Image via Getty/Scott Dudelson
One of the most recognizable faces from the new school of rap, Lil Pump, whose real name is Gazzy Garcia, has owned the news cycle ever since he burst onto the scene two years ago. A laid-back, monotonous, lean-and-Xanax-fueled South Florida rapper, Pump has a penchant for entertaining online masses and infuriating the rest. He’s a poster child of SoundCloud rap, and one of detractors’ main targets. He’s everywhere on the internet, from news releases to Twitter feeds to Instagram Live.
Pump has earned the respect of some rappers and the scorn of others, churning out a top five single (“Gucci Gang”) and a top three album (Lil Pump) along the way. With over 16 million followers on Instagram and 1.1 million on Twitter, the newly-18-years-old rapper commands a large army of followers to balance out the legion of haters he’s accumulated, which is lowkey necessary, as he’s oft-referred to as the epitome of all that is wrong with rap today. Associated with Xanax and drug usage (to the point that he featured Charlie Sheen in the aptly-titled “Drug Addicts” music video), he’s received criticism for both his glorification of drugs and his disdain for any form of advanced lyricism.
Hater or enabler, if you haven’t been following Pump from the start, you might’ve missed a few details of his beginnings. Have no fear, though, because we’re here to get you all caught up. From how he got started, to his face tattoos, to the J. Cole beef, to his status as a Harvard dropout, here’s everything you need to know about Lil Pump. The next time your 14-year-old cousin yells “ESSKEETIT,” you’ll be completely on board.
Lil Pump Hails from South Florida
Born to Colombian immigrant parents and raised in Miami, Pump grew up listening to Ludacris, 50 Cent, and Chief Keef. Mischievous from an early age, Pump revealed in an interview with J. Cole (more on that later) that he started to smoke weed as early as sixth grade and did not get along with his stepfather.
He Grew Up With Smokepurpp
In fact, the two have known each other since elementary school, adding an extra layer of significance to Pump’s “Elementary,” which was produced by Purpp. They still work together often— “Nephew” is their most recent collab. They also reportedly have a joint mixtape in the works.
Due to their age difference, the two have somewhat of a big brother-little brother relationship; Smokepurpp has helped produce the bulk of Pump’s tracks, and was a huge reason why the 18-year-old got into rapping in the first place:
"In like 2016...I'd just be freestyling next to Smokepurpp," Lil Pump told J. Cole. "Me and him would be freestyling and shit in the car, smoking a blunt. He's like, 'You should start rapping.' I just started doing it.”
He Came Up On SoundCloud
Like many of his contemporaries, SoundCloud was Lil Pump’s primary platform; he’s even jumped on Instagram Live to say that he’s part of the wave that brought the term “SoundCloud rapper” into popularity:
"Deadass though, these are the rappers that started the whole SoundCloud shit: Me, X, Ski Mask, Purpp, Uzi, Yachty, I can keep going," he said, adding in a separate video that, “Nobody was being called SoundCloud rappers until we came out. We made the whole SoundCloud wave go up."
Pump’s First Song
Appropriately titled “Lil Pump,” the Miami native’s first track helped establish the sounds that would shoot him up to popularity following it. A simple Smokepurpp beat plays host to two Pump verses that were, according to both producer and rapper, freestyled and recorded with iPhone headphones.
Pump and Cole Had Beef
Between 2017 and 2018, a rift developed between fans of Lil Pump and J. Cole, leading to tension between the artists themselves.
At the end of 2016, J. Cole released “everybody dies,” a track that included a shot at anybody who included a “Lil” in their name, about a week after Pump tweeted, “Bitch I’m better than J. Cole Fuck that lyrical shit.”
The beef came to a head when Cole released his album K.O.D., itself interpreted as another shot at the “Drug Addicts” rapper, particularly one of its title interpretations (Kids On Drugs) and the track “1985 (Intro to the Fall Off),” on which Cole raps, “I wish you good luck/ I'm hoping for your sake that you ain't dumb as you look/ But if it's really true what people sayin'/ And you call yourself playin' with my name/ Then I really know you fucked, trust.”
Pump responded dismissively, thanking J. Cole for the clout and laughing at the fact that he “dissed a 17-year-old.” In the aftermath, Lil Pump and Smokepurpp started encouraging “Fuck J. Cole” chants at concerts, while also teasing the draft of a diss song of the same name.
But They Eventually Settled It
After meeting up at Rolling Loud in Miami, where Lil Pump was seen vibing along to “1985,” the two decided to meet up for a near hour-long recorded conversation, where they discussed Pump’s upbringing, his inspirations, and the common ground between the two musical polar opposites.
