After Lil Pump would announce the imminent release of his newest album, “Lil Pump 2”
by dressing up as Princess Pump…
After Lil Pump would get bitten by a snake while filming a music video for his second
album, “Harvard Dropout” …
After Lil Pump would clock in with 17.8 Million followers on Instagram, 1.2 Million followers
on Twitter, 2.2 Million followers on TikTok and nearly 17 Million subscribers on YouTube
at the time of this recording…
Take one look at Lil Pump and it’s understandable why some people earlier on in his career treated
him more or less as a joke.
The multi-colored hair, the UFO and rocket tattoos around his eyes and let’s not forget
the nearly impossible to pronounce catch phrase of
Take all that into consideration and the 19-year-old rapper has more or less treated his own rise
to fame as an experiment that was never really meant to happen in the first place.
But now, in the year 2020, Lil’ Pump is no longer just a Soundcloud rapper trying
to find his way, he’s a bona fide part of our culture’s zeitgeist.
An artist with a multimillion-dollar contract attached to a major record label and the rebellious
hero who has captured the hearts and minds of a number of teenagers the world over.
He comes off as young and reckless, because guess what, he is.
But this young man has managed to release two powerful studio albums and embarked on
an extremely successful world tour.
In short, he’s making himself and a bunch of other people, a ton of money.
But Lil Pump's been teaming up with YouTubers both good and bad with recent collabs with
KSI and the Dobre Brothers.
He shaved off his eyebrows and let his fans know that he's ready to transition...
I ain't talking Bruce Jenner stuff, he's making the move to rock.
Say what?
What's going on guys?
It's your boy Michael McCrudden back at it again, this time checking in with Lil Pump
and asking the question, Where Is He Now?
The short answer, he's been abducted by aliens but we got lot's to get through.
Let us know in the comments down below for who is next... how about a Where Are They
Now for Smokepurpp?
Alright, let’s get into it!
Lil Pump was born Gazzy Garcia on August 17th, 2000 in Miami, Florida.
Both of his parents were from Colombia and they divorced when he was only six years old.
When he was 13-years old, his cousin, Lil Ominous, introduced Pump to Omar Pieneiro,
better known as Smokepurpp.
The two would quickly become close friends and frequent collaborators.
Growing up together in Miami, the two cultivated their bad boy attitudes, which got them expelled
from multiple school districts around the city.
Perhaps the most notorious of which is when Lil Pump got into a fight with a girl at school
after she put gum in his hair.
He eventually enrolled in an opportunity high-school, which is basically what happens when you filter
a normal school through the SnapChat lens of a prison.
We’re talking pat downs, metal detectors, security all around, the works.
And yet still, our man Lil’ Pump managed to get himself expelled for fighting and inciting
a riot.
After that, Smokepurpp set his sights on working behind the scenes in the music biz as a producer
and Pump followed in his buddy’s footsteps, though somewhat hesitantly.
Lil Pump loved to freestyle but he never looked at the music game as something to make a living
off of.
He was already doing alright for himself, hustling to sell Xas on the streets.
But Smokepurpp convinced him to record some lyrics.
Pump dropped “D Rose” and “Boss” in early 2017.
These two songs were a major hit on SoundCloud collecting over a combined 150 Million streams
at present count.
The popularity of “D Rose” led to his first music video, shot by Lyrical Lemonade
and was released on YouTube in January of 2017, where it’s racked up over 189 Million
views and counting.
By June of 2017, Pump had signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records, just two months prior
to turning 17.
The next month, Lil Pump would announce over Twitter that his debut album would be dropping
in August.
Well, August came and went with no album to speak of.
Instead, Pump dropped a new single called “Gucci Gang” which would go onto become
his biggest hit single to date.
The music video on YouTube has over 1 Billion views and would reach mainstream when it was
parodied on SNL.
By July of 2018 the song would become certified triple platinum.
Riding a huge wave of momentum, he finally dropped his debut album, “Lil Pump” in
October of 2017 and the record featured the likes of Smokepurpp, Gucci Mane, Chief Keef,
and 2 Chainz.
By January of 2018, only six months after signing to Warner Brothers Records, Lil Pump
was a free agent again.
The reason?
Well, when Warner originally signed him, he was still considered a minor at 17 which technically
left him open to continue to receive offers from other labels.
Lil Pump used this as an opportunity to spark a bidding war after the mammoth success of
“Gucci Gang”.
Competition to sign him reportedly rose as high as $12 Million dollars with offers from
artists like Gucci Mane and DJ Khaled all taking an interest.
But at the end of the day, Lil Pump re-signed with Warner Bros Records for $8 Million, which
must have been a substantial increase from his former contract.
Then, in February of 2018, Lil Pump was arrested for discharging his mother’s firearm in
her house.
According to his representation, three men attempted to break into his home in San Fernando
Valley at around 4PM, shooting into his door.
But when police investigated, they determined that the shots likely came from inside the
house and when they returned with a search warrant they located his mother’s firearm
with ammunition all around the premises.
