Markese Money Rolle[4][5] (born April 1, 1991),[2] known professionally as SpaceGhostPurrp, is an American rapper and producer from Miami, Florida. He is the founder of the now-defunct American hip hop group Raider Klan, as well as a co-founder of the Black Money Boys.
In high school, SpaceGhostPurrp began skateboarding frequently[10] but later decided that he wanted to pursue a career in music. He worked to graduate from high school early. SpaceGhostPurrp began uploading music once he created his YouTube channel "Spaceeghostpurrpmj23" on May 23, 2010.[11][12] SpaceGhostPurrp's early releases contained series of visuals that included Purrped & Chopped songs containing visuals with 70/80s soul-train aesthetics,[13] Purrped & Chopped Toro y Moi songs,[14] and a Kreayshawn music video.[15]
In August 2010, SpaceGhostPurrp began working on NASA: The Mixtape. SpaceGhostPurrp formed hip-hop collective Raider Klan in 2008 along with Dough Dough Da Don, Kadafi, Muney Junior, and Jitt. Jitt died in 2010. SpaceGhostPurrp recruited various rap artists to Raider Klan, including Denzel Curry, Yung Simmie, Nell, Chris Travis, Xavier Wulf, Rell, Amber London, and Key Nyata, among many others.
At the tail end of 2010 and early 2011, SpaceGhostPurrp began collaborating with Lil Ugly Mane.[16] This led to Ugly Mane doing the artwork for SpaceGhostPurrp's mixtape Blackland Radio 66.6.
After Blackland Radio 66.6 was released on May 1, 2011, a few weeks later SpaceGhostPurrp announced he was working on five mixtapes that were all to be released in 2011 called MIND OF PURRP, SUMMA PHONK VOL.ONE, TRILLUMINATTI, BLVCK MVRDOC, and a collaboration project with Mishka NYC called SON OF EYE.[17] SpaceGhostPurrp dropped singles for all these mixtapes, however, he never released these mixtapes due to his change of direction once he landed and stayed in New York to begin collaborating with the ASAP Mob. In the summer of 2011, SpaceGhostPurrp was also working with fellow rappers Speak! and Juicy J.[18]
SpaceGhostPurrp went on to NY in August 2011 to live and work with members from the ASAP Mob. In late September 2011, SpaceGhostPurrp announced he was dismissing Trilluminatti and now was working on a new mixtape to be called GOD OF BLVCK. This mixtape was released in February 2012.[citation needed]
2012–2013: Mysterious Phonk: The Chronicles of SpaceGhostPurrp
In early 2012 SpaceGhostPurrp signed a one-off record deal with British indie label 4AD and began remixing tracks from his earlier mix tapes for his debut album. Most of his early songs feature samples from sources such as train whistles, female porn stars, and drops from the soundtrack of the Mortal Kombat video game, as well as other video game series.[10] In addition to his own songs, he also produces beats for other artists (mostly those in the Raider Klan), but has made beats for other people as well. He produced one track titled T.A.P. for Taylor Allderdice, a mixtape by Wiz Khalifa as well as "Keep it G" and "Pretty Flacko" for ASAP Rocky.
His debut album, titled Mysterious Phonk: Chronicles of SpaceGhostPurrp, was released on June 12, 2012, and consists of mostly remixed tracks from previous mixtapes. He occasionally worked with rapper Juicy J and has produced a number of tracks from Juicy J's "Blue Dream & Lean". He also guest stars on Juicy J's "Deez Bitches Rollin'" with rapper fellow Speakz. SpaceGhostPurrp also featured on Domo Genesis's and The Alchemist's debut collaboration album "No Idols" on the track "Daily News" (also featuring Earl Sweatshirt and Action Bronson), as well as Freddie Gibbs' "Kush Cloud" along with Krayzie Bone.
SpaceGhostPurrp revealed in an interview[19] that there is an upcoming project between him and rap group Odd Future, which has supported him by playing his music at shows since he released the mixtape BLACKLAND RADIO 66.6.
On July 16, 2012, SpaceGhostPurrp began his first tour with hardcore punk band Trash Talk. The mini tour lasted from July 16 to 23rd - performing four shows in California, one in Oregon, and two in Washington. His song "The Black God" was named #46 on Pitchfork's 50 best songs of 2012 list.[20] He also performed in Miami during Ultra Music Festival on March 17, 2013, alongside fellow Raider Klan members Yung Simmie and Klan Rico.[21]
2014–2015: Intoxxxicated and other projects
On January 19, 2014, SpaceGhostPurrp released a compilation titled 58 Blunts of Purrp, consisting of his own songs, hard to find tracks, and some he either produced or had a feature on.[22] On February 28, 2014, SpaceGhostPurrp released an 18-track mixtape called B.M.W. 2: IntoXXXicated, which included no features and returned to the lo-fi sound of his earlier mixtapes. Subsequently, he released a slightly different version of "B.M.W. 2: IntoXXXicated" that had tempos of certain songs changed, and while the overall sound quality was slightly improved it still retained much of the lo-fi qualities as before.[23] A few months later it was remastered, had some tracks removed, a new track added, and released as an album on iTunes under the name IntoXXXicated.[24]
Early in 2015, SpaceGhostPurrp released two new projects, the first of which was titled Dark Angel and released on January 13.[25] The second project, a 5-track EP called Money Mendoza was released on January 25.[26] Later that year, SpaceGhostPurrp left Miami, and moved to Atlanta, where he made music with artists such as Father and OG Maco. In April 2015, SpaceGhostPurrp released two compilations.
