We all know Desiigner as the teenager behind the the hit song "Panda," the chart-topping smash that dethroned Rihanna's "Work" to become the number one song in the country and earned over 190 million video views on YouTube. Although he hasn't been in the public eye very long, he's already made quite a name for himself. So what was Desiigner like before his debut single made him famous?
His early life
Desiigner was born Sidney Royel Selby III on May 3, 1997 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a Brooklyn neighborhood. The hip-hop artist grew up in Louis Armstrong public housing which he says is, "not the place you really want to be."
Even though it wasn't the ideal place for a kid to be raised, he does say it helped him grow up. "I was straight from the block," he told Paper. "So coming out that lifestyle and coming out that hood, it matured me. Then I got in this lifestyle, it matured me even faster… Being around older [people] is a learning experience for both sides of the table. I can teach you something, even though I'm 19, you can learn something."
He grew up around music
Desiigner's been around music his entire life, even coming from a musical family. Sidney Selby, Desiigner's grandfather, was an important blues musician nicknamed the "Guitar Crusher." He earned that name by playing with the likes of The Isley Brothers, The Drifters and Ben E. King. That rubbed off on Desiigner who started singing at his church and school—and in the subway!
"I always saw myself using my voice," he told Billboard. "I was the ladies' man—I performed 'My Girl' in the cafeteria. I was David Ruffin in The Temptations. I sang for years. I used to sing in the subways — I didn't see no other way out."
He didn't pursue blues like his grandfather but instead started writing raps. He wrote his very first rap at the young age of nine, but it wasn't something he took seriously at that age.
No comments: