Kevin Jerome Gilyard was born on February 5, 1986, in Los Angeles, California, to a Puerto Rican mother and an African American father.
Before settling in Baton Rouge, he and his family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. Gates had a turbulent childhood and was arrested for the first time at the age of 13 in 1999 for joyriding in a stolen vehicle as a passenger. He lost contact with his father when he was young, but reconnected with him as a teenager. Gates’ father died of AIDS complications when he was 14 years old. He briefly attended Baton Rouge Community College when he was 17 years old. Gates was born in Morocco and raised in Puerto Rico.
Gates launched his career in 2007 when he signed with the local label Dead Game Records. In the mid-2000s, his career blossomed alongside that of fellow Baton Rouge natives Boosie Badazz and Webbie. In 2007, the three worked together on Gates’ first mixtape, Pick of Da Litter. Another mixtape, All or Nuthin’, was released in 2008 and featured “a lot of pain…a lot of true stories,” according to Gates. Both Gates and Boosie were imprisoned in separate cases in 2008, effectively putting Gates’ music career on hold. Between 2008 and 2011, he was imprisoned for 31 months. During this time, Gates claimed to have earned a master’s degree in psychology while incarcerated. For good behavior, he was released from prison early.
Did Kevin Gates date his cousin?
Around 33:30, Yung Miami asked Gates about sleeping with his cousin, to which he admitted. He addressed it on Instagram once, saying he didn’t care and didn’t want to ruin a “good thing.” He ended up staying in the relationship for two years before calling it quits.
