Chanel West Coast is a familiar face to those who regularly watch MTV.
Rising to fame on Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, she's since brought her infectious laugh to
the comedy clip show, Ridiculousness, while actively pursuing a career in rap.
This is the stunning transformation of Chanel West Coast.
Chanel West Coast grew up with glitzy dreams, in part due to spending time with her father,
who was a DJ in New York.
When she wasn't with her mother in North Hollywood, her dad would bring his then eight-year-old-daughter
with him as he DJ'd local clubs.
West Coast wrote on her website:
"I've always been around music.
I knew it's what I'd do for the rest of my life.
I didn't have a choice."
She also said in an interview with The Trend:
"I remember just dreaming of one day, my dad pulling out my record to play."
The time the MTV darling spent with her mother was unconventional, too.
According to LA Weekly, her mom would grow marijuana to help pay the bills.
By age 11, she was immersed in a specific culture and, quote, "started listening to
hip-hop and smoking stuff."
Now that West Coast has a successful career, all she ultimately wants to do is make her
folks happy.
The Ridiculousness starlet dished to The Trend and joked:
"I make all of my music, because I want to be successful and make [my mom] proud.
She's proud that I'm able to help her out with the bills and stuff."
Along with her affinity for rap, Chanel West Coast also picked up an unexpected hobby growing
up.
As the bio on her website states, the starlet immersed herself:
"In hip-hop, and [picked] up skateboarding in the process."
The Ridiculousness star's hobby came in handy when she met former skateboarding pro Rob
Dyrdek, marking the start of their professional and personal friendship.
West Coast dished to No Jumper on how she met Dyrdek and got her MTV start on Fantasy
Factory.
"Rob met me and realized I'm very authentic and real...I was just funny and kind of fit
the mold perfectly.
And then that, I don't know how that led to Ridiculousness.
That's a whole other story."
Knowing Dyrdek also meant that West Coast got to showcase her hobby on camera, such
as making an appearance at 2013's ESPN X Games to both host and do some skating herself.
However, while the starlet knows the basics of skateboarding, she's also had her fair
share of faceplants.
Don't worry, we're hoping that clip made it onto Ridiculousness, too.
Chanel West Coast is pretty lucky to have Rob Dyrdek in her corner, especially when
she's been known to have so many haters.
West Coast was offered a role in Dyrdrek's MTV reality show, Fantasy Factory.
Dyrdek revealed to Medium:
"She had, again on Myspace, talked to my cousins and they were like, 'She's so dumb, she thinks
she's a rapper.'
And then when I met her, I was like...'She's actually good at it.'
I just asked her, 'Do you want to be a rapping receptionist at the Fantasy Factory?'"
However, West Coast had some hesitations.
She told LA Weekly years later:
"The first thing that crossed my head was, 'Is this going to ruin my chances of being
taken seriously as an artist.'"
What pushed the starlet in the MTV direction was simple: she was broke.
She dished to No Jumper:
"I never wanted to do reality TV.
The day that Rob asked me, I remember I literally had like a little pile of change I scrounged
up to go to In-N-Out."
While West Coast was a little more shy on this TV show, it led to some hilarious moments
such as the time she rapped for John Mayer.
Thanks to Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, Chanel West Coast suddenly found herself as a celebrity,
with opportunities falling into her lap the more she began rubbing elbows with A-listers.
The reality TV star also lent her voice to the character Flipz on a skateboarding-themed
animated series, Wild Grinders, produced by Dyrdek himself, and appeared in an episode
of The Hard Times of RJ Berger.
West Coast's popularity rose due to her unique laugh and bubbly persona.
However, as the "Karl" rapper told LA Weekly, she still has moments where she wonders if
going the reality TV route ruined her chances of rap superstardom.
"I have a tendency to say ditzy, stupid things on TV, but part of that is because I'm high.
I say other funny s--- that's not stupid, but they use more of the stupid stuff."
Critical of the TV channel that gave her a shot on the A-list, West Coast went on:
"I've been on MTV for so many years.
They're so stupid and, like, disrespectful and rude."
She added that she was once forced to sit with, quote, "Snooki and the Teen Moms" instead
of the rap label she was a part of during the MTV Video Music Awards.
But things weren't going bad for West Coast.
Along with her MTV fame, she was also growing her online roster of endorsement deals through
her YouTube channel and Instagram.
Chanel West Coast has made it very clear that she had an initial hesitation about getting
into the reality TV industry, but she still got a chance to sign to Lil Wayne's label,
Young Money, in 2013.
West Coast told Billboard that same year:
"I have so much music that I've made in the past two years.
We already have so much music done and ready to go...I always say that I want to be like
2Pac.
If I were to die tomorrow, I want to know that I have enough music to put out for my
fans for years to come."
Although West Coast's debut album was supposed to come out in 2014, the deal never happened.
TMZ reported that Lil Wayne never actually had a deal with her on his label, as his creative
partner, Birdman, quote, "refused to give the official sign off," leaving West Coast
in musical purgatory.
She told LA Weekly in 2014:
"It's actually, like, really annoying.
I feel like the red-headed stepchild of Young Money."
Chanel West Coast found herself in trouble with the law in August 2015.
TMZ broke the news that the MTV maven had been arrested outside of 1 OAK nightclub in
West Hollywood, and posted a video of what appeared to be an intoxicated West Coast already
cuffed after allegedly punching and kicking a cop.
According to TMZ, one of the arresting officers was initially going to release her with a
warning until she reportedly got physical with him.
According to E! News, the reality TV starlet was allegedly fighting with another club-going
girl and quickly escalated once the law got involved.
After getting released from her citizen's arrest, West Coast denied any previous altercation
outside of 1 OAK, taking to Twitter to blame the police:
"I was violently held by 2 huge men cops last night for nothing and have bruises all over
my arms."
According to the plethora of responses to her tweet, fans were not buying West Coast's
claims.
Even with Fantasy Factory being over, Rob Dyrdek himself was already onto his next MTV
money-making machine, Ridiculousness.
The viral comedy clip show first aired in 2011 with both Dyrdek and West Coast serving
as co-hosts.
While many fans flocked to West Coast's bubbly personality, she had some naysayers.
In one particularly heated episode of Ridiculousness, the co-host found herself in a live TV argument
with radio personality, Charlamagne Tha God, after he called her, a quote, "wack rapper."
West Coast immediately retorted with:
"You can have opinions, but it doesn't mean they're right though."
As things got heated, West Coast continued:
"Lil Wayne, who co-signed Drake and Nicki Minaj, is the same person that co-signed me.
I won a BET award with Young Money.
I got songs with French Montana, YG, Ty Dolla Sign, Snoop Dogg."
While Charlamagne laughed, West Coast continued to argue and the clip went viral.
A few days later, it surprisingly looked like the spat was all water under the bridge.
West Coast dished to TMZ:
"I feel fine, it's all love.
We all get a little upset sometimes, a little insecure, and sometimes we lash out because
of that…It's all love, he's a funny guy, and, you know, he just boosted my views and
followers."
As Chanel West Coast climbed the celebrity success ladder, her entourage of pals also
grew.
She stated in a chat with Go To Whitney:
"I have a ton of celebrity friends.
I don't really have a posse, I really hang out with my real true friends that I've been
friends with since I was a little girl the most, more than anybody."
But she then added:
"But, I have a lot of celebrity friends.
I mean, I partied here with Paris Hilton, my girl Christina Milian, I saw Amber Rose
was up on the screen, that's my girl, too.
I got a lot of celebrity friends.
We're all really busy with our own lives so, you know, we all kick it when we can."
Although some may have brushed off West Coast's name dropping, it's not the only time she's
gushed about Miss Hilton.
The "Anchors" singer once told LA Weekly:
"Paris always throws the sickest parties.
She's literally the most down-to-earth, coolest person ever."
The pair have been photographed together on various occasions, and the heiress even did
her pal a solid and had West Coast open for her at Ibiza's Foam And Diamonds party at
Amnesia in 2017, when she was still reportedly the highest-paid female DJ in the world.
While her long-lasting gig with MTV shows no signs of stopping, Chanel West Coast is
still trying to make it as a rapper.
For the most part, the starlet has been releasing her music on her YouTube channel without much
controversy.
But in April of 2019, West Coast released her new song, "Sharon Stoned", and found herself
being sued by none other than Sharon Stone herself.
According to court documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, which refer to West Coast
by her real last name, Dudley:
"The song gratuitously and repeatedly uses the name 'Sharon Stone' in its lyrics.
During the Song, Defendant Dudley gratuitously repeats the name 'Sharon Stone' thirty-three
times and the name 'Sharon' ninety-nine times."
Along with drilling the actress' name into all our heads, the rapper also recreates some
of Stone's most iconic movie scenes, notably from Basic Instinct.
West Coast fought back, and according to Page Six, claimed Stone was in cooperation with
her to create the song and video.
She explained that the pair had meetings, conversations, and as Page Six states:
"Even had [Stone's] own ideas that she shared with [West Coast] and [her] team for the collaborative
on the video."
The two are still working toward a settlement.
Throughout all of her career highs and lows, it looks like Chanel West Coast is finally
living comfortably in the spoils of her successes, which is a far cry from her bankruptcy in
2014.
In 2019, Variety revealed that the starlet had purchased a $1.65 million Hollywood Hills
pad that November.
Coming in at 2,600 square feet, Variety reported:
"While the .18-acre lot isn't particularly big, the property has a terraced, fully landscaped
backyard perfect for entertaining or alfresco dining."
The Ridiculousness starlet's home may not be considered swanky by celeb standards, but
taking into consideration West Coast's past, it's definitely a step up.
She explained to No Jumper:
"[People] don't know the hardships I've had to deal with, they don't know the struggle,
they don't know my life.
I think they see me and, you know, I've got kind of like a Taylor Swift look, maybe they
imagine I've got a mom and dad happily holding hands with a golden retriever and I grew up
in this nice big house, or something.
I know my looks might come off like that, but that's not me."
With West Coast's MTV fame showing no signs of stopping, it's almost certain that her
success can only grow from here.
Although most of Chanel West Coast's interviews see the starlet talk about her love of rap,
she's also hinted at being a crossover artist, too.
"I've always been a singer but I didn't know how to write singing songs, that's why I started
writing raps."
Speaking about Gwen Stefani's crossover success from her beginnings in No Doubt to being a
solo artist, West Coast dished to The Trend:
"It's something I'd love to do.
I love all types of music, I'd rather start with hip-hop and then maybe cross over into
more pop-rock.
I really aspire to be an artist like that that can basically do anything."
In August 2019, West Coast premiered a new song and video on her YouTube channel, "Anchors."
Viewers and fans immediately noticed the higher production value and her transition into more
radio-friendly pop.
Her fans immediately wondered why she wasn't singing more in her tracks, so she addressed
it on Instagram:
"For those who always ask why I Rap and not sing more...well...I can write raps by myself
in my damn sleep lol.
I cannot write singing songs as well.
At least not melodies that truly show off my vocal range.
So I teamed up with @kaydence & she helped me get MY feelings and MY story out by co-writing
this amazing song with me."
Considering the positive feedback, maybe West Coast should just keep doing whatever makes
her happy.
It's worked out for her so far!
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about celebs are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.