At age 15, he was selling crack in the Bronx. Ī$AP Rocky spent his teenage years selling cannabis and crack while moving around homeless shelters with his mother and sister. He was also influenced by Mobb Deep, Three 6 Mafia, UGK, Run DMC, Wu-Tang Clan, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Mayers grew up admiring Harlem-based rap group The Diplomats. The death inspired Rocky to take rapping more seriously. When Mayers was 13, his brother was killed in Harlem. When Mayers was 12 years old, his father went to jail in connection with selling drugs he died in 2012.
He learned how to rap from his older brother, who also wore the hair twists hairdo that A$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.
In hip hop's earliest days, the music only existed in live form, and the music was spread via tapes of parties and shows.