Herbert Anthony Stevens IV is an American rapper known to the public by his nickname Ab-Soul. He was born in California, Ab- Soul is known to the public for a number of reasons he was also a founder of a famous hip hop group called Black Hippy. Members of this group today have become very successful musicians and rappers, but Ab-Soul is most deserving for the formation and success of this group. All members in this group were very good friends since childhood and they are: Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q.
Today, Kendrick Lamar has the most successful career, he has worked with many popular artists such as Beyonce, Akon, Rihanna, Drake … In addition to collaborating with numerous artists, Kendrick has also won three Grammys, he had four great tours around the world and behind him there are five studio albums.
Apart from Kendrick, Ab-Soul achieved the greatest success. He became known to the audience after the release of his first album, which was a great success. In addition to his musical career, Ab-Soul began his acting career; he had several roles in the films. Ab-Soul achieved the greatest success in music; his songs have a special messages and emotions. So far, he has published four albums in his career: Longterm Mentality, Control System, These Days … and Do What Thou Wilt.
Ab- Soul proved that he is a talented artist and for this reason we have chosen to write an article about him. In this text we will talk about his career, beside that we will talk about his private life. We decided to talk about his childhood, youth, family, music and many other things that will help you understand this artist and his work better.
Early life
Ab- Soul did not have a rich and happy childhood like many other artists and musicians. He was not born in a wealthy family, but he managed to achieve great success that helped him to get a lot of money, fame and popularity. Ab-Soul was born in Los Angeles, but when he was a couple months old his parents moved to Germany. He lived there until he was 4 year old. His father got a job in the army and had to move to Germany.
His wife did not want to leave her husband, she wanted to be with him and provide him support. That’s why the whole family moved to Germany.
After four years of living in Germany, Ab and his mother returned to Los Angeles while his father remained in Germany. After this situation, his parents decided to divorce. His mother decided to start an independent life because her husband did not care for the family, and did not provide enough support.
After their divorce, his father decided to stay in Germany, and he started a different life. He opened a news agency, and after a few years he married again. Since then Ab-Soul has spent every vacation with his father, while he spent the rest of his time with his mother.
The big consequence in his childhood left the disease he had when he was 10 years old. Ab-Soul had a rare Steven-Johnson Syndrome, this disease has got special characteristics. This syndrome is manifested with special characteristics such as hair loss, skin color begins to change, and the biggest damage is applied to the physical appearance.
Ab-Soul acknowledged that this period was very stressful for him, he experienced a number of inconveniences, and many children did not want to communicate with him because of this illness. Ab-Soul admits that this disease brought him many problems, but it helped him to discover his identity and motivate himself in a completely different way.
His talent for music comes from his mother, who also had this talent, but she was forced to give up her career. Ab said in an interview that his mother was forced to give up her career, but she never gave up on music. When she gave birth to a son, she had to leave a musical career and start another business, but she brought her talent to her son. His mother was his great support, she always supported him and advised him to follow his dreams and never give up on them.
His mother never wanted to give up music, so she opened a music store. Ab- Soul spent days in this store, and his mother taught him about music. He developed his musical taste thanks to the great artists, but he had his own special style, and it was obvious that he will be an authentic and completely different artist.
When he was 12 years old he began to write songs, in his songs Ab was speaking about his private life and his inner struggles.
His musical direction was rap; he participated in numerous rap battles and won many awards.
When he finished high school, he decided to seriously devote himself to music, and to get musical education. He wanted to enroll at the College of Arts, but he changed his mind and decided that this was the right time to start his career.
Career
When he finished high school he started a serious musical career, he was ready to develop his talent and seriously dedicate himself to this profession. Ab-Soul recorded his first song in 2002, a few months later he signed a contract with the production studio StreetBeat Entertainment, but only a year later he terminate this contract. After this situation, Ab-Soul becomes a member of TDI, after this contract Ab-Soul begins recording his first album.
His first single was called ‘All My Life’, this song was announcement for his upcoming album which had great success, it helped him to achieve great success and start serious music career. Ab-Soul remained famous for founding hip hop group Black Hippy. Members of this group were his close friends Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, K-Dot and Kendrick Lamar.
Ab-Soul released his first album, Longterm Mentality and Control System. Kendrick Lamar was a guest on this album. The song “Hell Yeah” was a great success, and the album became famous thanks to this song. With the help of this album Ab-Soul has been working on a tour across America, and this tour was named ‘Road to Paid Dues’.
After a year, Stevens began work on his second independent album Control System, and the single ‘Black Lip Bastard’ was the announcement for this album. Stevens was the music producer of this album, he wrote most of the lyrics, and it is interesting that this album had no musician guests.
His third studio album had a specific announcement. Ab-Soul announced on Twitter that he was recording his third studio album that it will be released very quickly.
After this announcement, Ab went on a concert in New York and promoted the single ‘Closure’, this single was an announcement for the album ‘These Days’. This album has achieved the greatest success in Ab-Soul career, it has achieved 11th place on Billboard Top Lists, and had very positive reviews from other musicians and audiences.
His latest album, “Do What You Wilt,” was released in 2016; unfortunately this album did not make much success.
Personal life
Ab-Soul always kept his private life in secret; he did not make any scandals, and he used his popularity in a different way. In 2012, following the release of his second album, Ab-Soul founded a charity organization that helped poor children and women in California and across of America.
The greatest change in his life had the death of his girlfriend. He was in a long-term relationship with Alori Joh, who committed suicide. This situation left big consequences on Ab-Soul.
Quick Summary
Full name: Herbert Anthony Stevens IV
Date of birth: February 23, 1987
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
Age: 32
Profession: Rapper and songwriter
Height: 173 cm
Weight: 77 kg
Net Worth: $12 million
