Ab-Soul
Ab-Soul (real name Herbert Stevens , born February 23, 1987 in Los Angeles , California ) is an American rapper .
life and career
Herbert Stevens was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the Carson suburb . As a child, he developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome , which caused his lip to turn black, suffer from photosensitivity and therefore mostly wear sunglasses . At school he was teased because of his looks and had to give up his dream of a professional basketball career. As a hobby he was rapping and writing freestyle texts online .
After graduating from school, he took the job more seriously, founded the group Area 51 together with the rapper Snake Hollywood and signed a two-year contract with the small label Street Beat Entertainment in 2005 . During this time, however, there were hardly any noteworthy publications, so he switched to Top Dawg Entertainment in 2007 , where he brought out a mixtape called A Day in the Life in 2008 .
With the other top Dawg artists ScHoolboy Q , Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock , he founded another group in 2009 with Black Hippy . In 2011 he finally released his solo debut album, Longterm Mentality .
The Werk Control System followed in the next year , with which he experienced his breakthrough. The long player, which contained guest contributions from all Black Hippy members, as well as Jhené Aiko and Danny Brown , among others , made it to number 91 on the Billboard 200 .
In 2014 he released the album These Days ... , which entered position 11 on the Billboard 200 and had features by, for example, Lupe Fiasco and Rick Ross .
2016 appeared at Christmas time with Do What Thou Wilt. his fourth long-player who reached rank 34 as the highest chart position on the Billboard 200.
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 2011 | Long-term mentality |
UK-UK | US-US | |
| 2012 | Control system |
UK-UK |
US91 (2 weeks) US |
First published: May 11, 2012
|
| 2014 | These Days ... |
UK96 (1 week) UK |
US11 (2 weeks) US |
First published: June 24, 2014
|
| 2016 | Do What Thou Wilt. |
UK-UK |
US34 (1 week) US |
First published: December 9, 2016
|
Mixtape
- 2008: A Day in the Life
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2018 | Bloody Waters |
UK98 (1 week) UK |
US-US |
Ab-Soul, Anderson .Paak & James Blake
|
Web links
Individual evidence
-
↑ a b chart sources:
- Ab-Soul - full Official Chart History. Official Charts Company , accessed February 11, 2018 . (UK)
- Ab-Soul Chart History. Billboard , accessed February 11, 2018 . (US)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ab-Soul |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stevens, Herbert (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-American rapper |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 23, 1987 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Los Angeles , California , United States |