Hip-hop's Best Rags-to-Riches Stories
The pre-fame tales of some of rap's finest.
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Cinderella Stories of the Hip-hop Age - Maybach Music Group’s latest signing, Isa Muhammad, impressed label head Rick Ross unexpectedly when he rapped for the mogul, literally, when he was in the streets. A month later Isa, who was once homeless, was signed to the MMG label imprint alongside rappers like Wale and Meek Mill. It’s a classic hip-hip rags-to-riches story that really personifies a genre that holds rappers who’ve catapulted themselves from humble beginnings to superstardom. Isa joins a storyboard filled with rags-to-riches stories and here are some of the best. – Jon Reyes(Photos from Left: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for iHeartMedia, Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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Jay Z - Hov is one of the most popular rags-to-riches stories, which you can find chronicled in his memoir, Decoded. From his drug dealing days to attending the 2009 presidential inauguration? That’s a story.(Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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Notorious B.I.G. - This Brooklyn-native rapper also possesses one of the most wonderful rags-to-riches stories in hip-hop. When Biggie made a tape that landed on the desks of hip-hop magazine, The Source, it led to the legendary magazine to feature him in their Unsigned Hype section. It was there that Biggie was able to get the attention of Sean Combs to sign him — then to Uptown Records — and eventually to the newly formed Bad Boy Records. Once that happened, the story goes that Combs laid down the law and made Biggie quit dealing drugs. The rest? Well, that’s history.(Photo: Chris Walter/WireImage)
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Fetty Wap - Paterson, New Jersey-bred Fetty Wap only began making music in 2013. Just two years later, in 2015, Fetty was included in XXL’s Freshmen Class, had four Top 10 rap singles under his belt, and released an album that would be certified platinum. From selling mixtapes on the corner to platinum plaques? Yes, we can use more of those stories.(Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Firefly)
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Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Legend has it the crew took a one-way bus trip from Cleveland to Compton to look for Eazy-E. Well, they were successful since they were signed to Ruthless Records. A one-way ticket to success.(Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
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Wu-Tang Clan - The story of how Wu-Tang Clan was formed is rags-to-riches when you think of all the group has accomplished since they banded together. Originally RZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Ghostface Killah, and Masta Killa were linked first. Soon after, RZA found out a group, called D.M.D. Posse – comprised of Raekwon, U-God, Method Man, and Inspectah Deck – from rival neighborhood in Staten Island, Park Hill, were beginning to pop-off, he convinced all of them to come together and form the Wu-Tang Clan.(Photo: WENN)
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Action Bronson - To think that Action Bronson’s career started when — while working as a chef — he slipped and broke his leg. It was then when he decided to start rapping. Well, that’s a way to go about it.(Photo: Karl Walter/Getty Images for Coachella)
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Jay Electronica - Jay’s career is a point of contention for many hip-hop fans that feel he hasn’t delivered the LP they know he has in him. Still, before he signed to Roc Nation, the rapper had a go of it living a pretty nomadic lifestyle which is code for that wherever he went, he was homeless. Today, sure he hasn’t delivered an album, but he still has the ear of one of music’s biggest stars by being signed to the Roc, and he has the world on the edge of their seats waiting... and waiting.(Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
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J. Cole - Before J. Cole got signed to Roc Nation, Jay Z gave him the cold shoulder – yup, you read that right. A couple of years later, Cole would meet with Hov in person, play him “Lights Please” and other songs, and finally get offered a deal at Roc Nation.(Photo: Andrew Chin/Getty Images)
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Chance the Rapper - Chance the Rapper’s first mixtape titled, 10 Days, was started during the rapper’s 10-day suspension from his high school. The Acid Rap mixtape would follow and catapult him to become rap’s major artist without being backed by an actual major label.(Photo: Andrew Chin/Getty Images)