Riff Raff is a $7 million rap artist from the United States. He rose to fame on YouTube in 2015 and has since gained a large following on social media.
Early Years
Horst Christian Simco was born in Houston, Texas on January 29, 1982 to Anita Isaacs and Ronald Simco. His mother worked as a maid, while his father did numerous jobs after serving in the Vietnam War. Ronald Simco suffered from severe PTSD as a result of his service in the war. Riff Raff was the youngest of four children.
Riff Raff attended Langham Creek High School and was a member of the basketball team as a shooting guard until dropping out during his senior year. After his father was diagnosed with tonsil cancer, his parents split and the family relocated to Duluth, Minnesota.
He earned his GED and enrolled at Hibbing Community College in Hibbing, Minnesota, where he played basketball for the institution. He skipped out in 2003 and returned to Houston, where he obtained a job painting cars in the then-popular “candy-colored” style and gradually developed his new identity as Riff Raff. He relocated to Los Angeles to pursue his rap career.
Other Projects
In the episode “Double Cup,” Riff Raff featured on the television show Major Lazer. In November of 2017, he also competed in a special for The Challenge, an MTV reality show. In 2017, Riff Raff teamed up with Reef Dispensaries to create and promote two new marijuana strains.
He also created a unique “Riff Raff Smoking Supply Box” in collaboration with the cannabis subscription box startup Daily High Club. It was filled with smoking accoutrements and supplies inspired by his on-stage persona.
Harmony Korine approached Riff Raff in February 2012 about acting in one of his upcoming films (which would turn out to be Spring Breakers.) Riff Raff began to suspect that the film’s bizarre main character, Alien, was modeled on him as he gathered more facts about the film. However, according to James Franco, the character was inspired by Dangeruss, an underground rap musician.
On the matter, there was a lot of back and forth between the two sides. Riff Raff announced in July 2013 that he planned to sue the creators of Spring Breakers for $10 million for “sampling” his life without his consent or proper credit and acknowledgement. The la suit, on the other hand, never saw the light of day.
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Spring Breakers Controversy
Riff Raff was contacted by film director Harmony Korine on February 15, 2012, about participating in a future film of his, which turned out to be Spring Breakers. Following the release of the film’s information, it was speculated that the primary character Alien was modeled on Riff Raff. However, James Franco claims that his character was inspired by underground rap musician Dangeruss.
He stated “Of course, Harmony and I were inspired by some of Riff Raff’s videos, but he was only one of many people we looked at. Dangeruss, a local Florida rapper, had the largest influence on the character, in my opinion. He’s not well-known, but he was down there in the midst of it all, living the high life, and he became my biggest model, and he’s in the film.”
There was a lot of back and forth between the two sides on the topic, with Riff Raff even making a surprise appearance on One Life to Live as “Jamie Franko.” Riff Raff filed a $10 million lawsuit against the authors of Spring Breakers in July 2013 for utilizing his image without permission. However, a LA Weekly search for court papers in September 2013 yielded no results.
Private life
Riff Raff has a lot of tattoos, including the WorldStarHipHop, NBA, and MTV logos, which he got during the auditions for the 2009 reality show From G’s to Gents. He got a BET tattoo on the front of his right shoulder before covering it up with a tattoo of his dog, “Jody Husky.”
He is a Simpsons enthusiast, with a tattoo of Bart holding test tubes on his chest that reads “The Freestyle Scientist.” A big gothic cross sits beneath his left shoulder, framed with a petition that reads, “Please, Jesus, let me in. Horst Simco, your child.”
Concerns about the law: Riff Raff was arrested in Greensboro, North Carolina on August 11, 2013, after police discovered an open container of beer, marijuana, an unknown prohibited substance, and drug paraphernalia in his vehicle. Riff Raff and the two passengers in his vehicle were arrested and Riff Raff was released without bail later that night.
Allegations of sexual assault: Riff Raff was charged with drugging and raping a woman after a 2013 gig in Melbourne on May 31, 2018. All of his scheduled shows in Australia and New Zealand were subsequently canceled. After that, a second lady, who was 17 at the time, claimed that Riff Raff invited her on his tour bus in Milwaukee, where he continued to touch her repeatedly while making sexual comments, according to the accuser.
Riff Raff settled a lawsuit connected to a sexual assault claim filed against him in 2014 at a Nevada brothel on January 22, 2020.