Pump’s mother was subsequently investigated by police for endangering a minor and having
an unsecured firearm in the home.
A couple months later, in April of that year, Lil Pump released a new single appropriately
titled:
Apparently, it means “Let’s Get It” and Pump throws the phrase around so liberally
that he even named his dog after it.
In August, Lil Pump announced an impending world tour to support his forthcoming sophomore
album, but the tour was cancelled after Pump was arrested yet again, this time for driving
without a license in Miami.
In September he announced that he would be going to jail for “a few months” for a
parole violation stemming from his arrest, but by the end of the month he was appearing
on SNL with Kanye West, dressed as a water bottle.
When asked what happened to his jail sentence, his manager reported that Lil Pump did indeed
serve his time, but no further details were given.
So, maybe a shortened sentence then?
Or maybe my man just had to log some Community Service hours and didn’t want that to mess
with his carefully cultivated image of chaos.
In October of 2018, Pump and dubstep producer Skrillex released a song called “Arms Around
You” which was a collab that also featured Maluma, Swae Lee, and most notably, posthumous
vocals from X.
December of 2018 would prove to be a busy month for Lil’ Pump.
First, he was detained by Danish police after a performance in Vega, Copenhagen for possessing
Marijuana.
He was fined $800 and live streamed himself flipping the bird at Danish police from the
back of a cruiser.
He was subsequently banned from the country of Denmark for two years, which smells pretty
rotten to me…
BOOM!
Bet you didn’t turn this video on expecting to hear a Shakespeare Joke but that’s just
the type of cross-culture appeal we do here at Before They Were Famous… you’re welcome.
Then on December 13th, Pump was arrested in Miami again, this time for disorderly conduct
as he was about to take off for a flight when security searched his luggage for cannabis.
Pump insisted he didn’t have any, but he got so angry that he was taken into custody
after screaming at security employees.
At the end of the month, after previewing a snippet of a new song called “Butterfly
Doors”, Pump found himself in the middle of a controversy for using stereotypical lyrics
like “Ching Chong” and stating in verse:
“They call me Yao Ming cause my eyes real low”
I gotta be honest, I can see how that’s offensive but the lyric really doesn’t make
any sense.
You guys know how tall Yao Ming is right?
He’s 7’6!
The dude’s eyes are literally far from low.
On Christmas Eve, he uploaded an apology to Instagram.
And he then re-released the song with the offending
lyrics cut out.
Speaking on the matter, Lil Pump had this to say:
“I f*** with all Asian people.
I have Asian friends myself.
I didn’t mean to hurt nobody.
I felt bad about it.
My Main photographer’s Asian.
I hang out with him all the time.”
Looking to move on from a hectic close to the year, Pump finally dropped his second
album, “Harvard Dropout” in February of 2019.
It debuted at Number 7 on the Billboard 200 and featured collabs with Kanye, Lil Uzi Vert,
and Offset.
He spent the rest of the year living a relatively low-key existence and then in February of
2020 he stated on an Instagram Story that he was quitting the music biz.
He didn’t elaborate on why he had come to this decision, but only days later he took
to the TikTok platform and announced his return from retirement alongside dropping a new track
in the background.
That clip’s description read: “YALL THOUGHT I QUIT BITCH IM BACK”.
Since then he’s continued to hint at his music taking on new directions, including
a more rock-oriented feel and sound.
It’s a new style of music that he’s reportedly calling: ‘Pump Rock”.
The man knows his branding, I’ll give him that.
Unfortunately for Pump, he’s already got other musicians out there saying he’s ripped
off their sound, including Philadelphia rap artist Vellcrow who says this new tune by
Pump is a direct rip off of his song “Go”.
If you listen to both you will definitely see the similarities.
More recently, Pump has found himself under “Stay-at-Home” orders like the rest of
us and he’s doing his best to fill the time.
He posted the following image to Instagram:
Notice anything different?
Yep, my boy’s eyebrows are gone.
Apparently, he did this after watching the same show the rest of us have been obsessing
over, “Tiger King”.
Despite shaving his eyebrows off in a public display of what I can only assume is solidarity
for imprisoned cats around the world, Pump quickly remedied his actions by taking on
the style of a different type of “wildcat”.
Looking just like my man and former Kentucky Wildcat, Anthony Davis…
…Damn, I miss basketball.
We need sports back!
Most rappers who rose to fame via Soundcloud tend to discuss morbid topics like depression,
death and downers, but Lil Pump is the antithesis to all of that.
His music is upbeat, poppy, repetitive, and fun.
His personality and lifestyle reflect that.
Some people might look at him as a clown but it’s pretty clear to anyone paying attention
that my man is putting in some serious work… even if the work is, by its very nature, a
little goofy.
I think that’s as good a place as any to end this video, after all this is Where Are
They Now and when it comes to the life and times of Lil Pump, you’re all caught-up.
I hope you guys enjoyed this video, let me know what you thought in the comments below.
Don’t forget we’re on TikTok now so look for us there as well.
Stay safe guys and we’ll see you next time.