Who Is Yo Gotti and What is His Net Worth? Meet His Children and Family

Yo Gotti is an American hardcore rapper from Memphis, Tennessee, and has been professionally active since 2000. The Dirty South rapper has released at least 8 studio albums and is associated with some of the most popular names in the rap game from Jay Z to Lil Wayne.

Sometime in 2016, Gotti in one of the episodes of his YouTube series “60 Seconds With Gotti” mentioned Birdman and his brother Slim as one of his major inspirations during the budding stages of his career.

His Early Life and Career Beginnings

Yo Gotti is definitely one of those rappers who has developed a healthy maturity out of harsh beginnings. A good number of his songs suggest that he has acquired self-awareness and confidence from his life experiences. He was born Mario Mims on May 19, 1981, in Frayser, Memphis.

Mims grew up rough in a block of apartments in Memphis called Ridgecrest Apartments. During one of the frequent raids in his neighborhood, his mom and aunt were picked up by the feds and later sentenced to over 10 years behind bars. Gotti was only a third-grader at the time.

He then began rolling more often on the streets and started rapping at the age of 14 under the moniker Lil Yo. “Yo” is the short form of his first name Mario. However, as he grew older, he changed his name to Yo Gotti, deriving the later name from John Gotti, the late New York mafioso who’s had a handful of other rappers named after him including; Juan Gotti, Irv Gotti, Don Gotti, Bazooka Joe Gotti, and Big Gotti.

In the late ’90s, Gotti emerged as one of hip-hop’s Dirty South scholars. His debut album entitled “Youngsta’s On a Come Up” was released in 1996. He followed up with “From Da Dope Game 2 Da Rap Game” (2000), and “Self-Explanatory” (2001) all released under independent labels.

Gotti’s first album with a major label was his fourth “Life” (2003), released under TVT Records. The album got the attention of critics at The New York Times and The Pitch who left tepid to moderate reviews on his lyrical ability. After a quiet three years, Gotti released “Back 2 da Basics” in 2006 which would become his last effort with TVT Records. The album included tracks featuring Lil Wayne and Birdman.

Gotti’s career began to blossom mildly in 2009 following the release of singles like “5 Star” which peaked at #79 on the Billboard Hot 100, thanks to the heavy airplay promotion it received from MTV and BET. The remix featured Nicki Minaj and Gucci Mane while Teflon Don Rick Ross made an appearance in the video.

His two subsequent singles “Women Lie, Men Lie”, and “Look In the Mirror” both managed to get a feature on the Billboard Hot 100. The singles were succeeded by the release of the album “Live from the Kitchen” in 2012. Released officially by RCA Records, the album became his first to appear on the Billboard 200 charts peaking at #12. However, after selling about 36,000 copies its commercial outcome failed to match its chart position.

Record Sales Laid the Foundation for Yo Gotti to Build His $7 Million Net Worth

Disappointed with his commercial results with RCA Records, Gotti formed his own record label, Cocaine Music Group, later renamed Collective Music Group. In 2013 he signed a distribution deal with Epic Records and released the album “I Am” in 2013. The album was succeeded by four successful singles with the first featuring Young Jeezy and the fourth receiving a gold certification from the RIAA.

“I Am” debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 and sold 48,000 copies in its first week. His best record at the time. The album later went on to sell over 212,000 copies. Its success saw it receive a BET nod for Album of the Year in 2014.

Meanwhile, 2016 proved to be a very successful year for Gotti. He released “The Art of Hustle”, his second collaboration with Epic Records. The album produced the lead single “Down in the DM” which peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 to become his most successful single in the country at the time. Its remix featured Nicki Minaj.

The album itself peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200, sold 61, 000 album-equivalent units and 45,000 copies in its first week. While it was as though the rapper is ready to land his first gold/platinum-certified album, he was poised to earn more after his CMG signed a deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in December 2016.

Founding His Own Record Label Made Him Wealthier

Benefiting from high-profile relationships with rappers who’ve gone ahead before him, Gotti has also tried to motivate upcoming rappers. His CMG roster includes Snootie Wild and Blac Youngsta. He bought a Lamborghini Gallardo for the later in 2015 as a signing bonus.

That hints at the fact that founding Collective Music Group was one of the brightest career decisions that Yo Gotti has made. He is the CEO of the label whereas his biological brother Brandon Mims is the President. CMG’s first official release was “I Am”, Yo’s sixth studio album. The album attained Gold certification from RIAA, indicating that CMG has been a profitable venture.

Among other things, CMG has been able to thrive because of its creative nature. An instance was in 2014 when it released a collective project titled Chapter One. It featured all the artists on CMG’s roster. It is hard to tell what Yo Gotti has made from CMG but founding the label certainly made him richer.

He Also Makes Money from Concert Tours and Shows 

Like every other musical artist, Yo Gotti has been able to sustain his wealth by embarking on concert tours and performing in shows. What he has been able to make over the years through this is best known to him. But then, it has been reported in some quarters that artistes make between $50 and $300 per gig, or even more depending on how popular they are.

Now, Yo Gotti isn’t the most popular of rappers out there but he commands a great deal of influence. Considering that and the fact that he has been a part of the industry since 2000, it is easy to see how concert tours and shows have become a steady stream of income for the entertainer.

Yo Gotti Owns a Restaurant Called Privé

In addition to his music, the rapper banks from his own Memphis restaurant called Privé. Again, details of his profit from this endeavour aren’t known to the public but there are no reasons to suspect that it hasn’t been a profitable venture for Yo.

List of the Rapper’s Sources of Income

The Rapper Has Been Married for Over 3 Decades

• Wife’s Name: Lakeisha Mims
• Date of Birth: Undetermined
• Occupation: Undetermined
• Duration of Marriage: 1989 – ?
• No. of Children with Gotti: 3 (a son and two daughters)

Yo Gotti got married to Lakeisha Mims in 1989. Although many still regard Lakeisha as Gotti’s wife, words on the street have it that the rapper has long parted ways with her. It is believed that they had three kids together; a son and two daughters.

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A post shared by Yo Gotti (@yogotti)

It has also been assumed that those are not the only kids of Yo Gotti. As the story goes, he had a romantic affair with one Jammie Moses and also fathered three kids with her. While we are yet to substantiate this owing to the rapper’s persistent efforts to keep his private life private, we can tell that the YouTube vlogger, De’arra Taylor is his daughter.

De’arra Taylor Is the Only Child of the Rapper Known to the Public

• Date of Birth: April 17, 1996
• Occupation: Vlogger and Social Media Influencer

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A post shared by De'arra Taylor (@dearra)

Taylor is known for the De’arra and Ken – #DK4L – YouTube channel which has gathered over 6 million subscribers since it came into existence in December 2014. Taylor runs the channel with her boyfriend, Ken Walker.

They upload entertaining challenge and prank videos which to them, are showing what having a romantic relationship should look like. An Instagram influencer with millions of followers, people doubted if Yo Gotti was truly De’arra’s father until October 2016 when she tweeted that the rapper is her biological father.

Yes, Yo Gotti is my biological dad..

— De'arra Taylor (@dearra) October 24, 2016

Yo Gotti has an older brother called Anthony Mims. He was mentioned in Young Dolph’s “Play With Yo’ Bitch” diss track aimed at Yo Gotti. The rapper is 6 inches taller than 5 feet (1.7 m).