Whatever Happened To Travie McCoy?

In 2010, Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy was riding high off the waves of his first solo endeavor, "Billionaire" — the infectiously catchy collaboration with Bruno Mars that was most likely stuck in your head that entire summer. But in the years since this mega-hit, the rapper seems to have largely disappeared from the spotlight. So, whatever happened to Travie McCoy?

Despite the early success of its lead single, McCoy's debut album Lazarus did not make its mark in sales. Peaking at #25 on the Billboard 200, the June 2010 record only sold 15,000 copies in its first week.

Both fans and critics had trouble separating the rapper from his band during his transition from Gym Class Heroes frontman to solo artist. "I'm trying to kill a lot of the negative connotations out there about me doing this solo project," McCoy told Billboard in April 2010. "A lot of people thought this was the end of the Gym Class Heroes...and I was trying to take the momentum we've built...and use it for my own selfish desires. That's not the case at all."

It was "the longest, I think, I've spent on a record in my whole career," McCoy added, as he aimed to make it "a household object — and hopefully not a coaster." But the summer album would mark a drastic departure from his more serious Gym Class Heroes output. "You want music to have a good time to, music to connect to," he told MTV that March. "You wanna play it at the party." 

Despite his efforts, Lazarus received mixed reviews. While Rolling Stone praised McCoy for inventing "his own market by mixing emo, hip-hop and tween pop," the magazine only gave the album 2.5 stars, stating "his polished croon-rapping is more unctuous than charming." Ouch.

Katy Perry doesn't only write revenge songs about Taylor Swift, she's also taken pen to paper to hit back at her famous exes — including one Travie McCoy.

As Nicki Swift previously reported, the frontman inspired "Circle the Drain" off of 2010's Teenage Dream, and the song's lyrics were anything but subtle. "You fall asleep during foreplay / 'Cause the pills you take are more your forte," Perry sang, in reference to McCoy's drug addiction. He had famously gone to rehab in 2008, when the two were still together.

In October 2010, MTV ventured to ask McCoy about the musical diss. "I heard she put out a song that's about me, or about some old habits or whatever," he said. "[And] I look at it like this: I'm just stoked that she finally has a song with some substance on her record. Good job." Yikes! The rapper nearly followed suit when working on Lazarus. As he told Billboard, he had "scrapped a lot of the early material," because it was "kind of somber and a little too personal" following his "sh**ty breakup" with the pop star.

But McCoy no long harbors any hard feelings. "For me to hold a grudge that long," he told Vibe in 2013, "I'd be a bitter son of a b**ch. I have a lot more interesting things to do than hold a grudge." He added, "I'm super proud of her."

In 2012, McCoy spoke candidly about his past on the Gym Class Heroes' episode of VH1's Behind the Music. But his honesty may have cost him some fans.

"It was tough, honestly. At some point in my career, my life got put up for public consumption," he told Vibe the following year. "As far as opening up about my relationships or drug addiction, these are all things I've talked about in my music so, in a sense, it's already been out there; basically, A and C are already out there and that [show] was me putting B out there as well."

"I got so many emails and people that have come up to me at shows to tell me that the episode helped them get through a turbulent relationship or addiction," McCoy continued. "At the end of the day, that was me subconsciously taking the spotlight I had and speaking on something that almost took me out in the hopes it would help other kids. It was worth it to me, whether I lost some fans or gained some fans from it."

When pressed on this, the "Cookie Jar" rapper said, "You'd be surprise at some of the things people had to say. People, at the end of the day, are going to see things the way they want to see it. I do my best to avoid it, but sometimes it's like a car crash — you can't help but to look."

Fresh off the success of "Stereo Hearts," McCoy began work on his sophomore solo effort, releasing a string of non-album singles to tease his post-Lazarus sound.

The first was "Rough Water" in November 2013. Featuring singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, the song did well among McCoy's fan base. But it did not make much of a splash on the charts, peaking at #82 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on Billboard Pop Songs. Still, the rapper was pleased. "The response has been amazing," he told Vibe that December. "I couldn't be more stoked."

In March 2014, McCoy collaborated with Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco on the motivational promotional single "Keep On Keeping On." The following year came the most popular of the three: "Golden," featuring "Chandelier" singer Sia. "It's like second nature working with [Sia]. We have this brotherly-sisterly vibe going on," the rapper told Entertainment Tonight in June 2015. "Once I heard the hook, I kinda knew where I wanted to go lyrically and I wrote it in about 45 minutes... I think a lot of people can relate to having those tinglies in their stomach about that special somebody." Neither of these singles charted in the US, but both earned millions of views on YouTube. 

McCoy's solo debut may not have been the smash hit he had hoped for, but it still made its mark in hip-hop/pop. Fans have been dying to hear his follow-up effort ever since, but as of September 2017, there is no release date in sight for the rapper's as-of-now untitled sophomore effort.

"Anyone knows from the past...that I've always given zero F about catering to one genre or one particular audience," McCoy told Billboard in 2014, while revealing that his second album would feature "a lot of growth." He continued, "I'm influenced by so many different types of music, and this record is no different." The following year, the "Superbad" singer told Entertainment Tonight that the record was actually already "finished." "We're gonna let the single do what it does," he said of his hit song "Golden." "I'm trying to keep this album not as feature-heavy as some of the past albums have been," he added. "I'm trying to focus more on myself."

But McCoy couldn't quiet his love of collaborating completely, as the album will include features by "Happy" singer Pharrell Williams and TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek. Those songs "came out really crazy and different," the rapper teased to Billboard. "There's just an urgency to a couple of the songs I think is going to surprise a lot of people."

McCoy is a devoted family man, a new role he's taken on recently after making amends with his estranged family. "In the past couple of years, my family and I have been through some rough patches, but as I've gotten older I've learned to bury the hatchet," he told Vibe in 2013. "This year I surprised my mom by going down to Baltimore [Maryland] to my sister's house for Thanksgiving. It was great and really cool."

"I have no time for grudges anymore," he continued. "I'm starting to get old, I'm starting to get right...and sweeter. It was nice spending time with my nieces and nephews — it was like Rugrats: The Movie."

As mentioned, the musician is especially close to his niece, Farrah. As McCoy shared in a blog post on his website in April 2015, Farrah had "stage 4/5 kidney disease," and eventually needed to get a transplant. In September 2017, the rapper took to Instagram to celebrate the four-year-old's health with a sweet video. "#TBT Back to the day before my baby angel got her Brand New Kidney," he wrote in the caption. "The relief that my baby was finally going to be done suffering was immense. She had been so strong and resilient and I can't thank you all enough for your prayers and well wishes."