Tyga, whose real name is Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
Tyga is, on paper, quite religious. He's a Christian of some sort, though it is unclear which denomination he claims. His stage name itself is an acronym for "Thank You God Always."[1] He sometimes uses biblical terminology and references his faith in his raps, for example:
…Heavenly father, appoint me to the coronation/I deserve it, brought music for clarification.[2]
He even invokes God during interviews. He once said of his ascent to fame:
I truly am blessed to have such great people believing in me. I'm real lucky and I can't wait to get out there and make everyone proud. I just gotta stay positive, keep my faith in God and I know things will turn out great.[3]
Of course, Tyga's faith would be in question for scores of Christians who might take issue with his full-body tattoo and lyrics like:
The dick in yo mouth/Don't be a bonehead/Put it so deep, now she a cone head.[4]
But who needs them. It takes all kinds to make up this crazy world, even tattooed, Christian sex freaks.
Say Obama again, I didn't hear you
Tyga made it pretty clear where his political loyalties lie in a 2008 freestyle rap that went viral. The backing track for the song is someone saying "Obama" over and over and over, probably somewhere around 300 times. Over the top, Tyga freestyles rhymes like:
No McCain, dry your eyes Republicans, for the next president, who you voting for? Obama, Obama, Obama…[5]
It's so annoying that if I would have heard it just before the election, I might have thrown one to McCain. But despite Tyga's Democratic leanings, he lacks a certain amount of, shall we say, sensitivity towards one of the party's biggest group of supporters. In a Twitter battle with celebrity blogger and gay rights champion, Perez Hilton, Tyga accused "faggots" and "trannys" of making up rumors about him.[6] Uh-oh, call the PC police!
Tyga is certainly a man of many contradictions: homophobic Democrat, foul-mouthed Christian. And therein lies, I guess, a real human being. Nobody's perfect and Tyga teaches us that important lesson.
Loading comments...