Rucka Rucka Ali

Musical career

Rucka Rucka Ali's music career started on MySpace in 2006, when he released his first single "I Heart Crack". On MySpace Rucka developed one of his alter-egos, "DJ Not Nice", who espouses stereotypical qualities of Asian people; when Rucka writes parodies on topics related to Asia or Asians, they are typically performed by this character. Rucka received traffic from writing controversial comments on popular videos on MySpace, boosting his popularity, until his account was deleted in February 2008 for breaking their anti-spam policy. On the September 11, 2008 (the anniversary of the September 11 attacks), Rucka Rucka Ali released his debut album, "Straight Outta West B", which contained songs previously published on his MySpace account. When not working on his music, Rucka was an intern on Hot 102.7 WHTD's "Serchlite Saturdays", which was hosted by MC Serch. This partnership lead to Rucka playing his parody music on-air and promoting his music videos on their YouTube account. After his video resulted in SerchliteTV's channel to be suspended, Rucka decided to publish his videos independently. All of his albums bar Black Man of Steal have been published on Pinegrove Records.

Most of Rucka Rucka Ali's musical content pertains to parodies containing lyrics for shock value, often including ethnic stereotypes. Celebrities and politicians whom he has imitated on more than one occasion include Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden, Donald Trump, One Direction and Kim Jong-il (also his son, Kim Jong-un). He often auto-tunes his vocals. He also makes use of satirical alter egos, like fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, but more satirical. He has multiple alter egos, such as DJ Not Nice (Asian), Seymour Schwartz (Jewish) and Toby Queef (white American redneck). Some critics have labeled Ali as a racist as a reaction to his songs, although his humor seems heavily influenced by mainstream comedy television shows such as South Park, Family Guy, and Chappelle's Show. His videos and YouTube channels are frequently removed (since he started creating music videos he has had 17 YouTube channels deleted for terms of service violations), but are reuploaded by his fans, who call themselves "Rucka's Nuckas".

In 2010, three British students were suspended from school when a Korean child was offended as they showed one of Rucka's videos "Ima Korean" to their class while studying culture. The school's headmaster said the song was "probably racist", which was used as the title for Rucka Rucka Ali's next album. Some of his songs include "Ching Chang Chong", a parody of The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" full of Asian stereotypes, and "Justin's Beaver", a parody of B.o.B's "Magic" ridiculing Justin Bieber. One of his most infamous parodies was "Ima Korean", which was a parody of The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" which makes fun of Kim Jong-il and North Koreans. He later released a sequel called "My Korea's Over" which is a parody of "International Love", taking place after Kim Jong-il's death in 2011, when his son Kim Jong-un took over as the leader of North Korea. In 2013, he released a third song in the series called "Kim Jong-Un Song" which is a parody of Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" featuring Nelly, which is about the 2013 North Korean missile crisis.

During the weeks July 31, 2010 through August 7, 2010, Rucka held 5 of the top 10 spots on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks chart. This feat had only been accomplished by comedy band The Lonely Island before Rucka.

Rucka Rucka Ali has released six albums, three of which charted in the Billboard Top Comedy Albums, I'm Black, You're White & These Are Clearly Parodies which peaked at No. 6 and Probably Racist which peaked at No. 11. In September 2012, he released his sixth studio album, Rucka's World, which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums.

Rucka Rucka Ali used to have a podcast named "Ruckas Late Night Power Hour" that ran from 2011 to 2012. He now has a new podcast called "The Rucka Nucka Podcast" and continues to release songs regularly.

On July 24, 2013, Rucka Rucka Ali released the song "Zayn Did 9/11" (a parody of Selena Gomez's "Come & Get It") to YouTube which mocked Muslim One Direction member Zayn Malik, jokingly saying he committed the September 11 terrorist attacks. The single cover features a silhouette of Malik in front of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as they were attacked. The song, along with an accompanying music video released several days later, angered One Direction fans and others. Business Standard called the song "offensive" and a "racist attack" on Malik.

In late November 2013, Rucka Rucka Ali was involved in another controversy after his song "Only 17", a parody of "Just a Dream" by Nelly, was accidentally played uncensored over the speakers at a McDonald's in Wales. Subsequently, McDonald's issued an apology to the offended customers. That same week, Rucka Rucka Ali responded to the controversy on his YouTube channel by jokingly demanding a personal apology from the restaurant.

In December 2014, alongside Andy Dick, he announced that his new album Black Man of Steal would be released in January 2015.

In 2016, Ali announced his new album Everything is Racist to be released on Christmas Day.

Discography

Studio albums

Charted singles

Comedy year-end chart

Released singles (per Discogs and iTunes)

Music videos