Blueface

Background

Jonathan Jamall Porter, popularly known as Blueface, was born in Los Angeles, California. He was raised in Mid-City and attended several elementary schools as a child. His mother moved him to Santa Clarita Valley but he later settled in Oakland with his father. He enrolled at Arleta High School where he joined the football team and became the starting quarterback in 2014. At the time, Porter weighed about 160lbs and stood at 76 inches high, leading his school to the East Valley League championship. He was also in the marching band and played the alto saxophone. While in high school, Porter committed to play for Fayetteville State University but left in 2016. His interest in rap music started at a fairly young age and was influenced by artists like The Game, 50 Cent, and Snoop Dogg.

Porter began officially rapping in 2017 with the stage name, Blueface Bleedem. His encounter with a studio was purely coincidental but after being challenged to jump on a beat, he immediately started working on his first song, ‘Deadlocs,’ produced by his friend Laudiano on Soundcloud. He later released “Famous Cryp,” his full-length project in June 2018. This gave him a following in California and gave him the base to release his second EP “Two Coccy.” In October 2018, he released “Respect My Cryppin’s” music video on WorlstarHipHop Youtube channel and the video went viral. He got signed to Cash Money West, Cash Money Records’ West Coast branch. This elevated him to hang around with rappers like Drake and Quavo. In January 2019, he released the remix to his single, ‘Thotiana’ which he features Cardi B and YG that got to the Billboard Top 100 chart, and in May that year, he gathered over five million views on Youtube in just four days, with his video, “Stop Cappin.”

He released another EP titled “Dirt Bag” in August 2019 rated at number 48 on the Billboard 200. He has previously explained that although his rapping is off-beat, he writes to the beat and he uses the instrumentals as all his songs’ base. Porter’s unique voice has also been compared to rappers like E-40 and Suga Free. He announced that he had signed in for a fight for Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship in June 2021. The fight was against Kane Trujillo at BKFC 19 on July 23, and he won by a unanimous decision.