ASAP Rocky

Did You Know?

• Mayers started rapping at age nine, when he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
• His older brother Ricky was killed by gun violence in Harlem when Mayers was 13, inspiring him to take rapping more seriously.
• Mayers' cousin is fellow ASAP Mob member ASAP Nast.

Career

In 2007, Rakim Mayers became part of the A$AP Mob, a Harlem crew founded by A$AP Yams, A$AP Bari, and A$AP Illz that brought together rappers, producers, video directors, fashion designers, and bikers with shared tastes in music and style. His single "Purple Swag" dropped in July 2011 and quickly became a New York City street anthem. The next month, "Peso" leaked online and soon got airplay on Hot 97. After the "Purple Swag" video came out, record labels took notice.

In October 2011, Mayers released the mixtape Live. Love. A$AP to strong reviews and signed a $3 million, two-year deal with Bryan Leach's Polo Grounds Music, distributed through Clive Davis's Sony division J Records. He also launched the label A$AP Worldwide with A$AP Yams.

That deal shifted when RCA Music Group folded J Records, Arista, and Jive into RCA Records on October 7, putting Mayers under RCA. On December 5, he got a nod for BBC's Sound of 2012. In February 2012, he opened for Drake's Club Paradise Tour alongside Kendrick Lamar. That June, SpaceGhostPurrp of the Raider Klan accused A$AP Mob of biting their style and claimed Mayers used lyrics from his track "My Enemy" on "Goldie."

Mayers fired back in a July MTV interview, telling Purrp to "stick to makin' beats." He played the Pitchfork Music Festival in July 2012 and was set to debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on July 20, but was arrested the night before after a brawl with artist iRome. The performance was rescheduled to August 21, where he did "Goldie." On September 6, he joined Rihanna onstage at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards for a guest verse on "Cockiness (Love It)."

Business ventures

In October 2011, Rakim Mayers inked a $3 million recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment, setting aside $1.7 million for his own projects and $1.3 million to support his company. He wanted a "bigger platform" for himself and his crew. Fellow A$AP Mob rapper A$AP Ferg also landed a joint venture with Polo Grounds Music. Two years later, Mayers and A$AP Mob co-founder A$AP Bari launched an A$AP merchandise line and worked with designer Raf Simons.

In October 2014, he secured worldwide representation from William Morris Endeavor. Guess dropped a collaboration with him in February 2016 called GUE$$, inspired by the vintage '90s clothes he wore growing up. In 2022, he introduced his own whisky, Mercer + Prince, during an interview on Drink Champs. The following year, he partnered with Gucci for Guilty perfume ads, with Puma for F1-themed sneakers, and with Bottega Veneta for a campaign styled after paparazzi snapshots.

Personal life

Mayers was previously a pescetarian. In 2012, he transitioned to a vegetarian diet with the help of his vegan manager after learning of the horrors of the poultry industry. On his 2019 single "Babushka Boi," he stated he is vegan. He was raised in a Christian household but does not like attending organized church, instead having his own relationship with God and praying daily.

During his 2019 incarceration in Sweden, he prayed to keep himself occupied. Mayers is 6'0" tall, which he revealed in a Nikki & Sara Live interview to contextualize why he felt out-of-place standing next to the much taller Jason Collins. From 2011 to 2012, he dated Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. He began dating model Chanel Iman in early 2013; they were reported to be engaged in April 2014 but broke up in June 2014.

On May 19, 2021, he revealed in a GQ interview that he is in a relationship with Barbadian singer Rihanna, describing her as "the love of my life." Rihanna gave birth to their first son in 2022, their second son in 2023, and a third child, a girl, on September 13, 2025.

Legal issues

In 2006, Mayers spent two weeks at Rikers Island, where he was cellmates with Casanova, who later became a rapper. A street fight on June 30, 2019, in Stockholm, Sweden, led to his arrest the following month. The altercation involved Mayers, three members of his group, and two other men, including Mustafa Jafari. Jafari ended up on the ground, where he was punched, kicked, and slashed with broken bottles, resulting in a fractured rib and multiple cuts that needed stitches.

Mayers posted two Instagram clips of the incident. One shows him and his crew repeatedly telling two young men to quit tailing them; the other, compiled from various footage, captures Jafari’s headphones breaking during a struggle and him striking Mayers’ bodyguard with them. A woman in the video claims the two men groped her. Mayers’ lawyer, Henrik Olsson Lilja, argued self-defense.

The bodyguard filed a counter-complaint against Jafari, who was initially investigated for harassment and minor assault. That probe was dropped because prosecutors determined Jafari acted in self-defense after the bodyguard grabbed his neck and shoved him. Mayers was taken into custody after finishing his concert at Stadion. Deemed likely to flee or tamper with evidence, he was held at Kronoberg Remand Prison until his trial, alongside two arrested associates. His tour was paused because of the legal proceedings.