In July 2011, Rocky released his single "Purple Swag" which quickly became a street anthem in New York City. It had been formed by A$AP Yams, A$AP Bari and A$AP Illz. In 2007, A$AP Rocky joined the A$AP Mob crew, a Harlem-based collective of rappers, producers, music video directors, fashion designers, and bikers who shared similar interests in music, fashion, style, and art. In 2004, Mayers served two weeks in Rikers Island for drug dealing, where he shared a cell with future rapper Casanova. After living for a period in a shelter with his mother in New York City, he moved to Midtown Manhattan.
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At age 15, he was selling crack in the Bronx. Ī$AP Rocky spent his teenage years selling cannabis and crack while moving around homeless shelters with his mother and sister. He was also influenced by Mobb Deep, Three 6 Mafia, UGK, Run DMC, Wu-Tang Clan, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.
Mayers grew up admiring Harlem-based rap group The Diplomats. The death inspired Rocky to take rapping more seriously.
When Mayers was 13, his brother was killed in Harlem. When Mayers was 12 years old, his father went to jail in connection with selling drugs he died in 2012.
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He learned how to rap from his older brother, who also wore the hair twists hairdo that A$AP Rocky later adopted. Mayers started rapping at age nine, when he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His cousin is fellow ASAP Mob member ASAP Nast. Both Rakim and Erica's names are taken from the Eric B. He has an older brother and an older sister, Erika. Rakim Athelaston Mayers was born on October 3, 1988, in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan.
A$AP later that year to widespread critical acclaim. In August 2011, Rocky's single " Peso" was leaked online and within weeks received radio airplay. He is a member of the hip hop collective A$AP Mob, from which he adopted his moniker. Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky (stylized as A$AP Rocky / ˈ eɪ s æ p/, AY-sap), is an American rapper and record producer from Manhattan.