"We ended up speaking on the phone," J. Cole said to Pump during the interview, explaining how the meeting between the two came to be in the first place. "Somebody called my phone and you was there with them. I ain't gonna lie, I thought you was trying to set me up or some shit. I was like, 'Yo, he's 17 and a massive troll.'
He Just Turned 18
After celebrating his 17th birthday in exorbitant fashion (renting out a strip club and eating a Xanax-shaped cake), Pump kicked off his 18th with a gift from Smokepurpp: an icy Cuban link bracelet.
He’s, Well, Little
According to several sources, Lil Pump stands around 5’6. Take a look at him next to Drake, and then next to Gucci Mane, and accept him for the short king that he is.
The Face Tattoos
In the video for “Lil Pump,” and for a good while following it, Lil Pump actually didn’t yet bear many of his now-famous face tattoos. His appearance in the video is strikingly different from his image today, with his trademark colorful dreads also missing.
The first picture from Pump’s Instagram in which you can clearly see a face tattoo was posted in May of 2017.
He Did Not Attend—or Drop Out of—Harvard
“I REALLY DID DROP OUT OF HARVARD TO SAVE THE RAP GAME.”
Those famous words, tweeted by Pump in Aug. 2017, sparked a rumor equivalent to the 2012 lore that 2 Chainz graduated with a 4.0 from Alabama State. But just as the legend of Tity Boi’s perfect grades turned out to be false, so did Pump’s Ivy League claims.
Pump’s upcoming release is titled Harverd Dropout, likely a result of the rumor.
He Also Didn’t Graduate High School
Another interesting tidbit that came from J. Cole and Lil Pump’s sit-down was the revelation that Pump didn’t get the chance to finish high school. He was kicked out once in 7th grade for, according to him, smoking weed in the bathroom, and then in 10th grade, permanently, for fighting.
"Gucci Gang" is the Shortest Song to Chart in 42 Years
What do Lil Pump and the original Parent Trap have in common? Both produced some of the shortest songs to chart on Billboard’s Top 100. The Parent Trap’s “Let’s Get Together” holds the honor of being the briefest ever (1:28), and “Gucci Gang” sits at a brief 2:02, the shortest to chart since 1969.
His Lollapalooza Set Was Shut Down
One of the most anticipated sets of Lollapalooza 2018, Lil Pump gathered a way-too-packed crowd at one of the festival’s smaller stages. The result was a near-riot-level environment; Pump would get no more than 30 seconds into a song before cutting it short to plead with the crowd to take a few steps back from him and each other, to no avail, with several members of the audience passing out.
"Lollapalooza, listen up," he said in Instagram Live session. "That's was some fuck shit. Y'all stopped my whole set because everybody was fuckin' mosh pitting too hard. People were fainting. I stopped the show and got everybody that was fainting and they still cut my set off, 'cause everybody mosh pitting too hard. It was 'bout to cause a riot."
Pump Has an $8 million, One-Album Deal with Warner Bros.
The 18-year-old was originally signed to Warner Bros. in 2016, releasing his debut Lil Pump on the label, but the contract he signed with them was later voided due to his status as a minor at the time of its signing.
He took to Instagram Live in the aftermath to let fans know what was next for him, business-wise. "Lil Pump got something to say," Pump said. "I ain't signing to none of these fuckin' labels for nothing less than $12 to $15 mill. So y'all think y'all 'bout to fuckin' get me for the low? Y'all can go suck my fucking dick. Fuck all y'all labels, man."
In the end, the rapper signed to Warner Bros. for $8 million—$4 million less than his alleged asking price. However, the payment remains substantial, as it’s for a singular body of work—presumably Harverd Dropout.
He Was Arrested for Firing a Gun in His House
On Feb. 14, 2018, police arrived at Pump’s house in Los Angeles after the rapper fired a gun in his home. He claimed “three black men” were trying to break in, but when police returned with a search warrant, they found an unloaded handgun, ammunition, and marijuana, and quickly cast doubt on Pump’s story.
Pump was arrested and charged with firing a gun in an inhabited place, was sentenced to probation as a result of the incident, and was as carefree as one would expect following his arraignment.
“Listen, hold up. See my ankle?” he told a TMZ cameraman as he left the courthouse. “House arrest, house arrest, house arrest, house arrest. Pop two Xans and I passed test! ‘Gucci Gang’ tat on the fucking chest!”
He Recently Violated His Probation in Miami
On Aug. 29, 2018, in an incident that his lawyers are claiming was racially charged, Lil Pump was arrested for driving without a license in Miami.
In an Instagram video, Pump claimed that the result of the arrest would equal out to jail time for him.
"Y'all seen what happened in Miami," he said in the post. "I got arrested...I'm on probation in LA. I violated my PO, so I've got to go in and do a couple months. I've got some crazy ass shit dropping while in there."