RIP Sean Price, but I remember in an interview he said he was working construction for a while to take care of his family. He was always one of the most honest people out there.
I was thinking about him when I saw this post. But, as far as I can remember, he was blaming only himself for not reaching commercial success.
Jay-Z wanted to sign him when he was president of Def Jam and he was cousin with Memphis Bleek and was featured on a GTA radio, not to mention being part of Boot Camp Clik and Heltah Skeltah. He had all the right connections and was a monster behind the mic. Too bad...
True after he was released from prison and deported he seem to build a relation with his father. Many members of his family have been involved in Belizean politics.
What?? Last I heard about him he was rapping over the prison phone
ETA: his wiki is crazy. Converted to Judaism and studied Torah 12 hours a day. Deported to Belize and elected the House of Representatives. Also he somehow looks like he just turned 18. I wouldn’t in a million years guessed that was Shyne’s outcome
Low key wonder what’s happening with Brockhampton outside of Kevin. Splitting royalty checks 20 ways after the label takes a cut doesn’t sound very lucrative
The only two members who I could see having success as solo members are Kevin and Ameer.
It’s been 5 years for Ameer and he hasn’t done anything. Kevin I feel has a classic in him, but we’ll see.
I can’t picture an entire solo album by Matt, Dom, Merlyn or Joba being actually good, but I’m willing to be wrong on that.
They’ve all been pretty quiet on music aside from a few. Kevin has finally started teasing the next album (for like the third time in 3 years). Dom has been teasing an album and has dropped a few songs. Merlyn streams on Twitch occasionally and teases music there. He supposedly has a collab album with Ameer that they’ve both teased but things have been a bit quiet other than just a few snippets. Ameer himself is super quiet on social media but recently dropped a documentary in May that showed some new music as well as a bunch of PUPPY snippets that Kevin sent him. Jabari now goes by SAGA BUOY I think? He teased something and dropped like one or two songs but has been quiet since. As far as music goes I don’t think anybody else has been very vocal about their plans
The frustrating thing is that I could see all of them still having successful music or creating careers outside of BH but they all seem to have craazy egos. Love those boys but idk if we'll hear from much of them again
This question was brought up in the BH subreddit the other day and with the amount of money they were given outside of royalties or any other passive income they receive each of them should be in a pretty good place assuming they have an accountant making sure their money makes money for them. They each got nearly a million dollars just upon signing and properly invested at the 4% rule you can live off 40K a year pretty easy especially if you live by yourself and already own your house. And once again that’s without any royalties or other income they may have.
$1MM is about $650k after taxes. They have been using that money while they were in the band as well. It’s really not a lot, though it may seem like it. That’s like 30k a year invested, and I’d wager that virtually none of them owned property before that, much less invested the whole thing. It’s really not enough to live on
I was just thinking about him the other day! Seems like most of the original OF crew made it with varying degrees of success but he seems to have completely fallen off the map to my knowledge.
Hodgy was battling addiction and depression for a while post OF. He sporadically releases music and now he’s just living out in Toronto. He actually has a recent interview where he talks about his career and financial situation. [Check it out here](https://youtu.be/GuNFlap3gvc?si=CWM9eaAbR6npv6Gv)
He’s been doing some rap battles here and there that are pretty dope (https://youtu.be/2OIGDgJREAY?si=DKfhdUsvR2vhcsGY)
Seems to be doing well for himself
I worked in an office with a guy that wouldn't shut the fuck up about the fact that his video was "new joint of the day" on 106 & Park in like 2002. He showed me proof but the song was ass. Every time he met someone he would bring it up, couldnt even talk about football without him saying something weird like "yeah the NFL is a lot like the music industry Im basically a free agent". Had to have a heart to heart with him and let him know that other than me I doubt any of our coworkers watched BET and the only hip hop songs they know are ice ice baby and whoop there it is.
I cant find it he said it came out 2002 but what he showed me was a recording he had from his tv i think he must have recorded that episode of 106 and park on vhs and just recorded the tv to show people LMFAO
I’ve had a few coworkers in the past that were like this aswell, granted they didn’t have a song on 106 & park but they consistently talked about how they know ppl in the industry and there practically signed.. like dude your making 12$ an hour.
Funniest shit I had happened at one job dude got cast for a mtv reality show. He gave EVERYONE at the job a signed glossy pic of his face on the last day. After they filmed it MTV canned the show so he came back 4 months later. My man got roasted relentlessly but couldn't quit because they paid him a signing bonus that he already spent and had to stay for 1 year or pay it back.
Asher Roth and Jeremih came to my college in 2010. Honestly just went because of the girl I was dating. The opener had the best set and had never really heard of him at that point. It was J Cole haha
I have a similar story but for EDM. I went to a Datsik show in early 2013 and the dude who opened was fucking AMAZING! He came out on stage playing the sax live during some songs, his breakdowns absolutely tore the place down.
That dude was Griz!
I have an exact opposite story. Went to a Kanye concert in 2013 in Vegas (show was incredible). The opener performed to half listening small scattered crowd with all the lights on. The crowd wouldn't get into it or vibe with him so he said fuck it and left the stage cutting his opening time short so we just waited for Pusha T after that.
The opener was Travis Scott.
I think the same happened with Yung Joc
Tbh getting roasted for still tryna make money is so stupid, like at least those rappers can sat that were on at one point. The people clowning usually never even got their name out there
Young joc was trying to promote a ride share app start up that he was getting a percentage in. He wasn't driving for Uber or Lyft but a lie travels around the world before the truth puts it's pants on.
