Ab-Soul Biography
Ab- Soul (Herbert Anthony Stevens IV) an American hip hop recording artist hailing from Carson, California. He is a signee to the record label Top Dawg Entertainment(TDE), and a member of the prolific rap group titled Black Hippy alongside his label-mates and fellow California-based rappers Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q. He has released four independent albums under TDE: Longterm Mentality, Control System, These Days…, and Do What Thou Wilt.In regards to his artistry, he is known for his introspective lyrics and imagery.
Ab-Soul Age
Anthony was born on February 23, 1987 in Los Angeles, California
Ab-Soul Control System
Stevens began promoting his second independent album, Control System- by releasing a song titled “Black Lip Bastard”, on January 17, 2012. The song was produced by TDE in-house producer Willie B. The rapper revealed the album’s title to be Control System On April 17, 2012, and unveiled the release date to be May 11, 2012. Additionally, the rapper also released a music video for “Pineal Gland” the same day.
On April 24, 2012, The rapper released a song produced by Nez & Rio, with the title “SOPA”. The song referenced the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith, that would have allowed the U.S. government to control the Internet.
On May 4, 2012, it was revealed “Black Lip Bastard” was remixed and would feature his Black Hippy cohorts, Rock, Lamar and Schoolboy Q.On May 8, 2012, his collaboration with Lamar, titled “ILLuminate”, was released. The day before the album’s release Ab-Soul revealed the track listing and released snippets from the album. .
The album was released exclusively through iTunes on May 11, 2012, under Top Dawg Entertainment. The album sold approximately 5,300 units in an abbreviated week, debuting at number 83 on the Billboard 200 and appearing on several other Billboard charts as well. The album sold an estimated 3,700 the next week.
Ab-Soul Empathy
The rapper released another music video on May 1, 2012, for a new song titled “Empathy”. The song sampled vocals from Ab-soul’s late girlfriend Alori Joh (December 16, 1986 – February 6, 2012), who had committed suicide earlier in February. Alori’s death had a huge impact on Ab-soul and the recording process of Control System. Upon completion of the album,the album donned a write up : “Dedicated to the beautiful soul of Loriana Angel Johnson aka Alori Joh”
Ab-Soul &Joe Budden
In late 2012, Ab-soul and fellow rapper Joe Budden collaborated on a project which led to a feature on Joe Budden’s mixtape : A Loose Quarter on the track “Cut From a Different Cloth”. The song received praise as one of the best songs on Budden’s project. Budden has since announced that he and Ab-Soul have recorded many songs together which will be seeing the light of day in the near future. Budden went on to praise Ab-Soul as “one of the best things going in hip hop right now”
Ab-Soul XXL Freshman List 2013
On March 26, 2013, it was announced that Ab-Soul would be featured on XXL‘s 2013 Freshman Class issue, alongside Schoolboy Q and other up-and-coming rappers.
Ab Soul Quotes
- The universe bends to a still mind, peace be still.
- “I try my best to be honest. A lot of the greats before me did the same and what you come to find out is that, when you have the opportunity to share your words with millions of people, you’re not the only one who had that experience. That’s the beauty in it.” ~ Ab-Soul
- “We’re all different and I respect my difference. I just try to be myself at all times. As long as I do that my music is always going to be different.” ~ Ab-Soul
- “There are a lot of people in this world that listen to wide ranges of music and there should never be a CERTAIN type of music that any artist should be confined to, in my opinion.” ~ Ab-Soul
Ab-Soul Albums
- Longterm Mentality (2011)
- Control System (2012)
- These Days… (2014)
- Do What Thou Wilt. (2016)
- Ab-Soul Concert tours
- These Days Tour (2014)
- YMF Tour (2017)
Ab Soul Net Worth
Anthony net worth is estimated to be around $1 million
Ab-Soul Stevens–Johnson syndrome and Eyes
Anthony contracted a rare disease while he was 10 years old. The rapper was diagnosed with Stevens–Johnson syndrome, a condition which cled to his hospitalization with characterized symptoms of his dark lips and light-sensitive eyes. In an interview; he said:
“At ten years old, I got very sick. It was a pretty vivid day. I caught a rare virus called Steven-Johnson Syndrome. And it was very, very life-changing for me. It hindered my vision and my skin configuration. It definitely put a huge dent in my hoop dreams. I even kept trying to play. I tried to keep playing with my shades on, it was real funny when I think about it now. A lot of my friends were real cool about it. They wouldn’t make me feel different or anything like that, but I just kind of figured… I won’t have the sharp vision for that.” In his adolescent years however, Stevens was severely teased about his condition: “When I had got sick when I was younger of course it affected my lip skin, so coming up in school I had very dark lips and my eyes were low. I had to wear shades and shit. So I was quite peculiar. People teased me about my lips, and say I look high. I didn’t even start smoking weed, until after I graduated from high school.”
