Image via Complex Original
Rap has always been inundated with weed carriers, but nowadays even guys who don't get on the mic are no longer nameless sidekicks. What used to pass for "that guy in the videos" is now well-known by his government and followed on Twitter by rabid fans. We live in a day and age where #newfriends are forbidden, where loyalty is not only valued, but rewarded, and where playing your position is just as much of a win for the last guy on the bench as it is for the franchise player. So blame HBO because Entourage introduced us to Turtle, E, and even Johnny Drama and they were all more entertaining than Vinnie Chase himself.
And like Vinnie Chase's crew, they don't just sit on their ass and smoke weed all day but they try and boss up and become managers, body guards, executives, etc. in their own right (or in Turtle's case, start a car service). Rapper BFFs have the one thing all fans crave: Access to your favorite rapper. Ultimately, they have an immeasurable amount of influence over the artist and are the ones standing right next to them whenever something goes down. That's why they increasingly have their own spotlight. So join Complex as we take a look at what exactly it means to be a rapper's BFF.
Written by Eric Rosenthal & Jeff Rosenthal (@itsthereal)
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Ty Ty
BFF of: Jay Z
Twitter handle: N/A
Lyrical shoutout: "Me and Ty Ty is like Pablo and Popeye /Winding dirt roads on mopeds spilling Opus." ("Oceans")
Who they are and what they do: Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith is rap's OG BFF, having rolled with Jay Z since day one. So Ty Ty is a weed carrier, you ask? Don't get it twisted. Ty Ty has earned his stripes (and certainly a fortune) by proving himself on drug runs alongside Jay to Virginia, in macing Jay's volatile one-time tourmate R.Kelly, in tussling with Jay Z's nemesis Jim Jones, and most legally by overseeing the careers of Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Wale, and Melanie Fiona and others as an executive at Def Jam and later Roc Nation. Ty Ty, a staple of Jay Z lyrics, can be found courtside at Brooklyn Nets games, but never in the same room as Jim Jones or R.Kelly.
Don C
BFF of: Kanye West
Twitter handle: @DC2
Lyrical shoutout: "Nobody had swag man, we the Rat Pack/Virgil Pyrex, Don C snapback" ("I Am a God")
Who they are and what they do: Though early on Don "Don C" Crawley could be seen on stage behind the turntables as Kanye's push-button DJ (DJ Off Beat), Don C is best known for handling Ye's day to day, working with new signees to G.O.O.D. Music like Big Sean, and incorporating his taste into Mr. West's creative ventures.
He's been by Ye's side through thick and thin, through good times and bad, through Brooke, Alexis, Amber, and Kim. He apparently even took private improv classes with Kanye ahead of Ye's doomed Curb Your Enthusiasm-like show for HBO. (Then again, the first rule of improv is "yes and.") As Kanye's consigliere, Don C has put hands on paparazzi at LAX, has put his feet on the floorboards during Bulls games, and over the last two years has put his signature snakeskin-billed Just Don hats on everyone's heads.
Quentin Cuff
BFF Of: Mac Miller
Twitter Handle: @QuentinCuff
Lyrical Shoutout: "Then you got Q, that's my right hand man." ("My Team")
Who they are and what they do: Quentin (better known as Q), a one time writer from Pittsburgh, was an early champion of a young freestyling battle rapper from his hometown named Mac Miller. The two connected not only through rap influences, but also being under the influence—Mac taught Q how to smoke weed, which interestingly enough, Q never forgot.
Quickly becoming best friends only helped their professional ambitions, whether it was leaning on each other as Mac signed to the indie label Rostrum Records and hit the road on national and international tours, or defending Mac against online writers, or keeping focus amidst great success at a young age.
Q's business sense is matched by his sense of humor, as evidenced on MTV2's reality-hybrid show, Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family, alongside their other BFFs Jimmy, Peanut, and Big Dave. In between juggling Mac's day to day and prepping for the second season of the TV show, Q and Mac have teamed up on their own record label, REMember Music.
A$AP Yams
BFF of: A$AP Rocky
Twitter Handle: @ASAPYams
Lyrical Shoutout: N/A
Who they are and what they do: A$AP Yams was famous even before he stepped out from behind the computer screen, and way before he got the New York Times' treatment. An early-ish presence on Tumblr, Yams ran the influential Real Nigga Tumblr blog, a concoction of UpNorthTrips, noz, and Harlem bodega-vision. But that's ancient history from 2010.
Yams is best known as the mastermind behind A$AP Worldwide, an incredibly savvy svengali in the tradition of an Irv Gotti or a Puffy. He approves instrumentals, he's responsible for throwing A$AP in front of everyone's names (a la Bone Thugs). Manager, friend, A&R, he is the center. Boundlessly hilarious, he's great for a quote—"the Puerto Rican R. Kelly"—also can be found lamping and bopping with the bottle heavy, everywhere from "Purple Swag" and "Goldie" to A$AP Ferg's "Shabba."
