Rich Homie Quan Pursued Music Despite Baseball Scholarship To Fort Valley State University

The late rapper graduated high school with a 3.2 GPA and turned down the scholarship to pursue rap career

Rapper Rich Homie Quan died at an Atlanta hospital on Sept. 5, according to The Associated Press. With a successful career in hip-hop, it was recently revealed that the recording artist could have become a professional baseball player as he was offered a sports scholarship to Fort Valley State University, an HBCU in Fort Valley, Georgia.

According to HBCU GameDay, the man born Dequantes Devontay Lamar told DJ Vlad several years ago that he was so focused on becoming an artist that he chose to forego a baseball scholarship to pursue a rapping career.

“I graduated from high school with a 3.2 GPA, yessir. Graduated. I had a scholarship to go to Fort Valley, THE Fort Valley to play baseball, “ Quan said.

“I didn’t get a scholarship for academics. My scholarship was for baseball but with my academics being that I didn’t have to pay for school at all. But, my mind was on rapping though. Like baseball cool, but in the back of my mind, I really want to rap.”

He also stated that Black men weren’t plentiful in the major leagues and that the percentage was “very small.” That discouraged him from taking the route to become a professional athlete, which left him time to focus on his recording career.

“As I started to getting older, I started realizing that the percentage of Black men in MLB (Major League Baseball) is very small. So I’m like I’m good but I ain’t that good,” Quan said.

Early in his career, Rich released several mixtapes before hitting mainstream success when he released “Type of Way” in 2013. The remix, which featured established rappers, Jeezy and Meek Mill, solidified he was here for the long run.

The “Type of Way” rapper’s cause of death has not been determined as an autopsy is scheduled for Sept. 6, according to Jimmy Sadler, senior medical examiner investigator.