Rucka Rucka Ali (born January 27, 1987) is an Israeli-American rapper, singer, radio personality, comedian,

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

, and

parodist A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

. He is best known for his

dark humor Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

, political and topical song parodies on YouTube. Much of his content pokes fun at ethnic, racial, and religious stereotypes.Rucka Rucka Ali Loves Minorities
Current.com (June 21, 2010). Retrieved June 5, 2011. As of October 2022, he has amassed 349 million views and 1.49 million subscribers on YouTube. He has released eight independent studio albums, four of which have charted in the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Comedy Albums Comedy Albums is a ''Billboard'' chart that lists the "top-selling spoken word and musical comedy albums" each week, as ranked by sales data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Top Comedy Albums in October 2004 (simultaneously with ...

Early life

Rucka Rucka Ali was born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Israel, on January 27, 1987, into an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

environment, though he has stated that he moved away from that lifestyle as he grew up.

Career

Rucka Rucka Ali has released eight total albums, four of which have charted in the ''Billboard'' Top Comedy Albums: '' I'm Black, You're White & These Are Clearly Parodies'' peaked at 6th, '' Probably Racist'' peaked at 11th, '' Rucka's World'' peaked at 8th, and ''

Black Man of Steal ''Black Man of Steal'' is the seventh studio album of Israeli-American parody rapper Rucka Rucka Ali. The album was released January 13, 2015, and distributed by Pinegrove Records. It peaked at number 7 on the '' Billboard'' Top Comedy Albums. ...

'' peaked at 7th. During the weeks of July 31, 2010, through August 7, 2010, Rucka Rucka Ali held 5 of the top 10 spots on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks chart.

Controversies

In June 2010, three British students were reprimanded after publicly showing Rucka Rucka Ali's music video for his hit parody " Ima Korean" to their class while studying different countries' musical traditions. One South Korean student was "devastated, upset, very offended, and feeling very lonely", being the only East-Asian child in the class. An assistant headteacher, Len Idle, said the song was "probably racist". Rucka Rucka Ali subsequently picked the quote as the title of his next album, '' Probably Racist''. On July 24, 2013, Rucka Rucka Ali released the song "Zayn Did 9/11" (a parody of

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

's " Come & Get It") to YouTube which mocked then-

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gr ...

member

Zayn Malik Zain Javadd Malik ( ; born 12 January 1993), known mononymously as Zayn, is an English pop and R&B singer. Zayn auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition television series ''The X Factor'' in 2010. After being eliminate ...

, jokingly saying he committed the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. The single cover features a

silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

of Malik in front of the Twin Towers of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

as they were attacked. The song, along with an accompanying music video released several days later, angered One Direction fans and others. ''

Business Standard ''Business Standard'' is an Indian English-language daily edition newspaper published by Business Standard Private Limited, also available in Hindi. Founded in 1975, the newspaper covers the Indian economy, infrastructure, international busine ...

'' called the song "offensive" and a "racist attack" on Malik. In the end of November 2013, he was involved in another controversy after his song "Only 17", a parody of " Just a Dream" by

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal ...

, was accidentally played uncensored over the speakers at a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

company in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. 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.

Personal life

Rucka Rucka Ali has stated that he is an

objectivist Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement ...

, as in his 2017 interview with

Dave Rubin David Joshua Rubin (born in June 1976) is an American conservative political commentator and YouTuber. He is the creator and host of ''The Rubin Report'', a political talk show on YouTube and on the network BlazeTV. Launched in 2013, his show ...

on ''

The Rubin Report ''The Rubin Report'' is a conservative political news talk show hosted by Dave Rubin, airing on BlazeTV and YouTube. The full audio of each episode is additionally available for download as a podcast. In the show, Rubin interviews authors, activ ...

''. At the end of the music video for his parody song "Life Is Over" (a parody of " Closer"), released in October 2016, Rucka Rucka Ali admitted that he had a

suicide attempt A suicide attempt is an attempt to die by suicide that results in survival. It may be referred to as a "failed" or "unsuccessful" suicide attempt, though these terms are discouraged by mental health professionals for implying that a suicide res ...

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Rucka Rucka 1987 births Living people American male comedians American satirists American parodists Rappers from Michigan People from Troy, Michigan American YouTubers Israeli emigrants to the United States Jewish rappers Midwest hip hop musicians Objectivists Obscenity controversies in music 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American comedians Unidentified musicians Parody musicians Comedians from Michigan Musicians from Jerusalem