Royce Cornell Davison-Rodriguez (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 Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

", which peaked at number 80 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 2017. 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 Freestyle alongside rappers

Playboi Carti Jordan Terrell Carter (born September 13, 1996), known professionally as Playboi Carti, is an American rapper. Carter was initially signed to local underground label Awful Records prior to signing with ASAP Mob's AWGE Label under Interscope ...

, MadeinTYO and

XXXTentacion Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion ga ...

. As of February 2022, the Cypher has over 50 million views on YouTube. His debut mixtape, '' The Booty Tape'', was released in 2017, on

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylu ...

Early life

Royce Cornell Davison-Rodriguez was born on September 19, 1996, in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

. Rodriguez would then move to the north side of

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

where he'd live for the majority of his life. He played basketball for

Gulfport High School Gulfport High School (GHS) is a public high school located in Gulfport, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport School District. In 2019, Gulfport High was given a B-rating from the Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. The ...

basketball team in Gulfport. 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 The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, 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.

Career

2015–2017: Career Beginnings, "Water", and ''The Booty Tape''

From 7th to 10th grade, he used the handle 'Pussy Bacon'. He changed his name to the famous 'Ugly God' because of social reasons, and his parents. He also states that he pioneered the name via

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

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 SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

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. On March 16, 2016, he released his single titled "

" on his SoundCloud account, before being released for digital download as a single on November 19, 2016, by

. The song debuted at number 100 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and later reached number 80 on the chart. "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. In 2017, Ugly God received attention when he dropped a

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (diss – abbr. from ''disrespect'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the t ...

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 Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizatio ...

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 A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

'' The Booty Tape''. The song garnered over 13 million streams on SoundCloud. On August 4, 2017, Ugly God released his

titled ''The Booty Tape''. It charted at No. 27 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

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 his album '' Lil Boat 2'', which was released on March 9, 2018. "Boom!" peaked at No. 88 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Ugly God released the EP ''just a lil something before the album...'' ahead of his upcoming debut album, ''Bumps & Bruises''. It was released on April 23, 2018, and consisted of 4 tracks: "Leave a Tip", "WEWANTALLTHESMOKE", "BITCH WHERE MY HUG AT", and "Tropics". It featured rapper Splash Drexler, and had 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''. On March 28, 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 rapper Lil Pump. On May 10, Ugly God released another single "Lost in The Sauce." with the music video. On July 13, he announced the release date for ''Bumps & Bruises'' and showed the tracklist on July 17. On August 9, Ugly God released the ''Bumps & Bruises'' album 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 58.9 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 55.5 thousand Soundcloud streams. As the only other feature on the album, Ugly God worked with rapper

Takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a ...

Migos Migos () is an American hip hop trio from Lawrenceville, Georgia, founded in 2008. The group was originally composed of Southern rappers Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset. Quavo is from Athens, Georgia; Offset and Takeoff were born and raised in Law ...

on the song "Hold Up", which has garnered 119 thousand streams on spotify. As of March 14, 2020, "Hello" and "Lost in the Sauce" have 4.90 million and 2.00 million streams on Soundcloud respectively.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Mixtapes

Singles

Guest appearances

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ugly God 1996 births African-American male rappers Hispanic and Latino American rappers Living people Rappers from Houston Mumble rappers 21st-century American rappers American rappers of Dominican Republic descent 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians FL Studio users American comedy musicians American hip hop record producers Record producers from Texas Record producers from Indiana