Rich Homie Quan is an American rapper coming from Atlanta, whose music was enormously influenced by dirty southern rap so it is of a similar genre.
Early years
Rich Homie Quan was born as Desquartes Devontay Lamar on October 4, 1989, in the town of Atlanta, in the state of Georgia, in the United States.
He said that growing up in Atlanta gave him much better opportunities than those he would have gotten if he was somewhere else.
Desquartes was interested in literature from a very early age and was always reading in his free time. While being in school he was the first in line for creative writing and was loved by his English teacher because of it.
He was very creative and liked writing both essays and poetry. This was a good start and a great base for his later songwriting.
Desquartes was also very interested in baseball and after enrolling high school he had entered the high school’s baseball team. He was really happy to be one of the most important players on the field and was really happy to get some relaxing pieces of training every now and then.
It was in Ronald McNair High School in Atlanta and he started dreaming about becoming a professional baseball player since he was really great at it.
As the years passed by he was getting better and better and his scores went very high. Many did not believe that he was getting so good at such a short period of time.
He played on the position of a center fielder and was one of the team’s best leader hitter so he was highly respected by his team’s coach.
He was in his freshman year when he started to play baseball at varsity level which brought him a great possibility to continue his baseball career through a scholarship he received from Fort Valley State.
Career development
But Lamar suddenly changed his mind and decided to turn himself to his other love – music. He started rapping and making his own rhymes and lyrics.
This was a big decision since he didn’t have the money to start recording music and he had to find a job to have money for basic things like paying rent and food.
He supported himself by working at an airport which brought him enough income to manage. But unfortunately, Lamar lost his job and couldn’t find another one so had turned to crime in order to continue his normal life.
He became a burglar and wasn’t even that good at it since he was soon arrested and convicted for burglary. This was devastating to hear for his parents since they raised him to work a lot so he can be a good man and earn his money the right way.
He had to serve 15 months in prison and it was the push he needed to focus on making music.
He had a lot of free time in jail and he made a decision not to follow his crime path but to focus on making rhymes and finding his place in the world of hip hop.
In 2012, he has released his debut mixtape names “Still Going On” with the leading single “Differences”. This was a really good mixtape back in the days and it got a lot of hits. He could not believe everything was going so well.
It became popular and he soon received recognition from his hip hop colleagues. In 2013, he was invited to tour with Trinidad James, an independent hip hop artist.
Gucci Mane invited him to appear on his songs like “I Heard” and “Chasin Paper”. This was a big moment for him and he was happy to hang out with such big artists.
His single “Type of Way” from his 2013 mixtape named “Still Going In: Reloaded” was very well received by the critics and praised for his unique flow.
The producer of the song was Yung Carter and he was also praised for his great work.
This song entered the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on a 50th place which was a big success for Rich. He was very happy to be on the list. It meant that he was going to be exposed more.
A known music magazine called Rolling Stone also named this mixtape as one of the 10 best tapes in the whole of 2013.
Although this single was released in summer of 2013 by Def Jam and was available through iTunes he was still an independent artist. He seriously considered signing a contract with Cash Money Records.
Homie Rich Quan appeared on YG’s single “My Nigga” which went high in the charts. YG also became a prominent rapper. The name of the song was pretty controversial and the media covered the topic a lot.
He also guest-appeared on an album by 2 Chainz titled “B.O.A.T.S.II: Me Time”.
In November 2013 he has released his new mixtape named “I Promise I’ll Never Stop Going In” and the lead single of the tape was “Walk Thru”. It was featured by a Compton rapper named Problem.
“Type of Way” became an anthem of the Michigan State Spartans football squad in 2013. and it was released an enormous number of time on various radio stations.
In 2014, Rich Homie Quan was inducted in the XXL’s freshman class and was very proud of it because it was the confirmation of his efforts and quality.
In May the same year, he was shooting a video in Atlanta with his friend Problem when he fainted during shooting and hit his head. Many stated that he was unhealthy and that he had health issues.
The rumors started going about his drug problems but he later denied that it had anything to do with his painting. The media just loved this story and wanted.
