Ugly God
Royce Cornell Davison-Rodriguez[4] (born September 19, 1996), better known as Ugly God, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his 2016 song "Water", which peaked at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2017.
Ugly God | |
---|---|
Birth name | Royce Cornell Davison-Rodriguez [1] |
Also known as | Pussy Bacon[1] Royce Rodriguez |
Born | Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. | September 19, 1996
Origin | Gulfport, Mississippi, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
|
Instrument(s) |
|
Years active | 2015–2023 |
Labels | Asylum Records (formerly) [3] |
Website | uglygod |
On June 13, 2017, Ugly God was named as one of the ten members of XXL's 2017 Freshman Class, where he performed his Freshman Cypher alongside Playboi Carti, MadeinTYO, and XXXTentacion. As of July of 2023, the Cypher has over 53 million views on YouTube.[5]
His debut mixtape The Booty Tape was released in 2017, via Asylum Records, followed up by his debut studio album released in 2019, Bumps & Bruises.
Early life
Royce Cornell Davison-Rodriguez was born on September 19, 1996, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Rodriguez would then move to the north side of Houston, Texas where he'd live for the majority of his life. He played basketball for the Gulfport High School basketball team in Gulfport, Mississippi.[6] He was born to an Afro-Dominican father and an African-American mother. On his upbringing, He said, "My mom and dad divorced, so I was raised in the South as a black person. If you’ve been to Dominican Republic, you should know they have a lot of Spanish, dark Dominicans. They be Black as fuck just like me. My dad happened to be a Black Dominican and my mom’s Black. African-Americans and Latinos have it rough in the U.S.—I’m both, so I guess I’m double rough." Davison-Rodriguez grew up speaking both Spanish and English.[7]
Career
2015–2017: Career beginnings, "Water", and The Booty Tape
From 7th to 10th grade, he used the handle 'Pussy Bacon'.[8] He changed his name to the famous 'Ugly God' because of social reasons, and his parents.[9] He also states that he pioneered the name via improvisation when he exclaimed "I'm real Ugly", which evolved into 'Ugly God'.
On July 27, 2015, he released his viral song "I Beat My Meat" through his SoundCloud account. This song has garnered over 33 million views. This was his third time uploading the song after his high school basketball coach made him delete it in fear of scaring away basketball scholarships.[10]
On March 16, 2016, he released his single titled "Water" on his SoundCloud account, before being released for digital download as a single on November 19, 2016, by Asylum Records.[11] The song debuted at number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100, and later reached number 80 on the chart.[12][13] "Water" peaked on the On-Demand Streaming Songs chart at No. 47 on February 11, 2017, it also peaked at No. 34 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[14]
In 2017, Ugly God received attention when he dropped a diss track targeted at himself named "Fuck Ugly God", which started when he tweeted "Fuck it. Im dropping an Ugly God disstrack tonight. Fuck that bitch ass nigga Ugly God. When I see him its on sight. Midnight eastern time." on June 26. The lyrics mostly concerned things that had happened in Ugly God's life which were used for roasting himself. According to Vincent Caruso of Prefix Magazine, the roasts ranged from "deceptively mild" to "abjectly ruthless" to "frighteningly personal". Within the song, Ugly God claims he was "jumped on Halloween" 4 years ago (2013), the song was also featured on his mixtape The Booty Tape.[15][16] The song garnered over 15.5 million streams on SoundCloud. On August 4, 2017, Ugly God released his debut mixtape titled The Booty Tape.[17] It charted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200.[18]
2018–present: "Boom!", Just a Lil Something Before the Album..., and Bumps & Bruises
Davison-Rodriguez was featured on the song "Boom!" by Lil Yachty, featured on the album Lil Boat 2, which was released on March 9, 2018.[19] "Boom!" peaked at No. 88 on the Billboard Hot 100.[14] Ugly God released the EP just a lil something before the album... ahead of his upcoming debut album, Bumps & Bruises.[20] It was released on April 23, 2018, and consisted of 4 tracks: "Leave a Tip" (featuring Splash Dexter), "WeWantAllTheSmoke", "Bitch Where My Hug At", and "Tropics". It featured production from Nikki Bunkin, Shoki, and Red Drum. Ugly God also announced he would soon have two more projects released: Bumps & Bruises, which would be his debut album, and an EP named 777.[21]
On March 27, 2019, Ugly God announced he would be releasing a single, saying he had not dropped anything in a "hot minute". At midnight Eastern Standard Time Ugly God released "Hello", featuring Lil Pump.[22] On May 10, Ugly God released another single "Lost in the Sauce". with the music video coming out a day after on may 11. On July 13, he announced the release date for Bumps & Bruises and showed the tracklist on July 17. On August 9, Ugly God released Bumps & Bruises as well as the deluxe version. The original had 14 tracks, while the deluxe had 16, with two singles ("Hello" featuring Lil Pump and "Lost in the Sauce") as bonus tracks to the album. On an interview with the show Everyday Struggle, Ugly God said on the album's release "It actually feels amazing to actually drop a body of music that, you know, I worked and put my all into, and that I'm super comfortable with—it feels fuckin' good." Ugly God and producer Tay Keith collaborated on the song "Batman", which currently holds 782 thousand streams on SoundCloud. Ugly God worked with other producers such as Reddrum, Nikko Bunkin, and others. Ugly God and rapper Wintertime collaborated on the song "Tell Me How You Feel", which currently has 621 thousand Soundcloud streams. As the only other feature on the album, Ugly God worked with Takeoff of Migos on the song "Hold Up", which has garnered 3.5 million streams on Spotify.[23][24][25] As of July 1, 2023, "Hello" and "Lost in the Sauce" have 5.1 million and 2.24 million streams on SoundCloud respectively.
In August 2023, Ugly God was taken in as a suspect in the murder of his close friend's father. He is currently in custody.[26]
Discography
Studio albums
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |
---|---|---|---|
US [27] |
US R&B/HH [28] | ||
Bumps & Bruises[29] |
|
46 | 28 |
Extended plays
Title | Details |
---|---|
Just a Lil Something Before the Album...[30] |
|
Two Piece |
|
Mixtapes
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [27] |
US R&B/HH [28] |
US Rap [31] |
US Ind. [32] | ||
The Booty Tape |
|
27 | 18 | 14 | 15 |
UglyGoblin[33][34] (with Rizzoo Rizzoo) |
|
— | — | — | — |
Singles
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [35] |
US R&B/HH [36] | ||||
"I Beat My Meat" | 2016 | — | — | Non-album single | |
"Water" | 80 | 34 | The Booty Tape | ||
"Fuck Ugly God" | 2017 | — | — | ||
"No Lies" | — | — | |||
"Walter" (with Austin Makes Noises) |
— | — | Non-album singles | ||
"Lettetznow" | 2018 | — | — | ||
"I'mma Dog" (featuring PnB Rock) |
— | — | |||
"Hello" (featuring Lil Pump) |
2019 | — | — | Bumps & Bruises | |
"Lost in the Sauce" | — | — |
Other charted songs
Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [35] |
US R&B/HH [36] | ||||
"Boom!" (Lil Yachty featuring Ugly God) |
2018 | 88 | 43 | Lil Boat 2 |
Guest appearances
Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album |
---|---|---|---|
"Rari" | 2016 | Carnage, Lil Yachty, Famous Dex | — |
"Gang Shit" | Lil Pump | ||
"New Glock" | Famous Dex | Dexter the Robot | |
"Humble Yahself" | 2017 | Max P | — |
"Wya? (Remix)" | Wifisfuneral | Boy Who Cried Wolf | |
"1Day" | PnB Rock | Catch These Vibes | |
"Lied" | DJ Flipp, Smokepurpp | — | |
"Boom!" | 2018 | Lil Yachty | Lil Boat 2 |
"Kathleen" | Yung Gravy | Snow Cougar | |
"Let It Eat" | Comethazine | Bawskee | |
"Chapter One" | 2019 | Wun Two | Pirata |
"Chapter Two" | |||
"Chapter Three" | |||
"Chapter Four" | |||
"Virgil" | 2020 | Casanova, Duke Deuce | N/A |
References
- "What Is Ugly God's Real Name, and How Much Is The Rapper Worth?". Cheat Sheet. August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
- Burford, Corinna (April 4, 2018). "How to Tell All the SoundCloud Rappers Apart". Vulture.
