With its rapidly-changing styles, thousands of aspiring performers, and sometimes deadly
beefs, the rap game is cutthroat even for adults.
So, you can imagine how hard it is for a kid to successfully spit rhymes for years on end.
Here's the real reason you don't hear about these child rappers anymore.
Where'd you go, Lil' Romeo?
Right around the time of his 12th birthday, Lil' Romeo released his debut album on No
Limit Records, the millennium-era rap juggernaut that produced stars like Master P and C-Murder.
So, how did a tween land a deal with one of the hardest labels?
It may have had something to do with the fact that Lil' Romeo's father is Master P, the
founder of the label.
Nevertheless, if Lil' Romeo didn't have any talent, his first single would've died on
the vine, but it definitely did not do that.
The rapper's "My Baby" hit number 3 on the pop chart.
But despite a few more popular albums, the young man born Romeo Miller never had another
solo track enter the Billboard Hot 100.
"It's just one of those things, life hits you fast sometimes."
But that's okay, because he had other interests.
Specifically, basketball.
He was a standout for Beverly Hills High School, and then moved on to USC, where he played
for two years alongside his friend and future NBA star DeMar DeRozan.
Miller also seemed to inherit his father's entrepreneurial spirit.
In 2011, he re-launched No Limit Records as a digital label called No Limit Records Forever.
Aaron's wild party While Nick Carter sang songs of love with
the Backstreet Boys, his younger brother Aaron rapped about subjects tweens were interested
in : parties and basketball.
Unsurprisingly, Carter's two biggest hits were "Aaron's Party" and "That's How I Beat
Shaq."
By the age of 15, Carter had released four albums of pop-rap, which is when the attention
began to dry up, and Carter segued into stuff like theater and reality TV.
Carter thought his appearance on Dancing with the Stars would trigger a comeback, but unfortunately
things didn't go as planned.
"Nothing ever came to fruition, you know.
I started getting really heavy into drinking and, then I was telling people, I was like,
'I'm on a bad path right now.
I need help.'"
Carter got so depressed he turned to alcohol to cope, and in 2011, checked himself into
rehab.
In 2017, Carter was arrested for driving under the influence and marijuana possession, leading
to another stint in a treatment center.
More recently though, things are looking up, with Carter releasing a new album in 2018
called Love.
"I was just like, I'm going to make this whole album about love and what I'm experiencing
with love at my age."
Chi-Ali's remorse Sixteen-year-old rapper Chi-Ali scored a top
10 rap hit in 1992 with "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number", and went on to score a couple
more solo hits before he could even vote.
The future looked very bright for the Fabulous Chi-Ali Griffith, until a dark and ugly incident
went down in the Bronx in 2000.
Chi-Ali shot and killed a man named Sean Raymond, and then went on the run.
"Like, I was never arrested and on the run.
I just know that they probably gonna be looking for me."
After avoiding capture for over a year, and being featured on America's Most Wanted, police
nabbed Chi-Ali.
He agreed to a plea deal, accepting a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter instead
of homicide.
In 2012, he was released from prison, a remorseful but changed man.
He told RapFix Live: "I took a life, and you can't take that back,
so that's probably the worst thing one can do.
I committed a crime that I wish I could go back in time and undo.
However, I can't, and you have to live with your mistakes and learn."
Kris Kross tragedy Discovered at an Atlanta mall by producer
Jermaine Dupri, Kris Kross hit number 1 on the pop charts in 1992 with their first single,
"Jump", which introduced the two members of Kris Kross: Chris Smith the Daddy Mac, and
Chris Kelly the Mac Daddy.
Both were 13-years-old at the time, and the duo's unique style briefly led a nation of
children to wear their clothes backwards.
After releasing their last album together in 1996, Smith and Kelly parted ways, but
reunited for a one-night-only show in February 2013 as part of the 20th anniversary party
for Dupri's So So Def Recordings.
Just a few months later, on May 1st, 2013, Chris Kelly was found unresponsive at his
home and later died at a hospital in Atlanta.
A medical examiner determined the cause of death to be a fatal combination of heroin,
cocaine, alcohol, prescription painkillers, and Xanax.
P-Star's other plans Priscilla Diaz, a.k.a. P-Star, first got attention
for her rap skills when she got the guts to go up onstage at a New York club at age 9.
She was looking to rise above a troubled home life, her mother was a heroin addict, and
her father struggled to keep the family out of poverty.
P-Star was discovered performing by filmmaker Gabriel Noble, who followed her and her family
for four years, crafting a documentary called P-Star Rising, which depicted the young rapper
scoring a record deal.
Her 2008 album Welcome to My Show was released when P-Star was 14-years old.
"Maybe you and I should just check that out right now."
While P-Star's rap career didn't last, her plans to use rap to get herself and her family
ahead definitely worked.
She scored a role on PBS's revival of The Electric Company, and in 2015 she took a break
from entertainment to attend college at Denison University.
A+ for effort When rapper Andre Levins, better known as
A+, was just 13-years old, he released his first album, The Latch Key Child.
Though young, A+ was good enough to attract some high-level guest spots, with both Prodigy
from Mobb Deep and Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest checking in.
A+ enjoyed some minor hits with "All I See" in 1996, and "Enjoy Yourself" in 1999.
His second album, Hempstead High, proved to be his last musical effort for awhile.
He told Hip Hop Wired: "I sat back and decided to raise my son and
become a family man and the music business was just so crazy with me coming onto it at
an early age.
A lot of business things [...] got a little out of control so I had to reassess my career."
Reassess he did, and in 2009 and 2012, he released a couple of singles to little attention:
"Who Stole Hip-Hop" and "I'm Right Here."
Ah, so that's where he is.