Ab-Soul Career
Anthony wrote his first verse -to the beat of Twista’s “Emotions- when he was 12 years old:
“I was like, I can do this; I’ll try it out. And I wrote it out. That’s a day I remember vividly. From that moment I’ve had a very keen interest in the whole craft. Being a big fan of words and making the real connection with them. Saying things that can make your eyes open up. I can say something and I can turn heads.”
No sooner had he graduated from high school than he began to take his music career seriously:
“I just wanted to be tight with [my raps] but I was growing a passion for it. Wasn’t until after I graduated from high school and checked into the community college that I realized I wanted to be a rapper full time. I probably did the equivalent of a half a semester total, in my attendance. I tried one semester and dropped out and then I tried another semester and dropped out. So it just didn’t work out.”
Ab-Soul Top Dawg Entertainment
Ab-soul met the President and Chairman of Carson-based indie record label, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2006. who as the rapper says, “saw more in his music than metaphors and punchlines” and in 2007, he officially joined the TDE bandwagon. The label is known to sign some prolific rappers such as Jay Rock, School boy and Kendrick Lamar. Ab-soul made a brief cameo appearance in 2008 for TDE’s label mate rapper Jay Rock’s commercial debut single, “All My Life (In the Ghetto)”debut .
In 2009, he alongside his label mates formed supergroup Black Hippy, The other members entailed rappers Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock and K-Dot.
Ab-Soul Longterm Mixtape
In January 2009, The rapper released his first mixtape off a series titled Longterm .The mixtape, entitled Longterm, was the first in a series of four installments. In an interview he stated: “When I did the first Longterm I knew that there would be four of them. When I did the first one. So there will be four of them: Longterm 1, 2, 3, and 4. So right now we’re at two. You’ll have to wait for the next one. That’s for the next Ab-Soul interview.”.
Hel released his second mixtape, and the sequel to his first, on June 28, 2010. The tape, titled Longterm 2: Lifestyles of the Broke and Almost Famous was highly acclaimed and featured the rapper singing on several songs.
Ab Soul Girlfriend
Anthony dated Alori Johnson but their relationship came to a standstill when Alori took her own life on February 6th 2012. He then started dating a model and video vixen by the name of Yaris Sanchez . The couple have always been a fairly low-key couple, deciding to keep their relationship private for the most part. The duo have been together for approximately four years and they appear to be more in love than ever. His girlfriend decided to ring in a new year of her partner’s life by sharing a genuinely heartfelt series of photos of the two of them together.
Ab-Soul Longterm Mentality
In February 2011, vAnthony revealed that he was working on an album titled Longterm Mentality and on March 21, 2011, he released the music video for a song titled “Nothin’ New”, in promotion for the album. He went on to tease the album by releasing a song on March 25th titled “Gone Insane”, the fourth track liberated that was taken from the album. On March 30, a trailer for the album Longterm Mentality, was released via Top Dawg Entertainment. On April 1, 2011 he released the music video for “Gone Insane”, directed by Top Dawg in-house directors Fredo Tovar and Scott Fleishman.
In an interview, he was sure to add that the respective independent albums of his label-mates partly inspired material on his Longterm Mentality Album:
“I compare [the process behind] Longterm Mentality to the process with all of my joints. Kendrick’s OD had came out and Q’s Setbacks had came out. I had these bodies of work to go off of as references, as inspiration. I hear what Kendrick is talking about, I hear what Q is talking about, I heard what Jay Rock was talking about. So how am I going to piece this all together and add my own two cents, too? How do I continue the sound but have my individuality as an artist? It’s the same challenge every single time.”
on April 5, 2011, the rapper released his premier independent album under his record label; exclusively on iTunes to critical acclaim with the albu,m . The album peaking at #73 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
Ab-Soul Family
Anthony lived with his first four years in Germany as his father was in the military. His parents separated leading to his mother relocating back to the US and stayed with his grandmother in Carson, California.