Fabolous is a Brooklyn born rapper, record producer and a record label owner who has released six albums until today and has worked with many known associates such as Ne-Yo and DJ Clue.
He is very known for his lavish lifestyle and his love for the opposite sex. Many people feel like this is what helped him grow as an internet persona and they feel bad because of it.
Early years
He was born as John David Jackson, on November 18, 1977, in the most populated borough in New York called Brooklyn, settled in the United States.
His parents are of Dominican and African-American roots. This is why he has distinct looks and many women are into him. He likes to call this “melanin magic”.
He has spent his childhood living in the part of Brooklyn named Bedford-Stuyvesant (also known as Bed-Stuy) which is situated in the north. This is his favorite place in the whole world although this part of his life wasn’t too happy.
He had a very tough life as a kid since his parents couldn’t afford a lot for him and his brother Paul. He knew that he had to work on his own and he had to earn money to be able to provide a good life for himself and his brother and parents.
He liked to listen to hip-hop from his early years, and it was very popular in that part of Brooklyn. He was heavily influenced by the music of his time and wanted to make a career in music too.
He began taking rapping seriously as a teenager, while he was in high school. He started freestyling and making rhymes under a new name: Fabolous Sport. He made up this name inspired by Polo Sport line, the famous Ralph Lauren clothing line.
He later decided that going simply with Fabolous is much better than the long version. After he gained recognition in his neighborhood he started being noticed all around New York.
There was a radio show on radio station named Hit 97, and he was invited to make his performance live in a radio show hosted by DJ Clue. He is also a known disk jockey of Panamanian descent.
He rapped live over a known instrumental and DJ Clue was very impressed by his skills and rhymes. He was very happy during this time and he felt as if it was the right thing to do.
DJ Clue immediately asked him to sign to his own record label. His record label was titled Desert Storm Records. DJ Clue released several of his own mixtapes in the following period and Fabolous made his appearance on most of them.
He also guests appeared on all the mixtapes of Roc-A-Fella artists at that time. This was an easy way to get an audience and followers on social media.
His work with DJ Clue was not unnoticed so Desert Storm and Fabolous gained a distribution deal with Warner Music Group and their record label titled Elektra Records.
When he was asked once why he became a rapper he stated that it wasn’t something he planned and that he liked to do it and just wanted to earn some money from it, make a living.
In 2001, he released his first album “Ghetto Fabolous” which gained mixed reviews but was a success in a commercial sense. It came up go No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and was sold in over 100 000 copies. This brought him financial security he has longed for.
His lead single for the album was “Can’t Deny It” and was produced by Rick Rock. This was a really big success as well since Rick is a great producer and people love his music.
Two years later, he released his 2nd album named “Street Dreams” which wasn’t a huge success but was also sold in over 100 000 copies gaining him a satisfying amount of money.
He had guest appearances from Lil’ Mo, Tamia, Jagged Edge, and other artists on his album. He was very happy to be enjoying the company of such big stars and was looking forward to working with other people later. This is why he got more collaborations on his next album.
He released his mixtape “More Street Dreams, Pt. W: The Mixtape” in the same year. It was again released by Elektra record label.
He collaborated with Paul Cain and Joe Budden on this mixtape. That is why there is a Joe Budden’s song on this tape, in the remixed version.
His album, third in a row, is named “Real Talk” and he released it in the fall of 2004. Singles from this album were poorly received and he had the lowest number of sold copies of his album in his entire career.
He blamed poor advertising as the main reason for the failure of his album.
He also made a collaboration with Young Jeezy on a single “Do the Damn Thing”.
Young Jeezy wasn’t known then until he guested on Fabolous’s album. After that, he gained recognition so we can say that Fabolous discovered Young Jeezy.
In 2004 Fabolous was nominated for a Grammy Award which was a great honor for him. It was a nomination for his collaborative single “Dip It Low” by Christina Milian.
In 2006, he finally released his own clothing line he designed and it was named “Rich Young Society”.
It was the same year he signed a new contract with a new record label named Def Jam Recordings.
In 2007 he has released his fourth album named “From Nothin’ or Somethin” and it was a very successful enterprise.
His album went to No 1. On “Top R&B and Hip-Hop Albums on Billboard chart. This was the first time ever that he reached such a high position, including a No. 1 on Top Rap Albums Chart. He managed to sell over 150 000 in the first 7 days after the release.
In the summer of 2007, his album went gold and the interesting thing was that it was also his first album for Def Jam Recordings.
That is why he appeared on the cover of “Def Jam: Icon”, a video game released by the same label. The lead single of the album was “Diamonds” which is featured with Young Jeezy.
