Everything You Need To Know About Lil Pump
From beef with J. Cole, to being an alleged Harvard dropout, to his friendship with Smokepurpp, here’s everything you need to know about Lil Pump.

Image via Getty/Scott Dudelson

One of the most recognizable faces from the new school of rap, Lil Pump, whose real name is Gazzy Garcia, has owned the news cycle ever since he burst onto the scene two years ago. A laid-back, monotonous, lean-and-Xanax-fueled South Florida rapper, Pump has a penchant for entertaining online masses and infuriating the rest. He’s a poster child of SoundCloud rap, and one of detractors’ main targets. He’s everywhere on the internet, from news releases to Twitter feeds to Instagram Live.
Pump has earned the respect of some rappers and the scorn of others, churning out a top five single (“Gucci Gang”) and a top three album (Lil Pump) along the way. With over 16 million followers on Instagram and 1.1 million on Twitter, the newly-18-years-old rapper commands a large army of followers to balance out the legion of haters he’s accumulated, which is lowkey necessary, as he’s oft-referred to as the epitome of all that is wrong with rap today. Associated with Xanax and drug usage (to the point that he featured Charlie Sheen in the aptly-titled “Drug Addicts” music video), he’s received criticism for both his glorification of drugs and his disdain for any form of advanced lyricism.
Hater or enabler, if you haven’t been following Pump from the start, you might’ve missed a few details of his beginnings. Have no fear, though, because we’re here to get you all caught up. From how he got started, to his face tattoos, to the J. Cole beef, to his status as a Harvard dropout, here’s everything you need to know about Lil Pump. The next time your 14-year-old cousin yells “ESSKEETIT,” you’ll be completely on board.
Lil Pump Hails from South Florida

He Grew Up With Smokepurpp

He Came Up On SoundCloud

Pump’s First Song
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Appropriately titled “Lil Pump,” the Miami native’s first track helped establish the sounds that would shoot him up to popularity following it. A simple Smokepurpp beat plays host to two Pump verses that were, according to both producer and rapper, freestyled and recorded with iPhone headphones.
Pump and Cole Had Beef

But They Eventually Settled It
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After meeting up at Rolling Loud in Miami, where Lil Pump was seen vibing along to “1985,” the two decided to meet up for a near hour-long recorded conversation, where they discussed Pump’s upbringing, his inspirations, and the common ground between the two musical polar opposites.
"We ended up speaking on the phone," J. Cole said to Pump during the interview, explaining how the meeting between the two came to be in the first place. "Somebody called my phone and you was there with them. I ain't gonna lie, I thought you was trying to set me up or some shit. I was like, 'Yo, he's 17 and a massive troll.'
He Just Turned 18

He’s, Well, Little

The Face Tattoos

He Did Not Attend—or Drop Out of—Harvard

He Also Didn’t Graduate High School

"Gucci Gang" is the Shortest Song to Chart in 42 Years
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What do Lil Pump and the original Parent Trap have in common? Both produced some of the shortest songs to chart on Billboard’s Top 100. The Parent Trap’s “Let’s Get Together” holds the honor of being the briefest ever (1:28), and “Gucci Gang” sits at a brief 2:02, the shortest to chart since 1969.
His Lollapalooza Set Was Shut Down

Pump Has an $8 million, One-Album Deal with Warner Bros.

He Was Arrested for Firing a Gun in His House

He Recently Violated His Probation in Miami