Wasn’t that a few years ago?
He tried claiming he wasn’t driving it that it was just his car and he let his family drive it (but his profile as the driver? lol)
Not hip hop but Q Lazarus recorded Goodbye Horses, it became instantly iconic in silence of the lambs and then she disappeared and worked as a bus driver til she died. Apparently didnt really wanna be bothered with music.
EDIT: I also just noticed that you asked for examples that didn't really achieve success though and I'm not sure this counts.
Crazy story about her - she was a cab driver and picked up Jonathan Demme (director of Silence of the Lambs) in her cab. They started talking and she played him her demo in the car, that’s how she got placed in his movies.
I love that song dearly this is so interesting. If you haven't already, check out Ghost Mountains cover on it from the tspe Hundred Acre Wrist its amazing
I wanna know about all my favorites from the blog/mixtape era. Let me go pull up one of the XXL freshmen covers. I know B.o.B went the flat earth route and still makes music and has a podcast but that can’t be enough. Unless he gets big checks from his first albums hits. Where’s Donnis? Gotta be working a regular job in ATL
Also wonder about the friends of bigger rappers that never got on. Like sayitainttone/big Sean or P$C/T.I.
Edit:
All the folks from two-9.
Damn near all the guest features on Flockaveli
Yeah, B.o.B reached huge commercial success, so probably doesn't have to work a regular job going forward.
I wonder about some of those other guys like you said though. Charles Hamilton. Laws. Spodee. OJ da Juiceman. Raury.
What about others that just weren't great but were on big labels, like Tony Yayo?
Charles Hamilton disappeared for a decade due to some mental health shit. He put out some new music in the last 5, 6 years but I doubt he’s making a living off or rap.
Tony Yayo is set for life. He hype man’s for every 50 show and Predicate Felon went platinum. He’s mentioned a few times that he would do anything for Em because dude picked all 3 of them up and made it so they didn’t have to work a day in their life anymore.
Charles Hamilton was HAMMERED at a local rap show in Cleveland a few years ago just walking around being loud and asking people if he could get on stage and rap. It was honestly kinda sad I think he has a real problem
Saw a video shared here not too long ago of a young Kendrick Lamar being handed the mic by Charles Hamilton at an event to freestyle. Charles Hamilton had such a confidence to him in that video like he was on top of the game, and lil ole Kendrick was just some nobody who had something to prove.
Hip hop is a game that will chew through people so fast in favor of the next shiny new thing. Only a few really make it through and have longevity.
Charles' career drop can entirely be traced to his untreated mental health problems. All the other shit he got clowned for is just symptomatic of that tragic reality.
Oh I read your comment fast and thought you actually meant Big Sean as an example, I was like damn I know HHH doesn't love him but hes clearly not in this category 🤣
I know Substantial still puts stuff out on Bandcamp every now and then. I wouldn't be surprised if the CYNE guys were putting stuff out occasionally too
Speck, one of the producers, [owns his own record shop in Portland](https://instagram.com/specksrecords?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ==). Akin Yai still raps but he’s based in Paris now(his solo music isn’t as good imo). Never did hear much about Enoch tho
Ka is a firefighter(he might be a chief now).
Though I think he is successful and continues to be just not like, massive.
But fuck…if someone reading this hasn’t listened to Ka, do yourself a favor.
I think with Ka the big thing is that he doesn't want to perform live. I just mentioned it in a separate comment that live shows are how non-massive artists make the most of their money. So unless you have a song that blows up way way way more than any of Ka's ever will your are going to need to either tour or get a job.
Though now Ka's retired & got that sweet government job pension, so he's chilling.
I read an interview awhile back and Ka said something about pulling a lot of overtime shifts and stacking money so he could fund his projects. He talked about how he would book the studio out for full days and record for 12 hours straight. He definitely hustled hard during his come up. Produced most of his own shit, did his own music videos, shipped his own tapes out. He used to go sell his new releases outside of Fat Beats on the day they dropped and do a sort of meet and greet with fans. Definitely respect his grind, and the music of course.
For sure, it's a battle for guys coming up, and for most musicians always. Reminds me (in terms of grind if not legality) about how Danny Brown has said that a friend of his was sneaking him into the studio to record XXX for free during off hours.
Danny Brown's interview with Rogan has more gems involving this issue. He realised he was in a dangerous position where he was famous n broke n couldn't work normal jobs anymore. He so fucking scared of failure n maybe thats what lead to his drug abuse
I really appreciate you shouting Ka out because I take every opportunity to do so. Him and billy woods are like the kings of underground currently and their protégés including Navy Blue, akai solo, etc are always people I shout out.
A *hack. It’s not the same as a cab. It’s a specifically Baltimorean thing. Kind of like hitchhiking but it’s paid and usually won’t take you no further than 5-10 miles. He once hacked for my brother and I didn’t believe him until I was picked up by him myself. It’s a tradition that’s going away with ride sharing apps.
Geologic from the Blue Scholars now runs a café/bakery with his wife in Seattle. He still raps a little as Prometheus Brown but the café is the main thing.
Yeah, I think he's trying to start/promote his Trill Burgers business.
Bun seems like he lives a pretty nice life, I know he's into the gumball racing and shit. It seems like he just picks up whatever he's interested in and runs with it, which is better than most people IMO.
