How did Dave East get famous?

Jun 10th, 2022

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David Brewster Jr. or better known by his stage name Dave East is a popular American rapper. He rose to initial fame in 2014 with his mixtape "Black Rose". Born in Harlem, New York, he developed an interest in music from early on. He attended Springbrook High School before studying at the University of Richmond. He started his music career in 2010 with "Change of Plans", which was a mixtape. He continued releasing mixtapes like "No Regrets" and "Insomnia".

Success didn't come easy to him. When struggling to get his career off the ground, he resorted to peddling drugs and went to prison for a while. He eventually chose to mend his ways and start fresh. He then decided to single-mindedly on his music career and released his mixtape "Black Rose" in 2014. It wasn't just a commercial hit but it was met with positive reviews from the critics. In his career, he has released more than a dozen successful mixtapes and a number of hit singles. His recent mixtape "Paranoia 2" was released in 2018 and it peaked at #61 on the US Billboard 200.

• Early life of Dave East
• Career beginnings and early success of Dave East
• Personal life of Dave East
• Net worth of Dave East

Early life of Dave East

David Lawrence Brewster Jr. was born in New York City. He spent time switching between East Harlem, where his mom resided, and Queensbridge, where he would live with his aunt. The rap artist is of Dominican, Bajan, and Louisiana Creole descent. He used to play basketball and football at Springbrook High School near Washington DC. Moreover, he also played in the Amateur Athletic Union with then-future NBA players Greivis Vasquez, Ty Lawson, and developed a friendship with current NBA all-star forward Kevin Durant.

Career beginnings and early success of Dave East

In 2010, he came out with his first mixtape "Change of Plans", and it gained him initial recognition. He then released the mixtapes "Insomnia", "Don't Sleep", "American Greed", and "No Regrets" to solidify his commitment to music. In 2013, he started selling drugs throughout Harlem for supporting himself and his music. Shortly after that, he released his sixth mixtape Gemini.

In 2014, his music managed to reach the ears of talented rapper Nas, who started looking for ways to contact him. Unbeknownst to Nas, East was friends with Nas' younger brother and rapper Jungle, who introduced the two. By the summer of 2014, she became the newest signee of Nas' Mass Appeal Records alongside Fashawn, Bishop Nehru, Run The Jewels, and Boldy James. In July 2014, he came out with his seventh mixtape "Black Rose" through the record label, which received highly favorable reviews from music critics. In 2015, he came out with his eighth mixtape "Hate Me Now" and it gained tremendous recognition, allowing him to gain key features from respected MCs like Pusha T, Nas, Styles P, and more.

In June 2016, XXL magazine revealed the annual Freshman Class of 2016 and it included East alongside 21 Savage, Lil Yatchy, G Herbo, Lil Uzi Vert, Desiigner, Kodak Black, Anderson Paak, and Denzel Curry. In July 2016, he participated in the freshmen cipher alongside Chicago's G Herbo, and it was hosted by Philadelphia's DJ Drama. In August 2016, he released a joint EP titled "Born Broke, Die Rich" with rapper Kur. In September of the same year, he got featured in the BET Hip-hop Awards alongside Kur, Young M.A., Sam Black, and Ms Jade. The same month, he announced that he had signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings as the deal was negotiated by hip-hop executive Steven "Steve-O" Carless. The next day, he released his mixtape "Kairi Chanel" and it peaked at #38 on the US Billboard 200. The EP had a few notable names like The Diplomats, Fabolous, 2 Chainz, The Game, and Beanie Sigel.

Acting debut and continued success in the music industry

In January 2017, he made his acting debut as he starred in BET's "Being Mary Jane" series. He then appeared in Puma's Tsugi Shinsei commercial and Trina's "It Ain't Me" music video. In August 2017, he released his next EP "Paranoia: A True Story" and it was supported by singles like "Perfect" featuring Chris Brown, "Phone Jumpin'" with Wiz Khalifa, and "Paranoia" with Jeezy. The EP peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200. Later the same year, he released his 11th mixtape "Karma", which was hosted by DJ Holiday. It was the beginning of his "Karma" series. The tape spawned hits like "Militant" with Don Q and "Bentley Truck" featuring Chris Brown.

He started the new year by dropping his next mixtape "Paranoia 2" in January 2018. The following month, the rapper started working to network and reach endorsements that would further his career. In February, he signed a sponsorship with Belaire Rose. This deal resulted in a promotional music video for the brand. The track was titled "Fresh Prince of Belaire" by Rick Ross and it featured Dave East. In March 2018, he signed a deal with New Era Cap to launch his new lifestyle 59fifty fitted collection. Shortly after the newly found endorsement, he got featured in New Era's "Claim the Crown" commercial alongside some of the top MLB stars like Jose Altuve, Javier Baez, and multiple award-winning music producer Mike Will Made-It. As things continued to look bright for East, he came out with his 13th mixtape in July 2018 and it was titled "Karma 2". The mixtape featured up-and-coming talents like BlocBoy JB, Lil Durk, and Gunna. He even had features from his lifetime friends Border Buck and King Shooter. Even though the mixtape didn't reach the same success as his debut studio album, it managed to peak at #41 on the Billboard 200. As he had a reputation for putting out music more frequently than others, 2018 also saw him releasing his 15th mixtape "Beloved", as he joined his favorite MC, Styles P. The mixtape expressed the gritty street life of New York City.