One was titled VENENO, it being an extended version of the EP released earlier that year, and the other was titled PYRO Era, consisting mostly of loose tracks released in 2014 and 2015. On the 9th of May, a new EP called Richest Revenge under the moniker, Money Mendoza, was released through his Instagram account. In May 2015, Raider Klan released Raider Klan Records: The Mixtape which featured some production and vocals from SpaceGhostPurrp.
On June 24, 2015, Dej Loaf released a song featuring Young Thug titled "Shawty", co-produced by Young Roc which featured a sample of the song "RAIDER PRAYER"'s instrumental off of SpaceGhostPurrp's album Mysterious Phonk: The Chronicles of SPACEGHOSTPURRP. SpaceGhostPurrp was uncredited by the producer resulting in a minor conflict via Twitter which was soon resolved peacefully.
2016–present: Blackland Radio 66.6 2 and 3
On May 9, 2016, SpaceGhostPurrp released a mixtape entitled Blackland Radio 66.6 Pt. 2 exclusively on DatPiff. He had stated that he had plans to release subsequent volumes under Part 2, but eventually opted to skip straight to the release of Blackland Radio 3 on March 4, 2018.[citation needed]
As 2016 concluded, Tiny Mix Tapes recognized SpaceGhostPurrp's Black Money Boys Death Row (BMB) collective as one of its favorite labels for 2016, noting that:[27]
BMB's sound is a sinister twist on the MySpace-era material churned out by Soulja Boy and Lil B, tinged with Glo Gang's hazy drill hedonism. Affiliates' discographies are often spread across multiple SoundCloud accounts, hosted by friends, buried in prolific back catalogues, and are sometimes deleted days after their conception. To follow BMB Death Row is to keep their web presence under constant surveillance or risk missing out on a clutch new cut.
In early 2017, SpaceGhostPurrp signed a deal with label Yeah We On Entertainment, LLC, with the label distributing previously released works by SpaceGhostPurrp under its name.[28]
He has collaborated with many of his influences, namely Juicy J on his mixtape Blue Dream & Lean released in 2012. SpaceGhostPurrp often attributes his dark "phonk" sound to the dangerous and violent environment he grew up around in Carol City which he refers to as "Blackland", linking it with his references to hell, and the satanic symbolism in his critically acclaimed mixtape Blackland Radio 66.6.
He as well as other Raider Klan members have made references to the shooting of Trayvon Martin, and he has made a tribute song titled "No Evidence" which was released on his album Mysterious Phonk: The Chronicles of SpaceGhostPurrp.
In late 2011, ASAP Yams, an A&R artist and co-founder of the then-independent ASAP Mob artist collective, discovered SpaceGhostPurrp and his music through Tumblr. Yams told SpaceGhostPurrp he enjoyed his Blackland Radio 66.6 mixtape and invited him to join up with ASAP Mob in New York City. SpaceGhostPurrp began producing music for ASAP Rocky who was a big fan of SpaceGhostPurrp's music, including "Keep it G" from Rocky's breakout mixtape, Live. Love. A$AP.[31]
SpaceGhostPurrp and ASAP Mob remained friends until SpaceGhostPurrp had an argument with ASAP Twelvyy on Twitter in December 2011. This led to Rocky dissing Raider Klan on a song called "Yao Ming (Remix)". That release from Rocky furthered the Twitter fight between SpaceGhostPurrp and ASAP Mob, but the fight was short lived when other ASAP Mob members spoke for SpaceGhostPurrp's sake.
About a week afterward, Rocky dropped "Pretty Flacko" as a shout-out to the Trillwave genre and SpaceGhostPurrp. SpaceGhostPurrp and ASAP Mob members were on good terms again up until April 2012 when ASAP Mob played an unreleased SpaceGhostPurrp track at Coachella, leading to another short-lived argument ending on bad terms, this time between SpaceGhostPurrp and ASAP Yams. Through the rest of 2012 and early 2013, ASAP Mob used some of SpaceGhostPurrp's music production without giving him credit to make the tracks "I Need Money" (which later became "Max Julien") and "Suddenly" by ASAP Rocky.
The feud was quiet and they seemed to be on good terms until former Raider Klan member Stoops was assaulted by ASAP Twelvyy[32] in June 2012. This caused the feud between SpaceGhostPurrp and Twelvyy to reach its peak and eventually extend to the entirety of Raider Klan and ASAP Mob. The feud quickly turned physical in November 2012 when affiliates of Raider Klan alongside SpaceGhostPurrp attacked members of ASAP Mob outside Miami. This led to ASAP Nast calling the police and SpaceGhostPurrp being arrested.[33][34]
In March 2013, SpaceGhostPurrp and affiliates once again attacked ASAP Mob in their home city of New York.[35] The feud quickly began to die down in terms of aggression and took to social media. According to SpaceGhostPurrp, the feud with ASAP Mob was resolved before the death of ASAP Yams in 2015, but ASAP Bari prevented SpaceGhostPurrp and ASAP from reuniting, thus perpetuating the conflict.[32]
^Reiss, Jonathan (2020). Look at Me!: The XXXTENTACION Story. Hachette Books. p. 281. ISBN9780306845413. SpaceGhostPurrp (born Markese Rolle in Carol City, Florida) influenced hip-hop in numerous ways.