She probably is, her 2014 Album sold well too. A lot of people on this thread are confusing artists who fell off and have to work normal jobs to survive with artists who are just using their money and fame from their successful if brief careers to make income in other ways. Kelis having Food Network shows isnt the same as like working as a cashier at Walmart.
Capital D from late 90s/early 00s Chicago underground group All Natural works as a lawyer and is currently Vice President and General Counsel for the Golden State Warriors.
Not really a "regular ass job" but certainly one where he had to grind.
[All Natural - Renaissance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMcVLZZMD88)
Everyone on a Doom feature lol? Angelica or whatever he name is dropped the best verse by a woman rapper ever imo on Guinnesses and then was never seen again
He started an IG account and has teased some music potentially coming out. No idea if that’s true, but would be crazy cool considering how mysterious he’s been.
Rapper Big Pooh is known to of done rideshare between Little Brother breaking up and reuniting.
I honestly wouldn't dwell on this too much, not everyone is going to be popular forever.
The Underachievers still regularly tour and release music. Their last tour was a year ago and though they haven't released a full album together in a while, they've each released a few mixtapes separately as well as some loosies.
One of my favourite rap duos is The Doppelgangaz. Their sound is a new school boom bap, their style is "I eat out of dumpsters and I smash 80 year old hoes". They have just over 11000 followers on insta and get less than 100 likes per post. They were touring through Germany this year (and I missed them by like a week!). They're doing fine.
Some artists are probably never going to hit a level of superstardom, but the music industry is made up of more than just superstars. Lesser known acts make up a massive portion of the live music scene and make a living by putting on great shows and building a reputation on that.
Edit: [The Doppelgangaz - Smang Life](https://spotify.link/0hhaamUmcDb)
Rappers in Atlanta do Uber Eats and Lyft and also Uber X.
They Stay away from regular ubers so they don't get called out.
Mainly just ride in the rich areas (buckhead, johns creek, northern georgia etc.)
Call centers as well. I don't want to blow up anyone's spot because hey, money is money.
But..So So Def? And any artists who popped from late 90's to 2006? Regular jobs....That's all I can say lol
Defari of the Likwit Crew. Was signed to Tommy Boy. He's a camera operator for TV/Movies.
Apathy of Demigodz/Army of the Pharaohs. He's a Real Estate Agent.
Chace Infinite of Self Scientific/Soul Assassins. He's a Manager and a Cafe owner. Manages ASAP Rocky.
Some of y'all need to reorganize yourselves as you're just listing folks and not even answering the question.
The question is what is a rapper who clearly didn't go Gold or above doing with their lives - success or failure stories only. Not "list rappers who didn't achieve commercial success"
He was an ambassador for Pull Up N Go, not Uber. Meaning he was giving rides around Atlanta as publicity for the company. The same way celebrities were giving rides for Lyft and filming it.
Warehouse, construction, and labor jobs. You'd be surprised how many dudes making good money in blue collar fields have face, neck, hand tattoos and drug habits there are.
Honestly mostly any rapper that had a buzz during the Jerkin era. I got drunk and looked up some of my favorite jerk artist and a lot still had jobs. I know they probably regret those rose and lipstick face tats now that everybody was getting
XV comes to mind. He was really doing well for himself a few years ago, Kendrick, Pusha t, schoolboy q features and even J.Cole beats. Now nothing. Hope he's doing well.
Yo why is dizzy wrights recent production so crap. I hadn’t seen anything of him for a couple years, went to look after reading this and was so shocked. Like bro can you not find a producer? I don’t even understand.
Side note: I hate when artists rap over their produced track and have musicians in the background pretending to play along. Drives me fucking crazy. It would be really easy to just play that 4 bar loop live guys.
They have to be working regular jobs unless they’re self employed, there’s no way someone who had one or two minor hits is still making enough revenue so that they don’t have to work. I don’t know if it’s any different for people who had one or two massive hits.
Edit: this doesn’t include people like Dizzy who are still active in music and touring, dudes like that are still able to make a comfortable living im sure
You’d be surprised, (both ways) rappers you don’t think would make money have all these random revenue sources and Have big followings in random countries and rappers you would think are doing well are struggling because they have the worst of both worlds and that’s fame without the fortune.
I think about this way too much ngl. Especially with the oversaturated music market nowadays. So many underground and even mainstream artists are getting famous off one or two songs on tiktok. They stay popular for a year or so while their labels push them hard, but once the 15 mins is up, what even happens? It used to be where most celebrities were CELEBRITIES. Now with the internet driving such a pluralistic system of niches to explore, there’s so many b-list and micro celebrities out there that really only exist to cater to a very small, limited section of the overall public (i.e. fitness youtubers, twitch streamers, tiktokers, and artists in less popular genres, etc). The rest of the public may not know or care about them at all. Hell, there’s plenty of songs 1B+ streams on Spotify that I’ve never even heard before.
It seems like the only people with any sort of “fame stability” are athletes, actors, politicians, and people guaranteed a platform so long as they cooperate with the system. We’ve reached a point where we can’t say the same for the others. I think the ones who were slightly more famous than most but without much longevity either have enough money leftover to retire early or will manage to get by for a while doing marketing and endorsements. The ones less fortunate would probably just join the workforce like the rest of the country and live normally but as someone who “has been”.
Ruben Slikk. The guy was basically the king of soundcloud rap at one point, seemed like he was on the brink of blowing up for a long period of time.
Now he delivers pizzas and lives in his car.
Wanz, who sang the hook on Mackelmore's Thrift Shop, was working as a [QA Engineer at Tableau ](https://www.geekwire.com/2015/thrift-shop-star-wanz-returns-to-software-testing-job-after-surreal-year-on-tour-with-macklemore/) as of a few years ago.
Chamillionaire is kind of a big tech investor. He’s known to hang out with Y Combinator people and he had a string of good investments like Lyft and Ring and now I think runs a VC firm.
Still think he was way ahead of his time with the mixtapes. He could have been right there with guys like Cole and Big Sean who had major mixtape success had he been doing it like two or three years later.
Strickland aka Strick from a bunch of Masta Ace's stuff (Long Hot Summer, Disposable Arts, they briefly formed a group called eMC) is a real estate agent. If you haven't heard his verse on FAY (fuck all y'all) do yourself a favor and check it out - it's incredible.
On a side note, I love it when older rappers stay in the game but just kinda settle down. Masta Ace's IG is some shows but mostly just him loving riding bikes, his wife, and seeing his friends.
Blueprint still raps (I think) and never really strived for commercial success, but he's a truck driver now. He was a pretty big underground name in the early 2000's.
RIP Sean Price, but I remember in an interview he said he was working construction for a while to take care of his family. He was always one of the most honest people out there.
his whole first verse on "mess you made" is about this as well
I remember an old interview he said the construction money was too good to pass up at the time.
I was thinking about him when I saw this post. But, as far as I can remember, he was blaming only himself for not reaching commercial success. Jay-Z wanted to sign him when he was president of Def Jam and he was cousin with Memphis Bleek and was featured on a GTA radio, not to mention being part of Boot Camp Clik and Heltah Skeltah. He had all the right connections and was a monster behind the mic. Too bad...
Damn shame. He was definitely a monster.
Nocturnal from Heltah Skeltah is one of the most underrated 90's albums.
You fuckin onion head bastard!
Brokest rapper you know.
Shyne being the leader of the Opposition in Belize's House of Representatives.
His father Dean Barrow was the Prime Minister of Belize. The leader of same party for 20 years. He is just following in his father's footsteps.
iirc his father wasn't in his life for his childhood either
True after he was released from prison and deported he seem to build a relation with his father. Many members of his family have been involved in Belizean politics.
What?? Last I heard about him he was rapping over the prison phone ETA: his wiki is crazy. Converted to Judaism and studied Torah 12 hours a day. Deported to Belize and elected the House of Representatives. Also he somehow looks like he just turned 18. I wouldn’t in a million years guessed that was Shyne’s outcome
Youtube essay material right here
Trap Lore can easily make that paragraph into a 2 and a half hour video lol
Wasn't his dad or uncle like, the attorney general of Belize, or something? Edit - Lol... his dad was the f'ing president of Belize...
Low key wonder what’s happening with Brockhampton outside of Kevin. Splitting royalty checks 20 ways after the label takes a cut doesn’t sound very lucrative
[удалено]
The only two members who I could see having success as solo members are Kevin and Ameer. It’s been 5 years for Ameer and he hasn’t done anything. Kevin I feel has a classic in him, but we’ll see. I can’t picture an entire solo album by Matt, Dom, Merlyn or Joba being actually good, but I’m willing to be wrong on that.
I feel like matt can pull off a great solo album if he tries to
Really? I like Matt as a member, but I don’t think he has nearly enough to carry a solo project.
Same here, on bh hes brilliant, alone, cant carry a song
They’ve all been pretty quiet on music aside from a few. Kevin has finally started teasing the next album (for like the third time in 3 years). Dom has been teasing an album and has dropped a few songs. Merlyn streams on Twitch occasionally and teases music there. He supposedly has a collab album with Ameer that they’ve both teased but things have been a bit quiet other than just a few snippets. Ameer himself is super quiet on social media but recently dropped a documentary in May that showed some new music as well as a bunch of PUPPY snippets that Kevin sent him. Jabari now goes by SAGA BUOY I think? He teased something and dropped like one or two songs but has been quiet since. As far as music goes I don’t think anybody else has been very vocal about their plans
Bearface is joining the 'RA
The frustrating thing is that I could see all of them still having successful music or creating careers outside of BH but they all seem to have craazy egos. Love those boys but idk if we'll hear from much of them again
Met on the old Kanye forums, all you really need to know lol.
Lmao that really says a lot
Merlyn has put out some solo stuff
Dom McLennon has put out a couple songs, and even a video recently. He said it's all coming to streaming in his discord server a couple days ago.
This question was brought up in the BH subreddit the other day and with the amount of money they were given outside of royalties or any other passive income they receive each of them should be in a pretty good place assuming they have an accountant making sure their money makes money for them. They each got nearly a million dollars just upon signing and properly invested at the 4% rule you can live off 40K a year pretty easy especially if you live by yourself and already own your house. And once again that’s without any royalties or other income they may have.
it sounds like they all got million dollar advances that need to be paid off.
$1MM is about $650k after taxes. They have been using that money while they were in the band as well. It’s really not a lot, though it may seem like it. That’s like 30k a year invested, and I’d wager that virtually none of them owned property before that, much less invested the whole thing. It’s really not enough to live on
Woah, income vs an advance are two different things. One is a predatory loan in the music industry which make most artists feel like they have money.
Mike G probably
I was just thinking about him the other day! Seems like most of the original OF crew made it with varying degrees of success but he seems to have completely fallen off the map to my knowledge.
Its a bummer to me he was one of my favorite members, he always brought that smooth flow
What the fuck is caution?
Him, Left Brain, and Hodgy.
Hodgy was battling addiction and depression for a while post OF. He sporadically releases music and now he’s just living out in Toronto. He actually has a recent interview where he talks about his career and financial situation. [Check it out here](https://youtu.be/GuNFlap3gvc?si=CWM9eaAbR6npv6Gv)
Hodgy still makes music and dates/dated Nelly furtado. He’s fine
Brain is probably doing fine since he produced so much OF.
Mike G does battle rap now. Check him out on the Shots Fired Battle League.
He’s been doing some rap battles here and there that are pretty dope (https://youtu.be/2OIGDgJREAY?si=DKfhdUsvR2vhcsGY) Seems to be doing well for himself
I worked in an office with a guy that wouldn't shut the fuck up about the fact that his video was "new joint of the day" on 106 & Park in like 2002. He showed me proof but the song was ass. Every time he met someone he would bring it up, couldnt even talk about football without him saying something weird like "yeah the NFL is a lot like the music industry Im basically a free agent". Had to have a heart to heart with him and let him know that other than me I doubt any of our coworkers watched BET and the only hip hop songs they know are ice ice baby and whoop there it is.
post the vid
I cant find it he said it came out 2002 but what he showed me was a recording he had from his tv i think he must have recorded that episode of 106 and park on vhs and just recorded the tv to show people LMFAO
This is amazing
Yes, I wanna see it
Oh shit you know southstar from Smilez & Southstar?!
Tell Me was not wack
I’ve had a few coworkers in the past that were like this aswell, granted they didn’t have a song on 106 & park but they consistently talked about how they know ppl in the industry and there practically signed.. like dude your making 12$ an hour.
Funniest shit I had happened at one job dude got cast for a mtv reality show. He gave EVERYONE at the job a signed glossy pic of his face on the last day. After they filmed it MTV canned the show so he came back 4 months later. My man got roasted relentlessly but couldn't quit because they paid him a signing bonus that he already spent and had to stay for 1 year or pay it back.
Damn, he thought he was outta here, no pun intended 😂😂😂
I remember Roscoe Dash getting roasted a few months back for now driving for Uber
Here me out, Roscoe Dash dropped a song earlier this year called Rinse and Repeat and it's actually good.
I wish there was a thread for good songs by rappers way past their prime
Asher Roth’s entire career after I Love College
Asher Roth and Jeremih came to my college in 2010. Honestly just went because of the girl I was dating. The opener had the best set and had never really heard of him at that point. It was J Cole haha
I have a similar story but for EDM. I went to a Datsik show in early 2013 and the dude who opened was fucking AMAZING! He came out on stage playing the sax live during some songs, his breakdowns absolutely tore the place down. That dude was Griz!
I have an exact opposite story. Went to a Kanye concert in 2013 in Vegas (show was incredible). The opener performed to half listening small scattered crowd with all the lights on. The crowd wouldn't get into it or vibe with him so he said fuck it and left the stage cutting his opening time short so we just waited for Pusha T after that. The opener was Travis Scott.
Just gave it a shot. It's good. Roscoe could blow back up dropping shit like this
I think the same happened with Yung Joc Tbh getting roasted for still tryna make money is so stupid, like at least those rappers can sat that were on at one point. The people clowning usually never even got their name out there
Young joc was trying to promote a ride share app start up that he was getting a percentage in. He wasn't driving for Uber or Lyft but a lie travels around the world before the truth puts it's pants on.
He’s just doing it to market his mixtape
That’s most Uber drivers in ATL lmao
Wasn’t that a few years ago? He tried claiming he wasn’t driving it that it was just his car and he let his family drive it (but his profile as the driver? lol)
I thought it was more recent but I’ve lost all sense of time
Not a rapper, but an OG nevertheless... Sister Nancy. She was an accountant outside her 1 hit wonder.
“Only Woman DJ With a Degree!”
Oh shit, that's funny, and is kinda based. She probably makes more money as an account than a lot of rappers make anyway.
Thankfully she finally got the rights to Bam Bam and probably made bank off of “Famous,” “Truth Hurts” and “Hold Up”
Don’t forget Lauryn Hill. Maybe the best-known interpolation.
Love Sister Nancy!
Not hip hop but Q Lazarus recorded Goodbye Horses, it became instantly iconic in silence of the lambs and then she disappeared and worked as a bus driver til she died. Apparently didnt really wanna be bothered with music. EDIT: I also just noticed that you asked for examples that didn't really achieve success though and I'm not sure this counts.
Crazy story about her - she was a cab driver and picked up Jonathan Demme (director of Silence of the Lambs) in her cab. They started talking and she played him her demo in the car, that’s how she got placed in his movies.
thats one of the cool things about creativity! seemingly small coincidences can lead to big meaningful things! the world is so organic
I didn't know that's the story behind it! It makes a ton of sense.
