BEFORE LIL UZI VERT dropped songs like UZI,
Money Longer, You Was Right, XO Tour Life Before Lil Uzi Vert SoundCloud page would
recivied millions of streams for each of his tracks and he would sell out his homecoming
show at the Philadelphia Theatre of The Living Arts. Before he would ink a deal with Atlantic records;
make it onto the 2016 XXL Freshman Class cover; collaborated with the likes of Young Thug,
Wiz Khalifa, and ASAP MOB; and take the place of Take Off on the biggest MIGOS song of all
time, Growing up in North Philly Lil Uzi Vert or
Symere Woods would jame out to Mike Jones, the Ying Yang Twins, Jones and believe it
or not, Marilyn Manson, who he calls his greatest inspiration, and the guy who motivated him
to embrace his own musical interest and style. In high school, he was the class clown, dressed
like a skater, and would do anything for a little attention. When a friend of his started to turn heads
with his rap skills, Symere decided to get into the game himself. But, at least at first, he didn't really have
the talent. Plus, his hard working mom wanted him to go
a more practical route. If he had listened to her wise advice, he
might have stayed in school, and kept at his job working as a stock boy at the dollar store. What's going on everybody? I'm Michael McCrudden, documenting the life
and career of Lil Uzi Vert prior to fame, here for you on Before They Were Famous. I've recently documented Ski Mask the Slump
God, XXXtentacion and Young Pappy. So be sure to check out those videos. But who's next? You gotta let me know in the comments down
below, or on twitter or instagram, at mccrudden m. Lil Uzi Vert was born Symere Woods on July
31, 1994, in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Growing up in the Francisville neighbourhood,
his parents were separated, and young Symere would bounce between his mother and father's
homes. As a kid, he loved playing video games, especially
Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, and watched cartoons like Franklin and CatDog. He grew up listening to Mike Jones, Bow Wow
and Ying Yang Twins, before getting into Wiz Khalifa and Meek Mill. The first album he ever owned was Wanted by
Mike Jones and Bow Wow, which he recieved as a gift from his grandmother. Cool granny! But Symere's musical tastes were diverse,
and he also listened to Paramore, My Chemical Romance, The All American Rejects. He was also, and remains today, a huge fan
of Marilyn Manson. Uzi Vert has also cited ASAP Rocky, Pharrell
Williams, Kanye West, Young Thug, Wiz Khalifa, and Lil Wayne as musical influences. In school, a young Uzi was a bit of an outsider,
an attention seeker, and a class clown. He was not a particularly good student, and
was constantly getting in trouble at school. He attended four different public high schools,
Sayre, Northeast, Olney and Camelot. At one point, his mother threatened to kick
him out of the house, and to appease her, he got the only job (other than rap) that
he's ever held, working at Bottom Dollar. But that didn't last too long. He knew instantly that this wasn't for him,
and after just three or four days, he quit. But around 2012, in his senior year of high
school, Symere found something that was for him. Rap. A friend of his, William Aston, put out a
freestyle over Chris Brown's Look at Me Now, and the whole school went crazy for it. As a young attention seeker himself, Uzi decided
to tell William that he raps too. Will called his bluff, asking him to spit
something for him. After several delays, Uzi managed to write
a verse to rap for William. Uzi recalls that it was pretty corny, but
William encouraged him to keep at it. Then one day, William invited Uzi to go to
the studio with him. Uzi agreed, despite being totally unprepared. Unable to back out, Uzi got all the way to
the studio with no worthy material. Once there, he managed to lay down a track,
and William must have liked what he heard, because he suggested that the two continue
to rap together. Symere continued to work on his skills, recording
freestyles over beats he'd find on youtube. Despite being from the north, he would embrace
southern sounds, inspired in part by artists like ASAP Rocky and Big Sean, who were doing
the same. But as he developed as a rapper, it became
clearer and clear that he would need a stage name. ...And from there, he had found his moniker. Lil Uzi Vert began posting his songs to SoundCloud. Back in 2014, he would be lucky to see a few
