Safaree Lloyd Samuels (born July 4, 1981) is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

actor and rapper. In the early 2000s, he was a

hype man A hype man, typically in hip hop music, is a backing vocalist who supports the primary performer with exclamations, interjections, or ad-libs in an attempt to increase an audience's excitement or engagement. Origins Early hype men included Keef C ...

for the hip hop group Hoodstars, which included rapper

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

. He later gained public attention for dating and being a hype man for Minaj until 2014. In 2016, he joined the cast of the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

reality show '' Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood'', and then '' Love & Hip Hop: New York'' in 2017. He also joined '' Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta'' and '' Love & Hip Hop: Miami'', making him the only ''

Love & Hip Hop ''Love & Hip Hop'' is a media franchise that consists of several reality television series broadcast on VH1. The shows document the personal and professional lives of several hip hop and R&B musicians, performers, managers, and record producers ...

'' cast member to have appeared in all four shows. As a solo artist, he's released one studio album and five mixtapes.

Early life

Safaree Lloyd Samuels was born in the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on July 4, 1981, to immigrant Jamaican parents. He was raised in Canarsie, New York.

Career

Samuels was as a

for the New York hip hop group Hoodstars, formed in the early 2000s by rapper Loustar, who recruited rappers Seven Up and

. Samuels was a friend of Loustar from high school. All group members did not want Samuels in the group, but Loustar's father, Bowlegged Lou from

Full Force Full Force is an American music group of hip hop and R&B singers, songwriters and producers from Brooklyn, New York. Members *B-Fine (Brian George) – drums and drum programming, backing vocals *Shy Shy (Hugh Junior Clark) – bass guita ...

, recommended that they use a hype man, so Loustar decided to keep Samuels. He stated that Samuels was "never really in the group" and was around them as his friend: "He never really had no talent as far as writing ... ith his voicehe emulates who the person he's following ... he was always the hype man, he was never no writing, never no talent, no nothing, he was just what he was, he just hung around." In 2004, the group recorded the entrance song for

WWE Diva Throughout its history, women have served in various onscreen roles in the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. In the 1990s, WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation) introduced the term Diva to refer to its female performers ...

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, "Don't Mess With", which was featured on the compilation album '' ThemeAddict: WWE The Music, Vol. 6''. Minaj started her solo career after the group disbanded, and Samuels, who dated Minaj, worked for her as a hype man. In 2012, Samuels appeared in Minaj's music video for "

Stupid Hoe "Stupid Hoe" (or its radio edited title "Stupid Stupid") is a song by Trinidadian rapper and singer Nicki Minaj. The song was written by Minaj and DJ Diamond Kuts, the latter of which handled the production. It was released through Cash Money Rec ...

". He is in the writing credits of three songs from Minaj's second album, '' Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'' (2012) for ad libs. In 2015, he released the mixtapes, ''It Is What It Is'' and ''It Is What It Is, Vol. 2''. In early 2016, he made appearance in the second season of '' K. Michelle: My Life''. In May 2016, it was announced that Samuels joined the cast of the

reality show '' Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood'' for its third season, which premiered in August 2016. In July 2016, he released a new mixtape titled ''Real Yard Vibes''. In August 2017, it was announced that Samuels would compete in the first season of VH1's '' Scared Famous'', which premiered in October 2017. In 2017, rapper

Azealia Banks Azealia Amanda Banks ( ; born May 31, 1991) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, she began releasing music through Myspace in 2008 before being signed to XL Recordings at age 18. S ...

said in an interview that she did a song with Samuels because she "assumed that he played a part in ome ofNicki Minaj's hot singles ... but it actually turned out

o be O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...

me writing for him." In February 2018, Samuels was given a Blue & Bougie Impact Award by Blue & Bougie NY for representing Jamaica on VH1. That month, a nude picture and video of Samuels was leaked online. In 2019, he debuted an "Anaconda" line of

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s molded from his own penis. In 2020, Samuels launched an

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account sharing his amateur pornographic videos for $20 per month.

Personal life

Samuels dated rapper

from 2003 to 2014. In 2011, a police report was filed after Samuels hit Minaj on her face with a suitcase. In 2016, he attempted to sue Minaj, claiming that she did not credit him on her album ''The Pinkprint''. Minaj said that he tried to extort her, had stolen money from her, "gained so much off of ername" and "refuses to let go", and that she asked him to stop trying to contact her. She refuted his claim of writing, stating that neither he nor anyone ever wrote her raps. Samuels dropped the lawsuit. Samuels became engaged to actress

Erica Mena Erica Jasmin Mena (born November 8, 1987) is an American actress, model, singer and video vixen. She is best known for her appearances in the ''Love & Hip Hop'' franchise from 2011 to 2023, particularly in the ''New York'' and ''Atlanta'' install ...

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2018. The couple married on October 7, 2019. Their daughter was born on February 3, 2020. On May 4, 2021, he announced that they were expecting their second child. Later that month, Mena filed for divorce from Samuels. On June 28, 2021, he announced the birth of their second child, a boy. They were officially divorced in 2022. He has since dated ''

'' co star

Amara La Negra Diana Danelys De Los Santos (born October 4, 1990), known professionally as Amara La Negra, is an American singer, actress, dancer, author, and television host. De Los Santos is of Dominican descent, and is most known for her role on the VH1 real ...

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuels, Safaree 1981 births Living people American rappers of Jamaican descent Songwriters from New York (state) Television personalities from New York City Participants in American reality television series 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians People from Marine Park, Brooklyn African-American male rappers 20th-century American male rappers African-American songwriters 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians American male songwriters OnlyFans creators East Coast hip-hop musicians