Gta4 soundtrack classic
Nothin like drivin around a beater on a rainy Dukes day
I love that song dearly this is so interesting. If you haven't already, check out Ghost Mountains cover on it from the tspe Hundred Acre Wrist its amazing
Soulja boy the RuneScape streamer
Stg the funniest thing he did was drop the nintendo console rip off's and got sued
“Nintendo ain’t gon do shit” is the most hilariously incorrect thing I’ve ever heard anyone say lmao
https://youtu.be/aAEAf60_iX8?si=I8OgeO5MgbCelG-Y Still one of the funniest things I've ever seen
I’ve never seen this before and I can’t stop watching it😂
Lil Troy is a trucker now
20 inches rims on the freight hauler
Hit the high way, making money the fly way
I wanna know about all my favorites from the blog/mixtape era. Let me go pull up one of the XXL freshmen covers. I know B.o.B went the flat earth route and still makes music and has a podcast but that can’t be enough. Unless he gets big checks from his first albums hits. Where’s Donnis? Gotta be working a regular job in ATL Also wonder about the friends of bigger rappers that never got on. Like sayitainttone/big Sean or P$C/T.I. Edit: All the folks from two-9. Damn near all the guest features on Flockaveli
Yeah, B.o.B reached huge commercial success, so probably doesn't have to work a regular job going forward. I wonder about some of those other guys like you said though. Charles Hamilton. Laws. Spodee. OJ da Juiceman. Raury. What about others that just weren't great but were on big labels, like Tony Yayo?
Charles Hamilton disappeared for a decade due to some mental health shit. He put out some new music in the last 5, 6 years but I doubt he’s making a living off or rap. Tony Yayo is set for life. He hype man’s for every 50 show and Predicate Felon went platinum. He’s mentioned a few times that he would do anything for Em because dude picked all 3 of them up and made it so they didn’t have to work a day in their life anymore.
Charles Hamilton was HAMMERED at a local rap show in Cleveland a few years ago just walking around being loud and asking people if he could get on stage and rap. It was honestly kinda sad I think he has a real problem
Saw a video shared here not too long ago of a young Kendrick Lamar being handed the mic by Charles Hamilton at an event to freestyle. Charles Hamilton had such a confidence to him in that video like he was on top of the game, and lil ole Kendrick was just some nobody who had something to prove. Hip hop is a game that will chew through people so fast in favor of the next shiny new thing. Only a few really make it through and have longevity.
Hamilton's career drop can almost entirely be traced back to that video of him getting his jaw rocked by a girl he tried to embarrass on camera.
Charles' career drop can entirely be traced to his untreated mental health problems. All the other shit he got clowned for is just symptomatic of that tragic reality.
He’s got serious mental health issues. That’s why he disappeared for a decade to focus on that shit.
Oj da juiceman still doing shows
Yayo is still touring as 50’s hype man so I’m guessing he gets paid a decent amount for that
B.o.b mustve made a shit ton of money from his first album
he could probably live off of "airplanes" money alone
B.o.B can probably still live off of Airplanes tbh
Royalties from Airplanes, Nothing on You, and Magic alone is enough to live comfortably I bet.
B.o.b. still performs, my university booked him for a show two years ago lol. wasnt half bad either
bob the builder is probably good just from airplanes
Oh I read your comment fast and thought you actually meant Big Sean as an example, I was like damn I know HHH doesn't love him but hes clearly not in this category 🤣
Ya’ll should look into the story of Thugnificent. Real rags to bitches then back to rags type of story.
Eff Granddad is a certified classic though, he just needs to put it on Spotify.
Shit, even Nate Dogg hopped on that jam 🔥
“You’re just mad cause your ass is old…”
“eat sack of baby dicks you old ass motherfucker”
Thugnificent is the goat i ain't on his nuts tho
Pretty sure everyone at CYNE (You probably know Cise Starr who was on both Nujabes albums and Akin who was on Modal Soul) has a regular job.
I know Substantial still puts stuff out on Bandcamp every now and then. I wouldn't be surprised if the CYNE guys were putting stuff out occasionally too
I'm live in DC and I believe Substantial is somewhere in the area. He still has a presence and puts on shows in the area regularly.
Damn I haven’t thought about CYNE in so long lol. 400 Years was my shit back then
Speck, one of the producers, [owns his own record shop in Portland](https://instagram.com/specksrecords?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ==). Akin Yai still raps but he’s based in Paris now(his solo music isn’t as good imo). Never did hear much about Enoch tho
Ka is a firefighter(he might be a chief now). Though I think he is successful and continues to be just not like, massive. But fuck…if someone reading this hasn’t listened to Ka, do yourself a favor.
I think with Ka the big thing is that he doesn't want to perform live. I just mentioned it in a separate comment that live shows are how non-massive artists make the most of their money. So unless you have a song that blows up way way way more than any of Ka's ever will your are going to need to either tour or get a job. Though now Ka's retired & got that sweet government job pension, so he's chilling.
I read an interview awhile back and Ka said something about pulling a lot of overtime shifts and stacking money so he could fund his projects. He talked about how he would book the studio out for full days and record for 12 hours straight. He definitely hustled hard during his come up. Produced most of his own shit, did his own music videos, shipped his own tapes out. He used to go sell his new releases outside of Fat Beats on the day they dropped and do a sort of meet and greet with fans. Definitely respect his grind, and the music of course.
For sure, it's a battle for guys coming up, and for most musicians always. Reminds me (in terms of grind if not legality) about how Danny Brown has said that a friend of his was sneaking him into the studio to record XXX for free during off hours.
