Many rappers are known to have a tough exterior and "gangsta" persona, but some have a softer side when it comes to the leading lady in their lives. They boast about them in interviews and social media and even rap about them in songs.
And while every couple goes through ups and downs, these rappers weren't afraid to express their love and put a ring on it. Below is a list of 10 rappers who love their wives out loud.
Gucci Mane & Keyshia Ka'oir
Gucci Mane and Keyshia Ka'oir
Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage
A lot of fans credit Keyshia Ka'oir for Gucci Mane's glow up. They began dating in 2010 after meeting on set of a music video and later got married in 2017. Gucci has written songs about Keyshia, such as "Mrs. Davis" where he raps.
I was at my worst, so you deserve my best (Yeah)
I treat you like a queen (A queen) 'cause you deserve the best (Best)
Said I'd get twenty years, she didn't break a sweat (Nah)
Went from kissin' in the jail (Mwah) to kissin' on a jet (Vroom)
They share two kids together.
Jay-Z & Beyoncé
Jay-Z and Beyoncé
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Whether its sticking up for her when she was snubbed Album of the Year at the 2024 Grammys or rapping about her in songs, Jay-Z is always going to go up for Beyoncé. They have collaborated on many projects and even had a joint tour, but it was their first musical collab, "03' Bonnie & Clyde" that made it clear that they were locked in.
Nelly & Ashanti
Nelly & Ashanti
Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Since Nelly and Ashanti rekindled their relationship, the "Hot in Herre" rapper has been showing all 32 teeth. The couple got married in December 2023 and had their first child together in July 2024. In a recent interview, Nelly gushed over his wife Ashanti calling her a "great person and mother."
LL Cool J & Simone Smith
LL Cool J & Simone Smith
Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage
The couple met in 1987 and got married in 1995. They experienced many trials and tribulations in their relationship including Simone being diagnosed with stage III chondrosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. She had to undergo reconstructive surgery on her right leg and in 2013, she was declared cancer-free.
LL Cool J talked about being by his wife's side during an interview with Oprah Winfrey on Oprah's Next Chapter. "You don't abandon someone in that foxhole…you gotta be there in that foxhole with them," he said. They share four children together.
Ice Cube & Kimberly Woodruff
Ice Cube & Kimberly Woodruff
Photo by Jerritt Clark/WireImage
Ice Cube and Kimberly Woodruff have been married for 32 years and have four children, including actor O'Shea Jackson Jr. who starred as his dad in the biopic Straight Outta Compton.
Last year, the Barbershop star stopped by Cam Newton's podcast Funky Friday and shared how he and Kimberly make their marriage last. “We want to be [married]. You’ve got to want it,” he said. “I don’t want nobody to have my woman. She’s mine. I’m hers,” he said.
T.I. & Tiny Harris
T.I. & Tiny Harris
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Despite their past issues, T.I. and Tiny Harris have always showed the world the true meaning of unconditional love. They share a blended family of seven kids and have collaborated on many projects including the popular reality series T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle.
During the couple's visit to Red Table Talk in 2020, T.I. revealed why they called off the divorce, which Tiny initiated in 2017.“It’s very rare where you are able to be married to the best friend you have and the best sex you’ve ever had,” he explained. “You don’t just toss that away.”
Rev Run and Justine Simmons
Rev Run and Justine Simmons
Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images
If you're a millennial like me, then you probably remember watching Run's House. The show was my first introduction to Rev Run's family and we got to see the dynamic between he and his wife Justine.
They share a blended family of six and have served as positive role models in the Black community. In their book, Old School Love, the couple opened up about their love story and shared relationship advice.
Snoop Dogg & Shante Broadus
Snoop Dogg & Shante Broadus
Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Femme It Forward
Snoop Dogg and Shante Broadus met in high school and later married in 1997. After a brief split in 2004, they renewed their vows and have been inseparable ever since. Talking to People, Snoop shared his marriage advice.
"How do I stay married for so long? I've got a strong wife with a strong backbone and a good heart — she's loving and she's caring and we are meant to be together," he said.
