Happy Mother's Day - 8 Rappers Who Love Their Mom - RESPECT.

The relationship with your mom is a special one, and rappers are no different. We definitely have witnessed some very solid bonds in hip-hop between artists and their mothers where even the toughest MCs have not hesitated to get mushy went it comes to talking about appreciating their moms.

We take a look at some of the strongest hip-hop mothers and their relationships with their rapper sons.

Happy Mother’s Day!

1) The Notorious B.I.G. and Voletta Wallace

The Notorious B.I.G. and his mother, Voletta Wallace were no doubt close with him being an only child. Wallace held a number of jobs to help raise Smalls which included being a pre-school teacher, a welder and a politician. She was left to bring up Biggie all by herself after his father left when the rapper was only two-years-old.

Since his death, Wallace has been instrumental in keeping the legacy of Biggie Smalls alive. She has also continued to fight for justice over his killing. In 2012, she told LA Weekly, “Over all these years I’ve been trying to find the truth.” Voletta has always had her son’s best interest at heart. We can see this from Biggie’s music. His track, “Respect” showed how his mom used to come down hard on him:

“Mom said that I should grow up and check myself/Before I wreck myself, disrespect myself.”

2) YG and Shonee Jackson

YG’s Mother, Shonee Jackson has always been there for her son through the good times and the bad. We know that Jackson tried to keep the rapper on a straight and narrow path from, “Momma’s Speech Intro” which opens YG’s debut album My Krazy Life. We hear her warning about the rapper hanging out on the streets:

“Keenon!/Keenon Daequan motherfucking Jackson/I hope you ain’t outside hanging with them gangbangers/You gon’ end up in motherfucking jail, like your damn daddy.”

Jackson was featured on BET’s Hip Hop Mothers video series in 2014, where she spoke about the difficulties she encountered raising YG and his siblings alone, “When his [YG’s] father got incarcerated, I knew then I had to toughen up because I knew I’d have to play the mother and the father role.” In the video she also speaks about the difficulties of juggling YG going to jail, whilst being ill herself amidst a break up with her husband. Despite this, she stated, “As a mother, I was behind him.”

For the trouble that YG put his mother through, the rapper has shown he is more than grateful which is obvious in the track, “Sorry Momma” on My Krazy Life.

3) Drake and Sandi Graham

We all know that sometimes, Drizzy Drake can be a soft touch, but he is no doubt the softest when it comes to his mother, Sandi Graham. The Toronto rapper, on numerous occasions has spoken about his close relationship with his mom. In an interview with E! News, he said, “My mother is an incredible woman…She’s brought me to this point single-handedly…She’s the most important person in my life.”

It’s difficult to find a Drake album where he hasn’t referred to his mom, proving she is undoubtedly the most important woman in his life. From his recent album VIEWS, on his track “Child’s Play,” he raps “Momma is a saint, yes she raised me real good.”

On top of that Graham also frequently appears in Drake’s Instagram pics, showing that he loves spending quality time with his momma. The rapper is no doubt grateful to his mother who raised him as a single parent, after splitting with his father when Drizzy was just a 5 years old.

4) Tupac Shakur and Afeni Shakur

Sadly Tupac Shakur’s Mother, Afeni Shakur passed away just last week. But the relationship between Tupac and Afeni was always close. The late rapper’s mother was a strong character for him to look up to, being a businesswoman and also a member of the Black Panthers.

The relationship between Tupac and his mother wasn’t always easy though. In 1995, Pac released the the track “Dear Mama” from his album, Me Against The World. The lyrics to the song referred to Afeni Shakur being a “crack fiend.” Despite all the difficulties, the rapper had nothing but love for his mom calling the track, ‘a love song for my mama,’ in an interview with MTV in 1995.

The late Afeni Shakur did all she could to protect Tupac’s legacy. She made sure that Death Row Records could not release any unreleased material from Pac, filing a injunction against them. Ms Shakur also put the money from the rapper’s posthumous album sales towards creating the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in 1997 in memory of her son.

5) J. Cole and Kay Cole

J. Cole has frequently mentioned how much of a strong relationship he has with his mother Kay Cole. In an interview with HipHopDX in 2010 he described her as being the biggest non rap influence in his life. He praised her for raising him so well, “I think she the reason why I came out as good as I did, ’cause I could have easily gone another way like all kids, basically.”

In 2013, J. Cole launched the Bornsinner.com series, a set of videos which gave insight into his life. The first episode focussed on Kay Cole where she spoke of her struggles. She is featured speaking about moving to a job in the postal service. The video goes onto celebrate the fact that Cole’s mother went on work at her postal service role for 25 years. She finally quit that year, all because of the successful career Cole has been able to carve out in hip-hop. In the video, she says, “I don’t have to have to deliver mail anymore,” in what was a touching episode which demonstrated how important J Cole is to his to his mom.

This sentiment was also echoed in “Apparently” from the rapper’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive album in which he shows gratitude to his mother and well as his wife for their sacrifices for his career.

6) Waka Flocka and Debra Antney

Debra Antney has been in Waka Flocka’s corner from day one. Antney has played a different role to many of the hip-hop mothers here in her son’s life. Waka’s Mother has been instrumental in his career. She is the founder of Mizay Entertainment where she previously managed Gucci Mane. Mizay Entertainment is affiliated to 1017 Brick Squad which Waka is a member of. Antney definitely overcame difficulties to reach where she is now.

Antney has always had high standards and only expected the best from Waka in his music. She apparently, “bust[ed] out laughing” when she first heard the rapper’s music according to an interview with HotNewHipHop.com. However despite his momager being hard on him, she has always recognized he was smart, noting that he “was a bright-ass kid. Bright as hell. Honors” (Vibe).

7) Kanye West and Donda West

Coming to terms with the death of his Mother, Donda West was incredibly difficult for Kanye West.

Kanye’s Mom tragically passed away due to complications with surgery in 2007. Since then, it has always been something that has clearly been difficult for Ye to deal with. Speaking to Q Magazine last year, he said, “I had to get beat up, I had to lose, I had to be humbled, and I had to realise my position.” He also spoke about sadly blaming himself for her death.

Donda West was, and continues to be huge part of Kanye’s life. An inspiration to him, she was a professor English at Clark Atlanta University and even took a young Yeezy to China when she taught in Nanjing University. Importantly she recognized the talent in Kanye and made sure to nurture it as he persuaded her to help him in tasks such as paying for studio time according to the Chicago Tribune.

8) Lil Scrappy and Deborah Gaither

We all know from Love & Hip Hop Atlanta how much of important role Lil Scrappy’s Mother, Deborah Gaither plays in his life. Speaking to VH1, the rapper spoke about how much he really appreciates his mother, “She a ride-or-die for real…She’ll kill a brick, she’ll go to jail for you.”

In the TV show, we’ve witnessed how Momma Dee loves to get involved in her son’s business which is something that Lil Scrappy is very aware of, “She’s gonna do what she gotta do to take care of her kids.” Gaither always has had good intentions though.

Gaither is also more than willing to check her son if he steps out of line. In March, Lil Scrappy took to social media to rant about his disapproval of transgender women which led to a post from Momma Dee apologizing for her son’s views and strongly disagreeing with him.

Jada Pinkett-Smith Pens Open Letter to Tupac’s Mother, Afeni Shakur§