Published: Friday - May 25, 2007
Words by Miles Bennett & Jay Casteel
Ralphige (Photo: Ralphige.com)
There's been a few successful prank call CDs that dropped in the past, but no one was checking for those guys like they are the newly crowned king of celebrity crank calls -- a guy that goes by the name of Ralphige.
With top names like Scott Storch, Hulk Hogan, Jay-Z and -- his biggest crank yet and one of his latest victims -- Michael Jackson under his belt, the faceless crank caller is rising in popularity fast and fans can't wait for each one of his new calls with unknowing hip-hop celebs.
One day Ralphige was brainstorming ideas about making some money, and seeing how the mixtape game became profitable for DJs and rappers trying to create a buzz for themselves, he wanted to tap into it somehow. Being that he couldn't rap, he figured crankcalling and putting them on CD was the next best thing, that's when Ralphige was born.
Beginning locally cranking 7-Elevens and local shops, Ralphige says he needed something else to create a buzz for himself, which is when he began to target local celebs within his hometown of Miami. His first prank was on local Miami rapper Garcia, which created such a big buzz locally that he was able to obtain contacts for DJ Khaled and then Scott Storch. That's when his popularity as a celebrity crank caller really took off.
"After cranking the local celebs, it started getting me known [within Miami]," Ralphige explained to BallerStatus.com, "but after the (now infamous) Scott Storch call (which included an unexpected call with Hulk Hogan as well), it got huge. That's when I started getting everyone outside Miami."
According to Ralphige, the Scott Storch call (which is still his favorite call today) got him notoriety within the hip-hop industry -- and people within rappers' camps began leaking their numbers to him. It's so crazy that he's literally got hundreds of numbers stored into his cell phone of celebrities considered the who's who in hip-hop.
"Seriously, if I was to ever lose my phone, anyone that finds it would think they'd found Jimmy Iovine's cellphone. It's that crazy," the celebrity crank caller says while holding back a laugh.
So how does he map out his calls? Why are they so popular and funny even? Well, he says nothing is ever planned when he prank calls someone. It's all off the top of the dome, which is why they are so real, according to Ralphige.
So far, like aforementioned, Ralphige's biggest call has been Michael Jackson, where he convinces the King of Pop that he is Akon and has a quite lengthy conversation before he wilds out on him (listen to it here), prompting Jackson to hang up the phone. Nonetheless, it's a big accomplish for him.
"Oh man, I think that it can't get no bigger than Michael Jackson," admits Ralphige. "I mean, I have tons of calls with big rappers, but the Michael Jackson call tops them all."
Currently, the crank caller has tons of calls in his vault for the future including Papoose, Kanye West and Snoop Dogg, among others. And the only way you will be able to hear these hilarious calls will be to purchase his new CD, Phone'kd: Celebrity Crank Calls.
It can be purchased from Ralphige directly, through his website Ralphige.com for $14.00.
Just because he may have peaked with Michael, Ralphige says don't count him out. He's got a slew of calls on the horizon, which he "guarantees to be hilarious" and "like nothing else out."
The most recently leaked calls through his site are Remy Ma and Swizz Beatz. From the sounds of the snippets, Ralphige will reign as the king of celeb crank calls for some time.
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