"When we said we'd marry, we married 'til death do us part. Ain't that what it say? Not 'til arguments do us part or fighting or finances, but till death do us part."
Ice-T & Coco Austin
Ice-T & Coco Austin
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Ice-T and Coco Austin is another celebrity couple who let the cameras into their world with their reality show Ice Loves Coco. In October, the couple dished to E! News, about having a healthy marriage.
I think Coco and I are teammates," Ice-T said. "We have to be teammates, not opponents, not assets, not liabilities. I value what she brings to me, and I think it's vice versa. We appreciate each other."
Method Man & Tamika Smith
Method Man
Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Method Man and Tamika Smith have been married for over 30 years and share three kids together. She was his personal assistant at one point and he was there for her during her bout with breast cancer. Not much else is known about their relationship, and they prefer to keep it that way.
In a Vanity Fairinterview, the Power Book II: Ghost star said this about keeping his relationship private. “I’ve been married to the same woman for 30 years, and the fact that my wife and I stay out of the public eye is a blessing in itself,” he said.
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Feature image by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
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From the day they met, food has always played a role in their relationship, and working together in the food industry is what we call a full circle moment. Learn more about Bryant and Daniella’s story of finding love with one another.
How they met.
Bryant: We met at a mutual clients’ house. She was doing the lady hair, and I was cooking for the lady. The client sent her downstairs to record me while I was cooking to, I guess, see what I was cooking, and I caught her recording, but we didn't talk. I caught her recording, we laughed it off, and she went about her day.
So I guess that was the first thing that made us interact with each other. A few months down the line, I think she posted something [on social media]. I hopped in her DM and responded to it, and then we decided to just meet up and hang out. I looked at her as an entrepreneur. I'm an entrepreneur. She don’t need nothing. I don’t need nothing. It's good to hang with people who don't need nothing from you.
When we linked up, our chemistry was just so soft and just so nice. She is a great person, but after meeting up with her [for the] first time, she went back to Miami. She came back [to Atlanta], and we just kicked it off that next weekend, and ever since then, we've been locked in.
Daniella: That same client had flew me back in so I knew I had to come up here for work. But I told him that we'll meet up and [go] on a date and see each other again. When that happened, everything else was history. It just happened organically. It wasn’t forced or anything.
Bryant and Daniella Williams
Courtesy
First impressions.
Bryant: I knew for a fact for her to come downstairs and try to record me, I knew that she was brave, and that said a lot about her, because I barely even talk when I'm cooking for my clients. So you have to talk to somebody for them to feel comfortable to play with you, or do certain things. I feel like the client sent her downstairs because she knew that she's an outspoken, bubbly type of person who don't mind laughing it off if she gets caught doing it.
When she came back to Atlanta, she booked me to cook for her family. So while I was cooking for her in the kitchen, the whole time she was in there talking to me. It was like a date in the kitchen, and I cooked her food. Once the food was laid out, I just left. We had a great conversation when I was cooking for her, and also when she came downstairs and tried to record me.
Daniella: I was impressed how he was multitasking because I was asking him deep, interesting questions, and he was cooking the food, and he was still answering my questions. But I was in a relationship at that time, so I wasn't really in tune. It was no emotions. But when I came back and flew in to work, we met with each other.
He came and picked me up from the hotel and we drove around Atlanta, sightseeing. We went to the African club. So when he came downstairs, I was like okay, you not gonna hug me, you not gonna say nothing? He was shocked and we stayed together for like eight or nine hours, and he took me back to the hotel. I think he picked me up around nine at night. He took me back to the hotel around seven in the morning. Then he walked me to my hotel door. He gave me a hug and he gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you.' And I was like, what?
We stayed together for like eight or nine hours, and he took me back to the hotel. I think he picked me up around nine at night. He took me back to the hotel around seven in the morning. Then he walked me to my hotel door. He gave me a hug and he gave me a kiss and said, 'I love you.' And I was like, what?
The one.
Daniella: When we first linked up, he took me around Atlanta. He was soft and gentle. He was a gentleman. He opened the door for me and I never had nobody open the door. He opened the door every single time I was going in and getting out the car, and when we went to that restaurant. I was like, [there’s] something about him, and he was just nice, calm and patient. So I knew he was a little different from what I'm used to.
Bryant: [I knew she was the one by] how she cared so much. She didn't really know me like that. She knew of me, but she cared so much about me. When we first met, she would lay on me and just relax. For someone who just wants to relax on you, that says a lot about them towards you. It wasn't like I had to prove myself and she didn’t have to prove herself with me either. It wasn't nothing like that. We were willing to take whatever came with it. But it just was really a break. It was like the best me meeting a woman because I didn't try.
Any other woman, I might be trying to dress up, take her to this place, I did not try at all. I picked her up and I actually thought that she wasn't gonna go on the date with me because of her status and my status. I'm such a laid back homey dude and she's from Miami. I thought she would be on the City Girls, you gotta do this, do that. But she wasn't. She was the total opposite. She was a homebody, chill, like me.
Bryant and Daniella Williams
Courtesy
Marriage advice for couples.
Bryant: Work together. Communication, put your mind together.
Daniella: And keep your family out your business.
Bryant: Keep it private please. Y'all work it out first. When y'all make sure it's solidified, then you tell them, or let them find out on their own. Privacy is the most valuable thing.
Daniella: And date each other because people get married and they stop doing the things that they did to get you, or stop doing the things that they did while they were in a relationship with you, before y'all got married. No, do the same thing. For me, I get bored easy, and I think he knows that. So just keep it spicy. Keep it interesting.
Bryant: We like spontaneous stuff like last-minute trips, trying different foods, going out the country just off a spur of a moment. You gotta make it fun. Don't just make it all business. And I think one person out of the relationship needs to take the initiative to make sure their partner is relaxing and at peace. A lot of people carry functional depression to where they’re functional, like we're doing this right now, but they can be going through something.
I don't think it's male or female. I think whichever one, the other partner should notice it and work with their partner to get through whatever they get through, like, for postpartum depression and stuff. That's something that most men don't even really know exist, but that's something when she had our daughter, I had an anti-postpartum depression plan put in place for her. She didn't know about it, but I knew I was gonna be extra sweet to her.
She won't have to think about doing nothing with the little baby. My little girl was watching the football game with me, when she was a few weeks old, because I was giving her that peace, so she can just relax, because her body has been through so much. So you got to be considerate of your mate's mental state and their mental well-being, because when it's gone, it's gone and it takes a lot to get it back, so I think that's important.
When she had our daughter, I had an anti-postpartum depression plan put in place for her. She didn't know about it, but I knew I was gonna be extra sweet to her. She won't have to think about doing nothing with the little baby. My little girl was watching the football game with me, when she was a few weeks old, because I was giving her that peace, so she can just relax, because her body has been through so much.
If you see something not right with your spouse, help them get help. It's okay for them to talk to a therapist by themselves, or it's okay for them to talk to somebody, but don't just sit there and let them go into this decline and self-destruction. I think that's the most important, because sometimes she be overwhelmed, and I have to be that person to hold her up. And then sometimes I'm overwhelmed. To her, baby, I don't want to do this no more. She's like, you gonna do this. We gonna do this. And she reminds me who I am. I remind her who she is, and we come back feeling more motivated.
Daniella: I think business owners should date business owners because they understand your hustle, your hunger. They understand when you can have a day where you make $0 and you have a day when you make $1,000. But I feel like if you dating someone who is in corporate America, and you a business owner, there's going to be a lot of friction, a lot of tension, and I just feel like I want to date someone that has the same drive as me.
Because I don't want to feel like I'm trying to build a bear, build a man, and I have to pull you and drag you, or just being with somebody who got they self together. For instance, my last relationship. I won't say I was the breadwinner, but I was kind of established, and I felt like I was sleeping with the enemy. I was growing fast and I wasn't stagnant. I was trying to get to the next level. He started to be jealous of me and I feel like a lot of women deal with men trying to be jealous of them. Men also have ego issues where they don't really want their woman making a certain amount of money or making more money than them.
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