Ice
BFF of: Joe Budden
Twitter handle: @OfficiallyIce
Lyrical shoutout: N/A
Who they are and what they do: On Twitter, Ice describes himself as "just a regular nigga who works at Footaction and tries to keep his check engine light off." And...that's only half-true. (While he presumably spends a lot of time on the couch with his hand in his pants, he's not exactly Al Bundy.) Ice is many things - Joe's best friend, for one; a bearded presence in a Slaughterhouse tee—his biography is less important than his public imprint.
Ice is a thought leader on "Black Twitter," hitting your favorite artists with undiluted slander and crying-face emoji; many have played into his hand, with Pusha T once responding in song. (In 2011 Bow Wow threatened to leave Twitter over a popular—albeit fake—tweet, created by Ice.) Like Joe, he's a constant presence at strip clubs and pool parties. It's hard to say who the bad influence is on whom here. Either way, he and Joe match one another tits for tat.
Dave Free
BFF Of: Kendrick Lamar
Twitter handle: N/A
Lyrical shoutout: "But me and Dave kind of felt you lost the passion/A lot was going on in your life and you needed space/But still I should have come to you first to tell you what happened." ("Wanna Be Heard")
Who they are and what they do: If high school is a time for discovery, then it's no surprise that Dave Free and Kendrick Lamar found each other at the age of sixteen. Cut from the same cloth, Dave has guided Kendrick's career for the past decade, thanks to a shared vision and a shared demeanor.
An understated by truly effective executive—as proven by his work with all the members of Black Hippy—Dave Free shows that you don't need to be all bark to hold things down at Top Dawg Entertainment. Once known as DJ Dave, once known as part of the Digi+Phonics production team, once known as the reason Kendrick Lamar was discovered, Dave Free will be forever known for acing his biggest high school exam.
Moosa
BFF of: ScHoolboy Q
Twitter handle: @MoosaTDE
Lyrical shoutout: "Me and Moosa as we pulled up on them sixes just to go and bust some bitches." ("#BETiGOTSUMWEED")
Who they are and what they do: Poor Moosa. Like Q's bodyguard—who the rapper Has playfully nicknamed GorillapHant—and His longtime friend Zanzilla, Moosa is around to ease Q's boredom. Moosa Has ostensibly been hired to be Q's tour manager, but their relationship is more complex than just employer/employee.
Fear not: one need not look further than Vine to see how they interact—there's a series of three videos of Moosa getting (hilariously) berated for not lining up ground transportation from the airport. (Much better than having buckets of ice thrown in his direction, or having his body tossed out a car trunk, though. Always think positive!) But really, as ScHoolboy reveals in this interview, Moosa was there that first moment when he became cool with the TDE guys. Their shared history explains how he's able to get away with sharing those Vines.
Chubbs
BFF Of: Drake
Twitter handle: @OVORepsUpChubbs
Lyrical shoutout: "I be with my nigga Chubbs, he in love with the street shit." ("Club Paradise")
Who they are and what they do: Since 2007, Chubbs has not just been Drake's right-hand man but also - as a member of the OVO security team - his personal strong-arm. Maybe owing to his job or maybe his personality, little is known about Chubbs. Throughout the years, he's done exactly one interview, when he told Complex, "Everybody wants to poke and jab at Drake because they don't feel like he will throw back. But nobody around here is going to let something happen to him at any time, especially me."
That being said, he's always next to Drake so he's seen fairly often: in the "Headlines" video, he's drinking and smoking at the table. "Started from the Bottom," that's him at the bowling alley. His biggest moment on camera, though, is this video in which he shoves a Houston fan offstage. To paraphrase Mobb Deep: speak the wrong words to Drake and you will get Chubbs'd.
Tre (formerly of UCB)
BFF of: Wale
Twitter handle: @trebyface
Lyrical shoutout: "Shout out to Kirbo, he told me I would make it/Now me, Tony, Gee, and Tre got the keys to the nation." ("DC or Nothing")
Who they are and what they do: If you ever have trouble finding Washington DC's own Walker "Tre" Johnson—he's Rap Game Muggsy Bogues—just look for Wale; he'll be by his side. Tre, the former frontman for the legendary go-go group Uncalled 4 Band (UCB), has ridden for Ralph Folarin through three major label albums and three major labels. Known for his distinct singing voice, he owns the stage he regularly shares with Wale, performing his heart out nightly. Off-stage, he's a hometown confidant and collaborator of Wale's.
Ibrahim Hamad
BFF Of: J. Cole
Twitter handle: @KingOfQueenz
Lyrical shoutout: "This nigga Ib...he's a bitch/He told me to talk shit to you niggas, so I'mma talk my shit." ("Grew Up Fast")
Who they are and what they do: Without Ibrahim "Ib" Hamad, there is no J. Cole. (Or, rather, J. Cole is still J. Cole, unless he'd be recording under his original name, Therapist.) Yes, Ib's been there since the beginning. As he revealed in an interview this year, the two were driving around Queens when a "Grammy Family" freestyle came over the car stereo. Surprise: it was Cole rapping.
While Cole threw buckets on the courts of St. John's, Ib laid bricks for Dreamville Records, pushing his friend Jermaine to become a recording artist. Where he once passed out physical copies of Cole's mixtapes, now Ib lives a very simple and quiet life, acting as Dreamville's president and J. Cole's A&R, manager, and shadow.