. On the other side of the coin, it doesn’t seem like Jay-Z thinks about The Game at all. The Game has taken shots at Jay-Z in the media and directly mentioned him in several songs, but Jay-Z has not responded in the slightest. So what’s the deal with The Game?

“I met Jay-Z a long time ago in the 40/40 Club and he seemed like a cool dude,” The Game said. “I asked him something, ‘How do you stay relevant?’ And I ain’t really like his answer. So ever since then I just kinda take shots here and shots there.” Eventually, The Game revealed that Jay-Z told him that “most of you new rappers won’t last long anyway” and that The Game should have a backup plan.

2. Kanye West vs. George W. Bush

Since the start of the hip-hop genre, rappers have gotten heavily involved with politics, so it’s no surprise when a rapper sounds off about the President of the United States. One rapper did it in such a surreal way, though, that it left even one of the best improvisational comedians completely speechless.

Of course, we’re talking about Kanye West, who appeared alongside “Wayne’s World” and “Austin Powers” star Mike Myers at the Concert for Hurricane Relief in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. West told Myers that was going to ad-lib “a little bit.” Myers talked about the tragedy of the hurricane, while West went into a tirade about racial relations in the country, explicitly calling out President George W. Bush by saying “George Bush does not care aboutblack people.”

3. Eminem vs. Insane Clown Posse

You can’t talk about the Detroit rap scene without mentioning Eminem and the Insane Clown Posse, who have made their mark on the Motor City over the past quarter-century. During the early days of Eminem’s career when he wasn’t well-known, he was having a release party for his debut album. On the flier for the party, Eminem mentioned that ICP might be there, putting (maybe) next to their name.

The fact that ICP was even mentioned on the flier didn’t set well with the duo, and they began a historic beef with Eminem that made Detroiters scratch their heads. There was even assault with a deadly weapon involved at one point during the beef, but things have cooled off tremendously. “I’d invite Eminem to come have dinner at my house,” ICP rapper Violent J said. “We’d love to do a song with him. That’d be dope.”

4. Soulja Boy vs. Almost Everyone

When you think about songs that have a lot of depth and meaning, you probably won’t find Soulja Boy near that list. With songs like “Pretty Boy Swag”, “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” and, of course, “Crank That”, Soulja Boy seemed mostly like a novelty rapper that was a testament to the mid 2000s.

During his career, Soulja Boy has had a beef with just about everybody, many of which were seemingly for no reason in particular. He didn’t like how Ice-T said that he was ruining hip-hop, he didn’t like when Lil’ Yachty got people to chant “F*** Soulja Boy”, and he even got into it with actor Shia Labeouf for…reasons.

5. Chris Brown vs. CM Punk

CM Punk is known for being one of the best pro wrestlers in the world and was a part-time MMA fighter, but he’s not really known for having a rap background. That didn’t stop him from tweeting that he would like to fight Chris Brown, calling him a “turd” and asking for a match at WrestleMania.

Instead of acknowledging that this was a pro wrestler talking to him, Brown took the bait and got personal with Punk. The two continued to trade barbs with Brown not making any WWE appearances, letting everyone know that Brown got worked into a shoot, as Hulk Hogan would say.