Some of the media broadcasted the information that he even had a seizure there due to his overuse and abuse of drugs.
His first collaboration mixtape called “Rich Gang: The Tour Pt.1” was released in September 2014 by Cash Money Records.
It was made by him and his hip hop colleagues Birdman and Young Thug. He released another of his songs named “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” in April 2015 after which it was released on his Youtube channel.
This was an extremely successful collab but Young Thug never collaborated with RHQ again and the two of them are not even speaking to each other. This was very interesting to the media and they wanted to cover the story multiple times.
After this single, he had a hiatus period of two years when he appeared on other rappers songs and events and concerts but didn’t release any of his music.
He wanted to clear his head and get new inspiration because he felt that he was losing it.
In the spring of 2017 Rich Homie returned to making music and has released his new single named “Replay”. He was very happy about this, and he gained a lot of new fans during this time.
His new mixtape, released after a long period of 3 years was titled “Back to the Basics”.
In the spring of 2018, he has released his first album titled “Rich as in Spirit”. It was his first album and it was released through Motown Records.
The lead single for this album was titled “Changed” and “34”. The only other artist appearing on his album was Rick Ross whom Rich Homie Quan appreciated very much.
Homie Rich Quan signed a record deal with Motown soon after the release of his 2017 mixtape. The album came as high as No. 32 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
Although he surprised people by signing a deal with Motown, a label that is not so focused on hip hop, he later explained that he never had a good relationship with people in his former labels. He explained that they were all very stiff and strict and loved sitting at the table and have meetings.
People in Motown Records never sat with him to have a meeting and are more simple in communicating. He says it is because they are not conceited like the ones before.
It was after his problems with his ex-label “Think Its a Game” that he changed labels. He even took them to court due to ti unpaid royalties they owed him.
The record label denied the charges and sued him back because they claimed that he has breached his contract. After a few months, the two parties made an agreement outside the court.
In May 2017, Rich Homie Quan was stopped on a highway in Louisville due to ti his fast driving. The police found drugs in the vehicle: heroin and marijuana mostly. This caused a bunch of controversy and people wanted to cancel him, but his career continued on.
They also recovered weapons in the car. He was charged for possession and since he had a large number of drugs he was even charged for distribution.
He was nominated for BET Hip Hop Awards 5 times in 2014, 2015 and 2016 but never won any of them. This was a huge moment for him and he was very happy to attend the awards and was not bitter about not winning.
Personal life
As for his personal life, he had lived in a family with two siblings, both younger than him. His parents were separated and he mostly lived at his mother’s. But he is very close to his father Corey and had his support throughout life.
Here is some information about his love life. He was in a relationship with a woman named Amber Rella who gave birth to their son Royal Lamar in 2014.
Due to Lamar’s popularity, Rella managed to launch her own Instagram career and gain fame. Their relationship ended in 2015. This was a very public relationship so the media was very informed about everything happening to the couple all of the time.
Lamar has two more sons, both with different women. Devin and Khosen are their names and although he posts pictures of them on his social media he never revealed who their mothers are and their names.
As for his income, his net worth comes out of his albums but also does a lot of endorsement work, with companies like JayGray, Icebox Diamonds & Watches, and Avion Tequila.
His first TV appearance in a show was in “RapFic Live”, a known MTV series. This was a really fun experience and he said that he would maybe like to continue a career in acting.
When he speaks about his role models and people who influenced him he gives names such as Gucci Mane, Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne and more.
He was involved in a controversy after a video of him leaked online in which he sat with his little boy and smoking weed att he same time. He was even visited by Child Protective Services to investigate that.
Another of his controversies was when there was a leak of a part of his song about raping. He later stated that the song was never planned to be released.
In 2017 he was involved in a custody battle with Amber Williams over their son. The judge ruled that Royal has to have his father’s surname.
Quick summary
Full name: Desquartes Devontay Lamar
Date of birth: October 4, 1989
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Age: 30
Profession: rapper, songwriter, producer
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 65 kgs
Net Worth: $3 million