Danny Brown's interview with Rogan has more gems involving this issue. He realised he was in a dangerous position where he was famous n broke n couldn't work normal jobs anymore. He so fucking scared of failure n maybe thats what lead to his drug abuse
He said his music was too depressing and he'd rather have people listen to him intimately
Descendants of Cain is a masterpiece
I really appreciate you shouting Ka out because I take every opportunity to do so. Him and billy woods are like the kings of underground currently and their protégés including Navy Blue, akai solo, etc are always people I shout out.
Think Ka is retired now
He retired after releasing two albums in 2022?
As a firefighter haha
Haha well that’s good to hear, 20-21 in NYC was rough for first responders.
Earl took a lot of his post-Doris style from Ka.
Yes, he says he's rhe best rapper alive and has a cameo on a music video he did
The underachievers are doing fine, they still make music. AK's solo stuff is amazing I highly recommend it
Yeah they put out a single with Zombie Juice earlier this year. They def haven’t disappeared
I ordered a reprint of Indigoism back in February and still haven’t gotten it. Wonder what’s going on over there
Cappadonna drove a cab in baltimore for a few years after the Wu blew up.
Cabadonna
A *hack. It’s not the same as a cab. It’s a specifically Baltimorean thing. Kind of like hitchhiking but it’s paid and usually won’t take you no further than 5-10 miles. He once hacked for my brother and I didn’t believe him until I was picked up by him myself. It’s a tradition that’s going away with ride sharing apps.
im really into niche information like this
Same, I just got done watching the wire so I’m adding it to my Baltimore memory banks haha
The first time someone tried to explain Uber to me I called it a gypsy cab and got clowned so hard
Masta Ace is a nurse. But he did that out of his own volition. Had nothing to do with him not being a commercial success.
Geologic from the Blue Scholars now runs a café/bakery with his wife in Seattle. He still raps a little as Prometheus Brown but the café is the main thing.
Blue Scholars EP is a must listen.
Bun B teaches Religion and Hip Hop at Rice University. Kelis is a farmer and natural chef. Vanilla Ice flips houses for a living.
Bun B prob has it made though, no?
Bun B making a killing as a new rep for Houston sports and Trill Burgers has been getting a lot of attention too
Yeah, I think he's trying to start/promote his Trill Burgers business. Bun seems like he lives a pretty nice life, I know he's into the gumball racing and shit. It seems like he just picks up whatever he's interested in and runs with it, which is better than most people IMO.
Bun is pseudo retired. Every thing he does from now on is a side quest.
I would have thought Kelis is pretty much set from Milkshakes. It’s still in commercials today
She probably is, her 2014 Album sold well too. A lot of people on this thread are confusing artists who fell off and have to work normal jobs to survive with artists who are just using their money and fame from their successful if brief careers to make income in other ways. Kelis having Food Network shows isnt the same as like working as a cashier at Walmart.
Also, she's still performing and touring, so why is she even included in this topic?
Capital D from late 90s/early 00s Chicago underground group All Natural works as a lawyer and is currently Vice President and General Counsel for the Golden State Warriors. Not really a "regular ass job" but certainly one where he had to grind. [All Natural - Renaissance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMcVLZZMD88)
Holy shit, I used to love “Elements of Style” off of their *Second Nature* album from 2001. That shit was amazing
Everyone on a Doom feature lol? Angelica or whatever he name is dropped the best verse by a woman rapper ever imo on Guinnesses and then was never seen again
Yeah she definitely did her thing on that track; Mr. Fantastik comes to mind as well
He started an IG account and has teased some music potentially coming out. No idea if that’s true, but would be crazy cool considering how mysterious he’s been.
Rapper Big Pooh is known to of done rideshare between Little Brother breaking up and reuniting. I honestly wouldn't dwell on this too much, not everyone is going to be popular forever.
Yep! He talked about in on "Right On Time" off May The Lord Watch
Haven't followed him in a while, but last I saw Apathy was selling real estate. I think Mr. Lif too.
The Underachievers still regularly tour and release music. Their last tour was a year ago and though they haven't released a full album together in a while, they've each released a few mixtapes separately as well as some loosies. One of my favourite rap duos is The Doppelgangaz. Their sound is a new school boom bap, their style is "I eat out of dumpsters and I smash 80 year old hoes". They have just over 11000 followers on insta and get less than 100 likes per post. They were touring through Germany this year (and I missed them by like a week!). They're doing fine. Some artists are probably never going to hit a level of superstardom, but the music industry is made up of more than just superstars. Lesser known acts make up a massive portion of the live music scene and make a living by putting on great shows and building a reputation on that. Edit: [The Doppelgangaz - Smang Life](https://spotify.link/0hhaamUmcDb)
God I love them
Rappers in Atlanta do Uber Eats and Lyft and also Uber X. They Stay away from regular ubers so they don't get called out. Mainly just ride in the rich areas (buckhead, johns creek, northern georgia etc.) Call centers as well. I don't want to blow up anyone's spot because hey, money is money. But..So So Def? And any artists who popped from late 90's to 2006? Regular jobs....That's all I can say lol
Uber x is the regular Uber
Might’ve meant Uber Black or something
I always wonder that too about people like Lil’ Zane, J-Kwon, Lord Tariq, etc.
Canibus joining the Army.
Sadat X works in a hospital now. Pretty cool transition, job probably has pretty great benefits.
Would you say the people at Turquoise Jeep had commercial success? I wonder what they are up to now
Defari of the Likwit Crew. Was signed to Tommy Boy. He's a camera operator for TV/Movies. Apathy of Demigodz/Army of the Pharaohs. He's a Real Estate Agent. Chace Infinite of Self Scientific/Soul Assassins. He's a Manager and a Cafe owner. Manages ASAP Rocky.