The remix of this single is featured by Remy Ma and Lil Wayne. The second single from the same album and was named “Return of the Hustle” made in collaboration with Swizz Beats.
His biggest hit ever came as the 3rd single from this album. The song “Make Me Better” was featured with Ne-Yo and was produced by Timbaland, a very skilled music producer. This song eas on No. 1 for over 200 days
“Baby Don’t Go”, featured by T-Pain and produced by Jermaine Dupri was his 4th single and commercial success. In 2009, Fabolous’ 5th album named “Loso’s Way” came out and went to No. 1. On the Billboard 200 chart.
This album was inspired by “Carlito’s Way”, an American crime movie from 1993, directed by Brian De Palma and starred by Al Pacino and Sean Penn.
“Throw it in the Bag” was the first single and it featured The Dream. Other singles were featured by Jeremih, Keri Hilson and more. The deluxe album was released with a bonus DVD movie titled “Loso’s Way” with Fabolous and his friend in main roles. Several known stars appeared in this movie: DJ Khaled, DJ Clue, Jadakiss, Styles P, and others. The movie lasts 30 minutes.
In 2010 he released his mixtape, made in collaboration with DJ Drama and was named “There is No Competition – Part 2: The Funeral Service.” This was his 4th mixtape and it became very popular. It was released again, but as an EP named “There is No Competition 2: The Grieving Music Ep”.
Fabolous continued releasing mixtapes, so he released “The S.O.U.L. Tape”. His third mixtape “There Is No Competition 3: Death Comes in 3’s was released on Christmas 2011.
Mixtape No. 7 appeared by the end of 2012. It was named “The S.O.U.L. Tape 2” with guests like Pusha T, Joe Budden, and Trey Songz. There was a lot of soul samples included in this album.
His next album was delayed and was released in 2018 and 2p1w and bad many guest appearance from artists live Rick Ross, Ne-Yo and Johny Jeezy.
His sixth album was finally done and released in the summer of 20q4. It was named “The Young OG Project”.
He had signed a management deal with Roc Nation. This album named the Young OG which was later changed into Young OG Project.
In November the same year, he has released “Summertime Shootout”, a free mixtape. In 2016 he started a collaboration with Jadakiss and the two of them have released several tapes together. He also made a collab with Jessica Jurg. He appeared on “Fly”, a single from her album named “With Love Jr.”
He released “Summertime Shootout 2: The level up” in 2016, which was a part of the series.
He released his last album in November 2017 and it was named “Friday on Elm Street”. It was featured by Future and French Montana.
His last single is “Ooh Yeah” from 2018, which was featured by Ty Dolla Sign.
In 2006, he created his record label.
He was arrested in 2003 for having a gun in his car without a license but it was later revealed that it was his bodyguard’s gun.
It was the same year he was shot in Manhattan. He was coming out from a restrained, owned by Puff Diddy and he was shot in his right leg. The police found two illegally obtained guns without a license. He was in a hospital for a week.
He lives with Emily Bustamante, with whom he has two children. The first sin was born in 2008, and the second one in 2014. He was arrested again in 2018, this time for domestic violence. In 2009 he has won the BET Hip Hop Award in the category of the Viewers Choice.
Other than Fabolous he is named The Kids, Ghetto Fab and F to da A-B.
Personal life
He has a brother named Paul Cain.
At the beginning of his career, he had dated Tahiry Jose. In 2009 he was spotted with a model called Raqi Thunda.
But before these two relationships, he was in a 3-year long relationship with Erica Mena, a known model. She was 17 when the two of them met. Erica later told that she has lost her virginity with Fabolous and that she hated Kimbella Vanderhee because she stole Fabolous from her.
The two of them argues about it in one episode of “Love & Hip Hop” in 2011. Their relationship was short since be made Emily Bustamante pregnant while still being with his former girlfriend.
He dated a hip hop model Jenny Shea for two years but purely in the form of a sexual relationship. He had a brief relationship with Amber Rose who ended her relationship with Kanye West around that time.
In 201w he dated Amber Priddy, a beautiful model who worked on his video “Got That Work”.
He is still in a relationship with Emily Bustamante who is a known stylist but they have been separated for a while.
In 2008 she appeared in “Love & Hip Hop”, an incredibly popular TV show, after giving birth to her child.
They ended the relationship in 2016 because he was cheating Emily but she returned to him later on. She was asked by a lot of her fans why is she staying with him when she cheated her with many women. And he is probably fathering a few of them.
As for his TV appearances he has the first one in “The Apprentice”, a popular show aired on the NBC.
Quick summary
Full name: John David Jackson
Date of birth: November 18, 1977
Birthplace: New York, United States.
Age: 42
Profession: rapoer, record producer, record label owner
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 77 kgs
Net Worth: $20 million