hundred people had listened to his work. And when he got his first couple thousand,
he was thrilled. He told complex back in 2015, “Just that couple of thousand felt so crazy. Just being at home—even a thousand people
listen to your song. I'm like, 'Damn, a thousand people heard it
or know my song.' So, it was just cool. Now, I see it in a day a song can get up to
100,000 or something, it makes me feel good. I guess I'm doing something right.” It wouldn't take long for he and William caught
the attention of DJ Buzz Worthy, who offered to manage the duo. William declined, but Uzi agreed on the spot,
and through DJ Buzz Worthy, he met producer Charlie Heat, who produced his 2014 break
out hit, UZI. This song would make it into the hands of
Power 99's DJ Diamond Kuts. She got the song on the radio in Philadelphia,
where it would catch the ear of an Atlanta-based industry leader, who just happened to be in
town. Another notable influencer on Lil Uzi Vert's
career was him receiving some online respect from the now deceased A$AP Yams who reached
out to Uzi via Twitter telling him he would be a star. On top of that, in 2014, Uzi started dated
stylist, designer and artist, Brittany Byrd. Nice catch! Things definitely looked like they were coming
together, but at the time, Lil Uzi Vert was facing serious pressure to give up on his
dream. His mom, who made an honest living as a nurse,
wanted Symere to make more practical plans for his future. He dropped out of school, was didn't want
to go back, but in order to appease his mom, he did get a job, working as a stock boy at
a Dollar Store. But, it wasn't long before he quit that too. He was then kicked out of his mom's house,
and found himself living with his Grandma, who was a little more supportive of his rap
career. Now able to put school and day jobs aside,
Uzi put everything into his music, and his career was on the rise. Cannon and DJ Drama had a lot of faith in
the teenager so they brought him out to Atlanta to record. Uzi earned for himself nation wide attention
after being featured on DJ Carnage's single "WDYW" in 2015, with ASAP Ferg and Rich The
Kid. Uzi was signed to Generation Now and later
Atlantic Records. That same year Lil Uzi Vert got his very own
music video for Safe House from his mixtape, Luv is Rage. Following this would come his mixtape Lil
Uzi Vert vs. the World with his breakout hit Money Longer. The song would be certified double platinum
and chart billboard, hitting number 9 on the US rap charts. From there he would be collaborating with
his idols, touring America and would find himself on the cover of XXL in the 2016 Freshman
Class. In June of 2016, Lil Uzi Vert broke up with
his girlfriend Brittany Byrd. After the break up, rumours about her cheating
spread all over the web, but Uzi dispelled them via twitter. He did however, drop a new song, called Stole
Your Luv Lil Uzi Vert released The Perfect Luv Tape
on July 31st 2016, with songs like Seven Million (featuring Future) and Erase Your Social. In October of 2016, Lil Uzi Vert collaborated
with the Migos on Bad and Boujee. This would be number one single for both Lil
Uzi Vert as a featured artist, and the Migos as lead artist. A definite win for every one involved, but
you gotta feel bad for Take Off, who seemed to give up his spot on the track for Uzi. Bad and Boujee would get Uzi nominated for
Best Hip Hop Video at the 2017 MTV Music Awards. It was nominated for Top Rap Song and Top
Rap Collaboration at the Billboard Music Awards, where Lil Uzi Vert was also nominated as Top
New Artist. But unfortunately, he wouldn't take home any
of these awards. Collaborating with Gucci Mane, Lil Uzi released
1017 vs the world in November. In February of 2017, he released Luv Is Rage
1.5. That EP would include his highest charting
single to date, XO Tour Life. This song garnered Uzi his first major music
award, taking home the prize for Song of the Summer at the 2017 MTV Music Video Awards. It would also feature on Lil Uzi Vert's debut
studio album, Luv Is Rage 2, which was released on August 25th, 2017. The album crushed billboard, topping the charts
in the number one spot on the Hot 100, the US RandB and hiphop chart, and the US Rap
chart. And the rest of the story, well, we'll have
to wait and see, because this is Before They Were Famous. My name's Michael McCrudden. Thanks for watching, guys. I've got over a thousand bios on this channel,
so be sure to check it out. Also let me know who you want me to document
next in the comments down below. Okay. Love you. Bye!