He made his big-screen debut in the Netflix movie "Beats" in 2019, where he bagged the supporting role of Mister Ford. His breakthrough role in acting came in the Hulu series "Wu-Tang: An American Saga" in 2019, where he was seen portraying Method Man as a regular. In September 2019, it got confirmed that Dave East ended up bagging a supporting role in the movie "Boogie" in 2021. After a night in Las Vegas ended up going wrong, East got pulled from the movie. The role of Monk got recast and was eventually given to Pop Smoke. In 2019, he got featured on the hit single "Is U Down" by Pryx, before appearing as a guest vocalist on the song "Taxin" by DJ Shadow. He came out with a two-part promotional release titled "Survival Pacc" with the hit singles "Everyday" featuring Gunna and "Wanna Be a G" featuring Max B in August 2019 as a pre-release for his debut record. In October 2019, he released the single "Alone" featuring Jacquees for supporting the release of his upcoming debut album. He came out with the album "Survival" in November 2019 via Def Jam Recordings, Mass Appeal Records, and his own record label From the Dirt. The album featured guest appearances from Rick Ross, Teyana Taylor, Lil Baby, The Dream, and Nas among others. East then embarked on his first world tour to support the album titled the Survival Tour in November and December 2019.

In March 2020, he announced that he had already started working on his third installment of the Karma series of mixtapes. The cover of the mixtape featured the background images of East with the now late rappers Pop Smoke and Nipsey Hussle, with East stating that he and Nipsey were in the middle of making plans for a collaborative project before his death. The album was set to be titled "Thoughts of a Menace" but it was changed to "Karma 3". Like his previous efforts, it was also released via Def Jam and Mass Appeal. He came out with the lead single of the mixtape "Really Wit Me" in March 2020. Many artists, including Korey Wise, made cameo appearances in the music video. The album was released in August 2020 to critical acclaim with the deluxe version of the mixtape coming out on October 23rd, 2020, and featuring the likes of Chris Brown, Junior Reid, Def Loaf, and the "Handsome" remix with Jeezy.

In July 2021, Dave East and producer Harry Fraud came out with a collaborative album titled "Hoffa". The same year, he purchased a storefront in his hometown and planned on opening additional businesses. In an interview in January 2022, East revealed that he had started work on various projects, which he intended to release in 2022, the first of which ended up being the "Beloved 2", and it was a sequel to his 2018 album with Styles P. His next solo project with Def Jam and Mass Appeal was slated to be released in February or March and was a follow-up to "Survival".

Personal life of Dave East

Dave East as a teen took part in the Rollin' 30s Harley Crips, which was a subset of the larger Crips gang. He had to serve a prison sentence and during that time, he decided to convert to Islam and started to consider himself a Muslim. Commenting on his conversion, he stated that Islam really helped bring discipline to his life and he didn't have it before. His old mindset was that if someone isn't helping him, he will not help them. But he realized that you cannot live life this way. Dave East has two daughters with Millie Colon, one born in 2016 and the other in 2020.

He is known for his dark storytelling and raw lyricism about street life. He has been influenced by the likes of Styles P, Nas, Jadakiss, The Notorious B.I.G., Cam'ron, Tupac, Raekwon, The Diplomats, DMX, and Snoop Dogg.

Net worth of Dave East

Dave East is an American singer, rapper, and actor with an estimated net worth of $4 million. Success didn't come easy to him. When struggling to get his career off the ground, he resorted to peddling drugs and went to prison for a while. He eventually chose to mend his ways and start fresh. He is considered to be one of the rap artists in the music industry as he rose to fame after releasing his 8th mixtape, "Black Rose". The effort helped earned him incredible recognition and because of that, East ended up signing a deal with Nas' record label Mass Appeal Records. He is widely considered to be one of the top and most popular rappers in the music industry, especially after the success he had with his mixtape Black Rose. After he became popular in the music industry, he started making as much as $70,000 per month from his music alone. In the upcoming years, he is expected to join the list of top rappers in the industry like Kanye West and Nas.

The majority of his revenue comes from releasing new music, live concerts, album sales, and streaming of his music. He makes a great sum of money from his YouTube channel and brand endorsements. His annual income is more than $350,000. The talented rapper has been featured in singles of top rappers like Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, and Jeezy, helping him earn a lot.

He loves to spend his money on living an expensive lifestyle, as he has purchased many luxury cars. In his garage, he has a brand new Bentley Bentayga, one of the most recently purchased acquisitions as it cost him over $235,000. He also owns other luxury cars including Lamborghini Aventador, Range Rover, Rolls-Royce Wraith, Mercedes Benz S Class, GMC SUV, and more.

He gets millions of streams on his music and has over 3 million followers on his social media account. He is also incredibly popular on YouTube as he has over 575k subscribers on his YouTube channel. His loyal fans love his style of music as they can easily relate to his realistic lyrics and life.