aaamusic | On 24, Mar 2011

Waka Flocka Flame’s hit single ‘No Hands’ has sold 2 million copies in the US already and continues to sell over 200,000 copies each week. The single, which has received over 30 million views at YouTube and features Roscoe Dash and Wale, will be released in the UK on April 18^th on Warner Bros. Records / Asylum / Brick Squad.

His debut album ‘Flockaveli’ will be released here in Spring 2011. It has already hit #6 on the Billboard 200 and features two further North American hit singles in the shape of ‘O Let’s Do It’ and the Lex Luger-produced ‘Hard in Da Paint.’

Waka Flocka Flame didn’t want to be a rapper when he grew up. He didn’t want to write hit songs, perform in front of thousands of people at packed clubs or hear his songs played on radio stations across the country. Born Juaquin Malphurs in Queens, N.Y., Waka Flocka certainly had all the connections to forge into music at a young age. He grew up around the corner from Ja Rule, lived near LL Cool J’s grandmother and even had a cousin who used to hang around the Lost Boyz in the mid-1990s. But when his mother relocated the family to Georgia when Waka was eleven, he shied away from music. And after his youngest brother died in automobile accident when Waka was just fourteen, he moved even further away from it.

At eighteen, Waka looked on as his mother began managing the career of Gucci Mane. Soon, Waka began messing around with music himself alongside local producer Tay Beatz. “I was going through so much at the time,” he says. “I had so much stress and so many issues. I couldn’t release my emotions physically, so releasing them verbally was the only option I had.”

The result was his 2008 mixtape ‘Salute Me or Shoot Me, Vol. 1’. Its popularity earned Waka a place in Gucci Mane’s 1017 Brick Squad clique. But his sudden success also took its toll. In January 2010, he was shot several times at a car wash in Atlanta during an alleged robbery attempt. The following month, Method Man spoke out against Waka, criticizing the lack of lyricism involved in crafting his style of music. He also endured a short rift in his relationship with Gucci Mane after the rapper parted ways with his mother’s management company in May. The incidents earned Waka a reputation as one of the most controversial artists in the industry — a reputation that he doesn’t feel he deserves.

“People have definitely gotten the wrong impression of me so far,” says Waka. “I don’t know why they think I’m so controversial. I guess people just don’t know the real me yet. It’s up to me to change their minds.”