- "Ugly God Lives The Perfect Rap Life With The Booty Tape". Houston Press. August 15, 2017.
- "BMI | Repertoire Search". repertoire.bmi.com.
- "XXL Freshman 2017 Cover Revealed". XXL. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
- "Watch Ugly God Play Basketball in High School". HYPEBEAST. June 19, 2017.
- Torres, Bianca (January 14, 2019). "Ugly God and More Discuss How Being Latino Impacts Their Music – XXL". XXL Mag.
- djvlad (December 15, 2016), Ugly God (Full Interview), retrieved August 27, 2017
- "On The Come Up: Ugly God". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
- djvlad (December 15, 2016), Ugly God (Full Interview), retrieved February 13, 2019
- "Water – Single by Ugly God on Apple Music". iTunes. November 18, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
- "Billboard Hot 100 (January 21, 2017)". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
- "Ugly God – Chart History: Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
- "Ugly God Chart History". billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
- Hooten, Christopher (June 28, 2017). "Rapper drops diss record about himself". The Independent. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
- Caruso, Vincent. "Ugly God Unleashes Brutal, Self-Inflicted Diss Track "Fuck Ugly God"". prefixmag.com. Prefix Magazine. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
- "The Booty Tape by Ugly God on Apple Music". iTunes. August 4, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
- "Ugly God – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
- "Lil Yachty – BOOM! (Audio) ft. Ugly God". YouTube. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
- "Ugly God Treats Fans To "Just A Lil Something Before The Album" EP". HipHopDX. April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- "Ugly God Drops Just a Lil Something Before the Album He also famously stated "young pussy bacon" when asked about his previous rap name in an interview with Nardwuar Serviette. EP". xxlmag. XXL Magazine. April 24, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- Zidel, Alex. "Ugly God & Lil Pump Team Up For New Single "Hello"". hotnewhiphop. Hot New Hip-Hop. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
- Espinoza, Joshua. "Stream Ugly God's Debut Album 'Bumps and Bruises'". complex.com. Complex. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- "Ugly God On Debut Album 'Bumps & Bruises,' Record Label Situation, Rap Fans & More|Everyday Struggle". complex.com. Complex. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- Zidel, Alex. "Ugly God & Takeoff Of The Migos Connect On "Hold Up"". hotnewhiphop.com. HotNewHipHop. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- https://www.xxlmag.com/ugly-god-breaks-silence-killing-best-friend-dad/
- "Ugly God Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard.
- "Ugly God Chart History: Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
- Ivey, Justin (August 8, 2019). "Ugly God Shares Debut LP "Bumps & Bruises"". hiphopdx.com. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- "Stream Ugly God's "just a lil something before the album..." EP". HotNewHipHop.
- "Ugly God Chart History: Top Rap Albums". Billboard. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
- "Ugly God Chart History: Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
- "Rizzoo Rizzoo & Ugly God – Uglygoblin Lyrics and Tracklist". Genius. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- "Rizzoo Rizzoo & Ugly God – UGLYGOBLIN Reviews – Album of The Year". AOTY. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- "Ugly God Chart History: Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- "Ugly God Chart History: Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- "Gold & Platinum: Ugly God". RIAA. Retrieved May 7, 2023.