He took on the stage name Roc Marciano in honor of the undefeated Italo – American boxing champ.

However Rak, or Rocky as his friends called him, had a special talent for rap music and was encouraged by his older peers to follow the path of a career in music.

This block has always been one of the poorest and most infamous in the city so inevitably young Rakeem (Roc Marci) found himself caught up in the street life. He came up in what citizens of the big apple call Long Island, an area further east than the better known boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Roc Marciano, born Rakeem Calief Meyers in 1978, grew up in New York in the Hempstead neighbourhood, specifically in the 100 Terrace Ave Projects.