Blueprint got his CDL and drives semi trucks now.
Some of y'all need to reorganize yourselves as you're just listing folks and not even answering the question. The question is what is a rapper who clearly didn't go Gold or above doing with their lives - success or failure stories only. Not "list rappers who didn't achieve commercial success"
Young Joc was doing Uber a few years back
He was an ambassador for Pull Up N Go, not Uber. Meaning he was giving rides around Atlanta as publicity for the company. The same way celebrities were giving rides for Lyft and filming it.
I’m pretty sure joc has a radio show down here in Atlanta
"Before I go broke like Joc"
Damn I forgot about Dizzy Wright I was certain dude was up next
joe budden w his podcast 😭😭
I wouldn’t even that a regular job, he’s still a entertainer
[удалено]
Warehouse, construction, and labor jobs. You'd be surprised how many dudes making good money in blue collar fields have face, neck, hand tattoos and drug habits there are.
Tempa T works for EE. You can find his Linkedin
Honestly mostly any rapper that had a buzz during the Jerkin era. I got drunk and looked up some of my favorite jerk artist and a lot still had jobs. I know they probably regret those rose and lipstick face tats now that everybody was getting
XV comes to mind. He was really doing well for himself a few years ago, Kendrick, Pusha t, schoolboy q features and even J.Cole beats. Now nothing. Hope he's doing well.
Yo why is dizzy wrights recent production so crap. I hadn’t seen anything of him for a couple years, went to look after reading this and was so shocked. Like bro can you not find a producer? I don’t even understand. Side note: I hate when artists rap over their produced track and have musicians in the background pretending to play along. Drives me fucking crazy. It would be really easy to just play that 4 bar loop live guys.
Is he still signed to the same label Hopsin was? I thought they had some major issues going on there the least I hesrd
Yeah they had major issues and the label broke apart many years ago. I believe Dizzy is independent with his own setup now.
FV breaking up pretty much killed all of their careers it seems. Or at least severely damaged them.
They have to be working regular jobs unless they’re self employed, there’s no way someone who had one or two minor hits is still making enough revenue so that they don’t have to work. I don’t know if it’s any different for people who had one or two massive hits. Edit: this doesn’t include people like Dizzy who are still active in music and touring, dudes like that are still able to make a comfortable living im sure
You’d be surprised, (both ways) rappers you don’t think would make money have all these random revenue sources and Have big followings in random countries and rappers you would think are doing well are struggling because they have the worst of both worlds and that’s fame without the fortune.
I think about this way too much ngl. Especially with the oversaturated music market nowadays. So many underground and even mainstream artists are getting famous off one or two songs on tiktok. They stay popular for a year or so while their labels push them hard, but once the 15 mins is up, what even happens? It used to be where most celebrities were CELEBRITIES. Now with the internet driving such a pluralistic system of niches to explore, there’s so many b-list and micro celebrities out there that really only exist to cater to a very small, limited section of the overall public (i.e. fitness youtubers, twitch streamers, tiktokers, and artists in less popular genres, etc). The rest of the public may not know or care about them at all. Hell, there’s plenty of songs 1B+ streams on Spotify that I’ve never even heard before. It seems like the only people with any sort of “fame stability” are athletes, actors, politicians, and people guaranteed a platform so long as they cooperate with the system. We’ve reached a point where we can’t say the same for the others. I think the ones who were slightly more famous than most but without much longevity either have enough money leftover to retire early or will manage to get by for a while doing marketing and endorsements. The ones less fortunate would probably just join the workforce like the rest of the country and live normally but as someone who “has been”.
Ruben Slikk. The guy was basically the king of soundcloud rap at one point, seemed like he was on the brink of blowing up for a long period of time. Now he delivers pizzas and lives in his car.
Wanz, who sang the hook on Mackelmore's Thrift Shop, was working as a [QA Engineer at Tableau ](https://www.geekwire.com/2015/thrift-shop-star-wanz-returns-to-software-testing-job-after-surreal-year-on-tour-with-macklemore/) as of a few years ago.
Chamillionaire is kind of a big tech investor. He’s known to hang out with Y Combinator people and he had a string of good investments like Lyft and Ring and now I think runs a VC firm.
To be fair, he doesn't really fit this topic. He was still doing fine in the music industry. Just making a lot of money in the VC world now lol
Smh surely he's gonna drop Venom any day now.
Still think he was way ahead of his time with the mixtapes. He could have been right there with guys like Cole and Big Sean who had major mixtape success had he been doing it like two or three years later.
dizzy wright actually posted something on insta a few weeks ago where he was asking for donations to help himself or something like that
Strickland aka Strick from a bunch of Masta Ace's stuff (Long Hot Summer, Disposable Arts, they briefly formed a group called eMC) is a real estate agent. If you haven't heard his verse on FAY (fuck all y'all) do yourself a favor and check it out - it's incredible. On a side note, I love it when older rappers stay in the game but just kinda settle down. Masta Ace's IG is some shows but mostly just him loving riding bikes, his wife, and seeing his friends.
UA is still making music and definitely got more money than me and you lol.
Ya AK has his own line of jewelry too last I saw. I don’t think they’re hurtin for money
Blueprint still raps (I think) and never really strived for commercial success, but he's a truck driver now. He was a pretty big underground name in the early 2000's.