A trip to Virginia for a show years ago briefly resulted in New York City rapper Kool G Rap and other members of the Juice Crew being temporarily without a home. According to G Rap, who shared his story during an appearance on “Cipha Sounds Presents: Take It Personal,” his extremely brief bout with homelessness resulted when the group of rappers visited a local carnival after their show in Virginia.
“This is like when me and certain members of the Juice Crew first started out,” Kool G Rap said. “We started getting our first little gigs and shows and all that. And me and my man that’s on the back of this shirt right here, Granddaddy I.U. We was booked on the same venue out in the VA. So, we went out there. Did the show and all that shit. Tore it down. And we were supposed to break out the next day. You know when you go do a show, they book the hotel rooms and all that. So, we get back to the hotel after the show and we start finding shit to get into…We found out they had this little carnival and shit. That wasn’t far from the hotel. That shit was like walking distance. So, we shoot over to the carnival…So, we went up in the carnival and shit. We playing all kind of wild games. Shoot the clown in the mouth and all that.”
Kool G Rap and those he was traveling with soon discovered a gambling section at the carnival and proceeded to bet hundreds until they were tapped out financially. The rapper says they eventually ended up staying at their hotel an extra day and lost even more money gambling at the carnival. It came to the point where the group had no more money for lodging or transportation and were reluctant to reach out for help.
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“They had a little gambling section over there and shit…So, we start gambling and shit,” said G Rap. “They had the big wheel and shit with all the hundred dollar bills, the $10, $20 and all that. So, we got open. And we just start putting money on there. Money on top of money. They raping us for everything. Two hundred then three hundred. Now we trying to get the three hundred we lost back, the two hundred we lost back. And we just kept putting money back in there and shit…We end up going back to the hotel [to] get more money. Coming back and all of that. Like ‘Fuck that, we gotta get our paper back.’”
A member of the Juice Crew rap collective along with Big Daddy Kane, Marley Marl and others, Kool G Rap has been cited as a musical influence by a number of emcees. Most recently, Lil Fame of M.O.P. put the rapper in his Top 5 list with Rakim and Big Daddy Kane.
“Bottom line, G Rap is like—I got like five favorite emcees and G Rap is one of ‘em,” Fame said during an interview with Forbez DVD Live this week. “Not in no order, but G rap is one of my favorite dudes. I am G Rap…G Rap was my nigga. That’s my favorite shit. And G Rap was like an underdog back then. So, I guess that’s why I’m an underdog now.”
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Video of Kool G Rap sharing his story can be found below (via AllHipHop).
