[Music] foreign
rapper Robert Ross professionally known as blackrob was born on June 8 1968 in Buffalo
New York and grew up in East Harlem influenced by all the music he heard around him from the
likes of spoonie G Dougie fresh and Slick Rick raw began rapping around the age of 12. as an
adult he would admit that he grew up with an alcoholic mother he left home as a result of
his household instability and dropped out of school in his early 20s he joined his
first rap group called The schizophrenics and wrapped under the name Bacardi Rob they never
ended up releasing any projects Rob also spent a lot of time in the Bronx where he
took advantage of every opportunity to battle other rappers one person who really liked what
he heard offered to hook him up with someone he went to Howard University with and had quickly
established himself as a major player on the business side of the music industry
that person was none other than Bad Boy Records founder Sean Puff Daddy calms all in the video
all on the record by the late 90s raw would be heard on the remixes of several songs as
well as albums by other artists also signed to the label such as mace 112 and total his debut
album titled life story would be released in the spring of 2000 the month before his debut
single woe dropped and became an instant hit it would also go on to become his biggest ever
peaking at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top 10 on both the r b hip-hop and rap
charts [Music] even though it took a while for the project to get off the ground Rob wasn't about to
give up on his dream having spent over a decade of his life in group homes juvenile detention
centers and prison thanks to armed and unarmed robbery convictions the experiences gave him all
the incentive he needed to cling to his hip-hop career it's hell once they get their teeth on you
they keep biting until they feel like let's throw away the key on this cap a lot of people don't
appreciate jail that's because they go in there and don't learn nothing those are the people who
love jail I hate jail however despite subsequently appearing on releases by puff who would later be
known as Diddy and Robert G Depp who rob actually brought to the label he would not produce another
hit single Rob's second album The Black Rob report dropped in 2005. it failed to perform as strongly
as his debut and quickly fell off the charts probably the biggest reason why was because Rob
wasn't around to promote it since he was locked up in 2006 he was sentenced to over seven years
in prison for Grand Larceny after failing to appear in court for his sentencing on a charge
from two years prior he was originally arrested at a New York Hotel in November 2004 after a security
camera tape showed him leaving a female guest room with her pocketbook he was booked for burglary and
criminal possession of stolen property according to a spokesperson Robb pleaded guilty on November
15th to a criminal possession of stolen property 3 a felony and was sentenced to two to six years
in prison he remained free on bail but didn't show up as arraigned on January 24th at which
time a bench warrant was issued for his arrest he wasn't heard from again until he was picked
up by authorities raw pleaded guilty to criminal possession of more than six thousand dollars worth
of stolen jewelry he was eventually released from prison after serving four years in may 2010. now
Rob wasn't only physically free he also felt free to finally tell the real story about his
experience with Diddy and bad boy foreign s that he signed a bad deal without knowing it but over
time the truth became clear he also admitted though that he was so hungry for Success at the
time that he would have signed any deal any label offered him another major factor that pushed him
to sign on the dotted line was his child support obligations Rob revealed that he signed a 10 album
deal with bad boy for approximately four hundred and fifty thousand dollars things were great at
the beginning especially after his first album blew up he said he didn't want for anything and
his relationship with Diddy was solid clearly his feelings towards the music mogul changed after Rob
caught his case in 2011 he talked all about it in a very candid interview with futuremag.com once I
caught my bid or whatever the case may be Bad Boy Records was like phew we're gonna use Black Rob as
a springboard for this Notorious BIG project which flopped by the way it wasn't like I needed money
or anything from anybody I had money still got money it wasn't anything they did nothing to keep
my name alive they took me off their website just left me for dead naturally Rob would officially
leave bad boy and sign to Independent label Duck Down Records the following year he released the
album game tested streets approved in 2015 Rob released his fourth studio album genuine article
that same year he suffered a major health scare when he had a stroke in later interviews he would
explain the many ways he was forced to change his life as a result of this scary experience he told
Sway in the Morning that he also found out after the stroke that he had high blood pressure so he
had to stop drinking start eating healthier and exercising more as well as begin taking upwards
of 10 pills daily he also had to deal with the pressure of figuring out how to pay for everything
since he didn't have any health insurance Rob tried his luck with reality TV around
this time when he joined the cast of the series combat Kings though he left the labels several
years prior under not so great circumstances Rob reunited with the bad boy crew for select dates
of the bad boy family reunion tour in 2016. in April 2021 Rob sparked immediate worry in the
hearts of fans after DJ self shared a video of the rapper speaking from a hospital bed looking
gaunt and physically drained pain is crazy is helping me out though when it's making me realize
that I got a lot to do with lots of dawn man
all right even though it was clear that Rob wasn't in a good place people weren't clear
on exactly what the problem was then about one week later another video of Rob's surface showing
that he'd been released from the hospital but that didn't mean things were getting better for
him in the video he explained that he was essentially homeless and in constant pain
I've been dealing with this man for five years
four strokes
and I don't know what to tell you man
this is crazy it's hard man you know what I'm saying I don't I don't got no house to live in
except probably man uh apartment man for me and my man my man be trying to get together man
I'm telling you man this is strange it's hard man you know what I'm saying
I don't I don't know what the people are going to do but the people going to say
foreign
[Music]
I need some rest man come on my side is killing me
oh foreign
[Music]
at this point Rob had suffered several Strokes as well as kidney failure for which he was on
dialysis Rob's manager Cal Dawson who was actually the one that recorded the video of
Rob in the hospital along with a couple of other people sprang into action to get him settled in
a hotel for the time being after seeing the video many other people started reaching out
to help including Jay-Z from this point on the story gets a little fuzzy according to Cal Jay
communicated with DJ self about how he could send some money later though both self and Cal's name
got thrown into the conversation about the money having been stolen since it never made it to Rob
Cal also pointed out that the transfer should easily be able to be trapped and if there is no
paper trail that it means that Jay never sent it friend and fellow bad boy artist Mark Curry
posted his own video on social media assuring everyone that he would do his best to help Rob
get back on his feed rapper and producer Mike zombie launched a GoFundMe campaign with a goal
of fifty thousand dollars terms one person who wasn't heard from at all and got roasted for
it was Diddy apparently he did ultimately reach out after Rob's hospitalization video went viral
sadly on April 17 2021 blackrob died of kidney failure in Atlanta Georgia he was 52 years old
many people on social media offered condolences including Missy Elliott LL Cool J Styles P and
Diddy whose post has since been deleted as noted on Rob's GoFundMe page all donations
were to be sent directly to his son to be used for funeral and other expenses as of the making
of this video the amount had reached just over thirty one thousand dollars according to Mark
Curry did he offered to pay for Rob's funeral Cal Rob's manager didn't think the gesture
was anything to applaud though through somebody else that was affiliated with Rob Diddy reached
out and was going to do something for Rob this is when the video first went up when he was in
the hospital people dragging their feet and nothing got done so now you're going to pay
for his funeral he dead and gone now everybody want to do something for you when you are dead
and gone but not everyone felt the way Cal did at Rob's funeral one of his close friends got up to
say a few words and vehemently defended Diddy who was also in attendance Robert Ross better known
as Black Rob is survived by his mother four siblings nine children and five grandchildren
thank you