Rucka Rucka Ali


Rucka Rucka Ali is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, radio personality, comedian, YouTuber, parodist and satirist. He is best known for his dark comedy political and topical song parodies on YouTube. Much of his content employs ethnic and racial stereotypes. He had received over 200 million views on YouTube in 2010 with parodies such as "Go Cops!", "Justin's Beaver", "Ima Korean", "Ching Chang Chong", and "Ebola ". He has released seven independent studio albums, four of which charted in the Billboard Top Comedy Albums.

Early life

Rucka Rucka Ali was born in Jerusalem, Israel on January 27, 1987. He was born into an Orthodox Jewish environment, though he said he moved away from this as he grew up.

Career

Rucka Rucka Ali's singing career started on Myspace in 2006, when he released his first single "I Heart Crack". On MySpace, Ali developed one of his alter egos, "DJ Not Nice", who espouses stereotypical qualities of Asian people; when Ali writes parodies on topics related to Asia or Asians, they are typically performed by this character. Ali 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, 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, Ali was an intern on Hot 102.7 WHTD's "Serchlite Saturdays", which was hosted by MC Serch.
This partnership lead to Ali 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, Ali decided to publish his videos independently. As of January 2015, all of Ali's albums have been distributed independently.
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, Justin Bieber, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Jong-un. He often Auto-Tunes his vocals. Others who has he impersonated multiple times include Adolf Hitler and Michael Jackson. His music tends to make use of his several satirical alter egos similar to Detroit rapper Eminem.
He has multiple alter egos, such as DJ Not Nice, Seymour Schwartz and Toby Queef. Although his humor seems heavily influenced by mainstream comedy television shows, such as South Park, Family Guy, and Chappelle's Show, some critics have labeled Ali as a racist as a reaction to his songs. His videos and YouTube channels are frequently removed, but are reuploaded by his fans, who call themselves "Rucka's Nuckas".
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 I Think" 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 Balotelli, which is about the 2013 North Korean missile crisis.
During the weeks July 31, 2010 through August 7, 2010, Ali 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 Ali.
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.
Ali used to host a podcast named "Rucka's Late Night Power Hour" that ran from 2011 to 2012. He then hosted another podcast named "The Rucka Nucka Podcast" which ran from November 2012 to March 2013.
In December 2014, alongside Andy Dick, he announced that his 5th album Black Man of Steal would be released in January 2015.
In 2016, Ali announced the album Everything Is Racist which was released on Christmas Day of that year.

Controversies

In June 2010, three British students were reprimanded after publicly showing Rucka Rucka Ali's video "Ima Korean" to their class while studying different countries' musical traditions. One Korean student was "devastated, upset, very offended, feeling very lonely", being the only East-Asian child in the class. An assistant head teacher said the song was "probably racist". Rucka Rucka Ali subsequently picked the quote as the title of his next album.
On July 24, 2013, Rucka Rucka Ali released the song "Zayn Did 9/11" 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 the end of 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 July 2020, Rucka Rucka Ali was banned on YouTube for "hate speech".

Personal life

Ali claims to be an Objectivist, as stated in his interview with Dave Rubin on The Rubin Report.
At the end of the music video "Life Is Over", released in October 2016, Rucka Rucka Ali admitted that he had attempted to commit suicide in the summer of 2006. Noting that his death would have prevented the success of his later music career, he wished to send others "a message of hope".

Discography

Studio albums
Charted singles
Comedy year-end chart
SongPositionYear
"Ima Korean"52010
"Go Cops"72010
"Ching Chang Chong"122010
"Don't Be a Playa, Haiti"152010
"Go Cops"162011
"Justin's Beaver"182011

Released singles
Music videos
YearVideoDirector
2008"I Can Do Whatever I'm White"MC Serch
2013"Justin's Beaver"Pinegrove Collective
2015"Kim Jong Un Song"Dave Farese
2015"Shake Ur Tush"non-album track
2017"EBOLA 2.0."non-album track