Multi-hyphenate billionaire superstar Rihanna made sure February got off to a bang by unveiling a very visible baby bump on Wednesday, just days after announcing she was expecting her first child with long-time boyfriend A$AP Rocky. Rumours are already swirling that the pair plan to tie the knot before the baby drops. The Barbadian singer, 33, first became close to the rapper born Rakim Athelaston Mayers when he joined her Diamonds World Tour in 2013. She returned the favour by starring in his music video Fashion Killa later that year. Rumours of romance between them began to spread soon after Rihanna split from her then-boyfriend, the billionaire Saudi businessman Hassan Jameel, in January 2020. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kevin Wickliffe (@lolkevin6) The rapper, also 33, experienced poverty and jail on his way to becoming a millionaire artist today (estimated net worth: US$10 million). But what else do we know about the father of Rihanna’s first child, who in an interview with GQ called her “love of his life”? 1. He had a tough childhood Rocky’s younger years were turbulent. His father was jailed for dealing drugs when he was 12, and the following year his older brother was murdered while dealing, per The Guardian . Rocky followed in their footsteps to support his mother and sister as they wandered around homeless shelters. The future star was himself arrested for drug peddling in 2004, and was imprisoned for two weeks at Rikers Island, where he shared a cell with fellow rapper Casanova. “Most rappers sold drugs at some point and I hate to be so cliché, but that is the way that my story goes too,” he told The Independent . Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in 2020, he gave back to Regent Family Residence, the homeless shelter where his family once stayed, donating 120 meals for 83 families living there, per Revolt. “There was a lot of hard times in this place, but it’s not the end of the world because life is what you make it,” he said, “It’s no different than living in the projects, but it ain’t easy, and that’s when you start idolising the drug dealers and the hustlers. Most people from that situation limit themselves when they idolise things, and it’s not about hard work about dedication. It’s about power and being rich.” Life after Kimye: 4 of Kim and Kanye post-split relationships 2. Rap is his fate Rocky’s real name is Rakim Mayers, his first name taken from legendary rapper Rakim of 1980s duo Eric B. & Rakim. In 2012, Rocky and Rakim met on a radio show on Hot 97, with the latter revealing that their first encounter happened more than two decades earlier when Rocky’s mother spotted Rakim in Harlem and asked him to sign her baby’s diaper, Cheat Sheet reports. Rocky started rapping when he was about nine years old, taught by his brother Ricky. When Ricky died, Rocky decided to turn rap into his career, taking his brother’s braided hairstyle. “My brother moved on, but the beat came back, pulsing through every vein in my body. My older brother Ricky is responsible for me growing up and having a ‘real job’,” he said in a Mercedes-Benz commercial. In 2007, Rocky joined A$AP Mob, a collective of creatives based in Harlem, and began to release mixtapes which led to his 2011 debut single, Peso , which landed him radio airplay and a US$3 million deal with a subsidiary of RCA Records. His debut album “Long. Live. A$AP” not only made No 1 on the Billboard chart that year, but went on to be certified double platinum for having sold over two million sold copies. How rapper – and now jewellery brand founder – Frank Ocean became a style icon 3. He made history as Dior Homme’s first black model Rocky has also become a fashion icon, something he believes he has always had in his blood, as he disclosed to Interview . “I’ve been into fashion since birth. I grew up in the ’hood, and everybody in the ’hood wants to compensate for being in poverty, so they want to look good to keep themselves up. That’s been embedded in me,” he said. “My father, he kept me in the Jordans and Guess stuff, so it was just like I grew up on that fashion.” The Pretty Flacko singer’s flashy but comfortable style has attracted top brands. In 2016, he was selected as the first person of colour to front the label Dior Homme, alongside Rihanna, who was the first to front the brand’s women’s label. He has also modelled and campaigned for brands like Gucci, DKNY, Alexander Wang and Calvin Klein. More than just a model though, Rocky has struck out as a designer. He worked on a clothing line called Gue$$, a capsule collection of denim swimwear and varsity-style tees with Guess; and on a collaboration between his creative agency AWGE and JW Anderson, featuring faux fur, track jackets and knitted pants. Inside Dior’s star-studded Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week show 4. He’s got screen credentials The talented singer and model has also made a foray into film, making his acting debut in 2015 in Dope , which premiered at that year’s Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews. In it, he plays Dom, a drug dealer. “I think all of us are that kind of guy – all of us rappers, to an extent. I never want to be that guy. That dude’s corny. He can’t even dress! That dude looks like some hip-hop wannabe,” he told Billboard . Though Rocky appreciated the break, he thought the dealer character was “too typical” for a rapper and wanted something “more challenging and less cliched”. Later, he found this in Monster , a 2018 film later bought by Netflix, in which he played James King, who influences the main character Steve Harmon, a black boy from Harlem who is accused of involvement in a murder. How Ronaldo lit up the world’s tallest building for his girlfriend’s birthday 5. Rihanna ain’t the first … View this post on Instagram A post shared by ASAP Rocky Fans (@asaprockyfansno1) Rocky’s dating list is full of super-hot celeb names. Before Rihanna, he turned a long-time friendship with Kendall Jenner into a romance for almost a year from 2016, per People . In 2014, he was engaged to former Victoria’s Secret angel Chanel Iman after dating for two years, but then called it off the same year. Before her, for about a year he was linked with Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, who even got a tattoo across her fingers: Live Love A$AP. Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz’s glitzy wedding of the year 6. He’s vegan Rocky went pescatarian in 2012 – partly because of animal cruelty and also for health reasons – telling Interview, “I also just recently stopped eating candy. Next I’m gonna try to part with liquor and start exercising more. It’s just, like, I’m young now, but I’m getting old quickly, just like everybody else, and I just want to make sure that by the time I’m 40, I don’t have back problems going on with me because I was wildin’ when I was younger,” he said. He has more recently said he is now fully vegan. Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .