Rakim Athelaston Mayers (A$AP Rocky) was born on October 3, 1988 in Harlem, New York. Rocky’s father was from Barbados, but died while he was in jail in 2012. Rocky also had an older sister named Erika who died in 2016 from a drug overdose. Rocky started rapping at the age of 9 when he moved to Harrisburg Pennsylvania. While living in Harrisburg, Rocky learned how to rap from his older brother and also adopted his brother’s French braid hairstyle.
When Rocky was only 13 years old, his brother was killed in Harlem. Something unique about this situation was that Rocky claimed that the death of his brother drove him to take the rap game more seriously. Rocky’s career started in a very interesting way. In 2007, Rocky kicked his career off when he joined the A$AP mob. Rocky’s first single “Purple Swag” was a big hit and eventually became a street anthem in NYC.
Rocky’s single “Peso” was leaked online which eventually led to his stellar career. He created music videos for both “Peso” and “Purple Swag” which caught a lot of attention from record labels. He released the mixtape “Live. Love. A$AP” and signed a 2 year 3 million dollar deal with RCA records. Upon his deal, Rocky started a label “A$AP Worldwide” leading to a fantastic career.
Rocky demonstrates his entrepreneurial skills through his amazing talent and creativity of being able to rap. Rocky’s music is very good in a lot of people’s eyes and he is continuing to innovate by making more music for us consumers. Rocky inspires me because of the amount of family losses he took, but somehow managed to become a great entrepreneur. I have learned not to throw a pity party for myself if things get tough. Rocky had been through hell and back, but still managed to create great music and become a successful artist.
Wow I didn’t know that A$AP Rocky had such a hard childhood. I also find it kind of cool that he lived in Harrisburg for awhile. I like how his love for rap really sparked after his brother died because it shows how much he loved his brother and what his brother did to inspire him at such a young age. He really shows that you can come from nothing and still be extremely successful.