The 10 Most Shocking Revelations In Rap Memoirs

From Prodigy to 50 Cent to Grandmaster Flash, check out these bombshells from the realest hip hop autobiographies.

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Image via Complex Original
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Intro

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LL Cool J

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LL Cool J Reveals How His Father Shot His Mother

Book: I Make My Own Rules

Year: 1998

What happened? When James Todd Smith was a little kid, his father got fed up after months of trying to win LL’s mother back (he had been abusive to her in the past). But instead of buying her flowers or a Hallmark card saying "I apologize," LL’s father rolled up on her as she was going into her house and shot her in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun. A stray shot ripped into LL’s grandfather’s stomach as he opened the door.

As if that wasn’t crazy enough, LL’s grandmother came outside, cursed out LL’s father, put both wounded relatives in the back of her car, and sped them to the hospital. Thanks to grandma’s heroics, LL's mother and grandfather both survived.

Complex says: We already knew plenty of rappers have mothers who are G’ed up, but a story like this make us want to read a list of Hip-Hop’s Most Gangsta Grandmas.

Russell Simmons

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Russell Simmons Reveals How He Was A Suspect In A Murder Case

Book: Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money, + God

Year: 2002

What happened? Before he gets to the "God" part of his book, Uncle Rush talks about his many girlfriends—from ghetto chicks from Queens to Manhattan models to edgy women who were into punk rock and drugs. One girl he talked about in particular, Tammi—a brown-skinned honey who aspired to break into the entertainment industry but also sold coke on the side.

According to Russ, “I’d stop over at Tammi’s to do lines and have sex. It seemed like a good arrangement.” No kidding. The result of said arrangement? Tammi ended up getting killed and Russell ended up as the prime suspect. After several interviews with the District Attorney, he was eventually cleared of the murder.

Complex says: Take it from Uncle Russ: It’s only fun and games until someone gets killed.

50 Cent

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50 Cent Reveals How His Mom Made Him Beat Up The Neighborhood Bully... At Age 5

Book: From Pieces To Weight

Year: 2006

What happened? When five-year-old Curtis Jackson got into a fight with a bigger kid, he came home crying to his grandmother. But his mother wasn’t having it. "My mom was, in a word, hard. She was real aggressive. As a disciplinarian, she was stern. As a motivator, she was even harsher." She sent 50 back out to fight the kid, saying, "I don't care if he's bigger than you. You pick something up and hit him with it if you have to. But you're not going to come back in here crying.” Curtis did as his mother said and cold clocked homie with a huge rock. The kid never messed with 50 after that day.

Complex says: And you wonder why 50 is the way he is? He’s Sabrina’s baby alright.

Grandmaster

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Grandmaster Flash Remembers Smoking Coke For ‘Breakfast, Lunch, And Dinner’

Book: The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats

Year: 2008

What happened? While on tour in Europe to promote The Furious Five’s legendary rap hit “The Message”, Grandmaster Flash talked about the height of his cocaine problem. In an excerpt from the book, he said, “I can’t hear anything when we’re onstage ‘cause I can’t wait to get offstage and get high. I smoked coke for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

Complex says: Any bets on what he had for dessert?

Faith Evans

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Faith Evans Says She Caught Biggie In Bed With Lil Kim

Book: Keep The Faith

Year: 2009

What happened? On Christmas Eve, Faith Evans went to Biggie’s crib to check on him and the many girls he was seeing at the time. When she got there, she found a “small lump” in bed next to Biggie. It turns out it’s Biggie’s protege and longtime jumpoff Lil Kim. Faith claimed she proceeded to kick Kim’s ass and even pulled out her wig.

Complex says: How could they have left this scene out of Notorious?!

Eminem

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Eminem Says His Blond Hair Was A Result Of An Ecstasy Bender

Book: The Way I Am

Year: 2009

What happened? Shortly after signing with Dr. Dre and before the release of The Slim Shady LP, Eminem did a hit of ecstasy with Royce da 5’9" and woke up the next morning with blond hair. When Dre saw it, he told Em to keep it because it was the perfect addition to his image.

Complex says: Although he’s retired the look in recent times, could you imagine Em never having the blond hair? Clearly, the doctor knew best!

Trick

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Trick Daddy Recalls Mistakenly Causing His Childhood Girlfriend To Be Raped

Book: Magic City: Trials Of A Native Son

Year: 2010

What happened? In his book, Trick Daddy claimed he had a lot of girls—and shared them with his boys—but there was one girl that was special, Tiffany. He took Tiffany to his boy’s house—where two guys were busying bagging up cocaine—to have sex with her for the first time. Trick and Tiffany went to the bedroom but Trick realized he didn’t have any condoms. He made a quick run to go buy some rubbers but while he was away, Tiffany got raped by the crack dealers in the house. After that day, she never spoke to Trick Daddy again.

Complex says: In light of this, we're going to add “A Crackhouse” to our list of The Worst Places To Have Sex.

Pepa

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Pepa (of Salt-N-Pepa) Admits To Almost Being Gang-Raped

Book: Let’s Talk About Pep

Year: 2010

What happened? One day, Pepa and her friend Sonya went to the Forty Projects in Queens because Sonya was owed money by a male friend. Pepa had one of her “premonitions” of danger but went anyway. When they got there, they got comfortable (which Pep insists she told her friend not to do), and more guys start filling the spot.

When Pep and her friend made a sudden run for it, they got chased down flights of project steps but they narrowly escaped. Later, they found out that someone claimed that Pep and her friend were “down for whatever,” and the dudes came packed with tape, rope, and all types of shit to tie them down with so they could gang rape them.

Complex says: Remember on Mobb Deep’s “More Trife Life” where Havoc claimed, “Don’t ever go to see a bitch”? Yeah, this story is like the female version of that.

Prodigy

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Prodigy Says Capone Is A Snitch

Book: My Infamous Life

Year: 2011

What happened? In Prodigy’s book, he details the murder trial for Havoc’s brother, Killer Black. According to P, throughout the trial, everyone kept wondering who the District Attorney's star witness would be. It turned out it was the rapper Capone, of Capone-N-Noreaga.

According to P, Capone took the stand and claimed Killer Black shot a man in the back of the head. After his testimony proved to be invalid (the autopsy report showed the man was shot from the front, not the back), Capone claimed he purposely lied so Killer could beat the case. However, it was rumored that he took the stand in order to lower his own jail time after getting caught selling dugs to an undercover cop.

Complex says: Fun fact: The incident gained Capone the nickname “Canary” in the hood. Ha!

RELATED: READ THE ENTIRE EXCERPT FROM PRODIGY'S BOOK HERE

Common

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Common Recalls Him And His Mom Being Kidnapped By His Father At Gunpoint

Book: One Day It’ll All Make Sense

Year: 2011

What happened? Simliar to LL Cool J’s father, Common’s pops was trying to win his mom back in a crazy ordeal. Common’s father held his mother at gunpoint and drove her handcuffed to the steering wheel across the country to Seattle. Meanwhile, baby Common sat in the backseat. Com’s mom eventually pulled a fast one on Com’s dad by drugging his soda with pills that she got him to buy for her.

Complex says: You got to be slick to drug someone. But to get someone to buy you the drugs you plan to drug them with? That's some Jedi Mind trick shit.

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