Juaquin James Malphurs better known as Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper from South Jamaica. He became a mainstream artist with the release of his singles ‘O Let’s Do It’, ‘Hard in da Paint’, and ‘No Hands’. His debut studio album ‘Flockaveli’ was released in 2010. His second album ‘Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family’ was dropped in 2012. Many of his tracks have debuted on the Billboard charts.
Waka Flocka net worth
| Net Worth: | $7 Million |
| Date of Birth: | 1986-05-31 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Profession: | Rapper |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
Personal Life
Waka Flocka married Tammy Rivera in 2014. Instead of getting wedding rings, the pair have matching tattoos on their fingers. Tammy Rivera has a child from a previous marriage, and Waka Flocka has raised the child as his own.
Early Life
Juaquin James Malphurs was born on the 31st of May, 1986, in South Jamaica. Soon after he was born his family moved to Georgia. His mother worked as the CEO of a major artist management company called Mizay Entertainment and despite that, Waka had no interest in music. A major turning point came in his life when he was 14 years old. One of his older brothers got killed in a freak automobile accident. That deeply affected Waka who then became furthermore distant from the prospect of a career and spend most of his time in the streets of Atlanta, hanging out with some local gang members.
Highlights
Here are some of the best highlights of Waka Flocka Flame’s career:
- No Hands (Song, 2010)
- Flockaveli (Album, 2010)
- Ferrari Boyz (Album, 2011)
- BET Hip Hop Award (Best Club Bange, 2011) – Won
- 50K Remix (Song, 2013)
- Workin (Song, 2015)
Collaborations With Gucci Mane
At this point in time, Gucci Mane started to take Waka Flocka more seriously as an established rapper, and announced plans to work with him on an upcoming album. A common misconception is that their relationship soured after Gucci Mane stopped working with Flocka’s mother, but wasn’t the case as this happened before they began working together on the collaborative album.
Flocka released several mixtapes before this collaborative effort was released. The mixtapes helped keep his fanbase sated while he was working with Gucci Mane. In 2011, the album Ferrari Boyz dropped, and this was the beginning of a long and fruitful musical relationship between Flocka and Gucci.
Waka Flocka followed this up with a second solo album called Triple F Life: Friends, Fans & Family. Waka Flocka was so well-established at this point that several artists wanted to collaborate with him on this album. Those that appeared on Triple F include Drake, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, and Meek Mill.
Although Waka Flocka announced Flockaveli 2 long in advance, fans would have to wait years for its release. Repeated delays frustrated his most faithful followers, and he resorted to his usual technique of releasing mixtapes to keep people interested. After a handful of mixtapes and many years of waiting, Flockaveli 2 was released in 2013.
After Flockaveli 2
Waka Flocka continued to contribute to the hip-hop scene for many years after the release of his third album. He dropped even more mixtapes and collaborated on the albums of many other artists. Eventually, he announced that he had retired from rap in 2018. He later stated that he was “a wack rapper.”
Television Career
Waka Flocka appeared in the third season of Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta. The show followed the lives of Waka Flocka and his wife, Tammy Rivera. The show proved to be quite popular, and in 2014 it was announced that the couple would be starring in their own spin-off entitled Meet the Flockas.
Controversy
In 2010, Waka Flocka was shot twice in an attempted robbery. This was shortly after his initial rise to fame due to his first mixtape. In 2011, his home was raided by the authorities. They found marijuana, a firearm, and other drugs. In 2014, he was arrested after trying to bring a loaded firearm into an international airport.
Feud with Gucci Mane
Waka Flocka made headlines after feuding with Gucci Mane. Although the two were once friends, they stopped working together in 2013. Neither rapper has stated why this happened, but they refused to collaborate after this incident. Years later, the two would bury the hatchet – at least to some extent.
Career
Waka began his career in 2008 when he dropped his first mixtape titled ‘Salute me or Shoot me Vol 1’. One of the tracks ‘O Let’s Do It’ became an immediate success. It peaked at the 62nd spot in the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The entire mix-tape slowly reached other parts of the country and marked the arrival of Waka into the mainstream and also to Gucci Mane’s squad 1017 Brick Squad.
In 2012, Waka finished the work of his second album ‘Triple F Life-Friends, Fans & Family’. The album was released the same year, and it featured many collaborations with artists such as Nicki Minaj, Drake, Ludacris, and Meek Mill and debuted at the 10th spot on the Billboard 200.
The next year, Waka finished his next studio album ‘Flockaveli 2’. ‘DuFlocka Rant 2’ was his next mix-tape and it was followed by another one titled ‘Roches to Rollies’ in 2013. He also released the third one titled ‘DuFlocka Rant: Halftime’. In 2015, Waka released mix-tapes ‘Salute me or Shoot me 5’ and ‘Flockaveli 1.5’. In 2017, he finally announced that his next album will be releasing in 2018.