Rich Homie Quan Talks About Growing Up in Atlanta, Breaking the Law & Finding Redemption in Music

Rich Homie Quan shares his story for Complex TV's "The Neighborhood."

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Rich Homie Quan knows fully well how time and perseverance can make a world of difference. One could simply look at his musical growth in 2013 to understand it. At the beginning of the year he was still trying to make his mark as a new school Atlanta artist. By December, he's got two solid mixtapes under his belt, including his latest project I Promise I Will Never Stop Going In, not to mention one of the biggest records of the year in "Type of Way." Even with his new celebrity status the 23-year-old rapper hasn't forgotten the moments and choices—good and bad—that have brought him to this point in his life. In Complex TV's latest episode of "The Neighborhood," Rich Homie Quan shares his story as well as the city and people that raised him.

He takes us to McNair High School in Atlanta where he excelled in baseball. He also did fairly well in class, posting a 3.2 accumulative GPA. However, Rich Homie was busy splitting time between school and the streets. "At that time I was still trying to find myself," he says. "Me going through high school might have been some of the harder times in my life. Me, I wanted to do a lot of stuff on my own. High school, that's when I started breaking into houses; I just started derailing."

His mischievous activities soon landed him in Dekalb County Jail where he spent 15 months of his life for breaking into houses. He says he was doing it three to four times a week before he got caught. After realizing his mistakes, Rich Homie began to plan for a better life when his jail sentence was up. "I came home with a focus, came home with a new plan. I came home to be a rapper," he says. "I thought my story was over. Really my story was just unfolding."

Watch the full clip above, where Rich Homie Quan takes viewers to the first studio he ever recorded out of. He also shares the story behind Teezy, a very close friend of his that was killed just as Quan was starting to find his footing in music. 

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