//BIOGRAPHY Raphael Louis Hurst was born on October 1st, 1984 in Toronto, Canada. His father, Richard Hurst, was a bus driver and a musician. His mother, Bethel Maier, was a grade school teacher and part-time secretary. Hurst, an African-American from New Orleans, moved back to America in 1992 following his divorce from Maier. Raph was seven at the time and remained in Toronto with his Jewish-Canadian mother. Though the two have begun to reconnect in recent years, Raph's father has been largely absent from his life since the split. Raph claims a large part of his motivation came from necessity growing up in a single-parent house. He began working at the age of 12 to help Maier with the bills and credits much of his success to her support.

Raph and his mother moved from Blake-Jones to Riverdale in 1996. Maier was determined to get her son a good education and feared that staying in Blake-Jones, one of the poorer neighborhoods in Toronto, would have an adverse effect on Raph's future. The new living costs were steep and Maier often worked night jobs and weekends on top of teaching to stay afloat. Her absence during the days was supplemented by a strict curriculum. Raph participated in a variety of intramural sports and after-school programs while she worked. He often says he was raised to be an overachiever by his overly worried mother.

Raph did well in school despite struggling with the move at the age of 12 and working part-time at the local community center. Maier enrolled him in Toronto International College at 14, a reputable private high school, but he only attended four months before being expelled. Having gotten into a fist fight with several of his peers on the football team, his mother eventually allowed him to transfer to a public high school in February of 1999. He transferred again in 2000 when Maier was forced to relocate to Mount Dennis for work.

A few months after the second move, Raph was scouted in downtown Toronto by an overzealous talent agent. Doubtful but willing, he signed a two-year contract with a modeling agency and appeared in several small print ads and local catalogs. The work helped him land a few minor acting jobs on TV before he was cast on the teen program, DEGRASSI. Finding the paychecks better than the ones he was cashing as a cashier and bank teller, he finished out his senior year of high school acting on the side. As luck would have it, DEGRASSI kept him on as show regular, Jimmy Brooks, for the next eight years.

2003 was a tough year for Raph. After a rocky two semesters at Seneca College trying to balance work with classes, his mother was diagnosed with lung and throat cancer. The bills began to pile up and Raph, determined to support Maier, decided to focus on acting instead of schooling. Having initially used his money towards tuition, he put it instead towards the mortgage and his mother's medical bills in the hopes that Maier could begin to work less and focus on recovering.

Acting was a means to an end. Even if the money wasn't much, it was enough to survive off of and Raph was loyal to the show. He started writing and rapping when he reconnected with his father in 2004. Hurst, recently released from jail, returned to Toronto to live with his son and ex-wife to help with her care. Having always had high hopes of making it in the music industry himself, Hurst began to encourage his son's lyrical abilities. In 2006, Raph released his first mixtape, ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT, under his own unofficial label Maverick Sound. Though it went largely unnoticed, Raph fell in love with the process and slowly began to hope for bigger things.

Unfazed by a quiet debut, in 2007, Raph released his second mixtape, COMEBACK SEASON. On it, he sampled Lil Wayne's "Man of the Year" and had a relatively successful single, "Replacement Girl", that wound up featured on BET. It was enough buzz to get the mixtape forwarded to Lil Wayne and, a few days later, Raph hopped a flight to Houston to tour and record with none other than Wayne himself. The experience was life changing. After a few weeks with Wayne's Young Money team, Raph was determined to break onto the rap scene and land himself a record contract.

Raph released SO FAR GONE in February 2009. His third mixtape was an underground hit, released for free online through his own Maverick Sound site. It spawned two hit singles, "Successful" and "Best I Ever Had," the latter of which was nominated for two Grammys and was Billboard's Hottest Rap Song of the Year. Still unsigned, SO FAR GONE's success sparked a massive bidding war between Universal Motown, Atlantic Records, and Warner Music for Raph's contract. He decided to follow in the steps of his mentor and signed with Wayne's Young Money and Universal that summer. Shortly after, he wrapped DEGRASSI, eager to focus on his music now that his character had finally graduated.

Since signing with Young Money, Raph has released three official albums, THANK ME LATER (2010), TAKE CARE (2011), and NOTHING WAS THE SAME (2013), and one official mixtape IF YOU'RE READING THIS IT'S TOO LATE (2015). All three albums have been huge commercial successes, each one RIAA certified platinum. (TAKE CARE hit double and went on to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album in 2013.) Raph's recently dropped surprise mixtape moved 535,000 units its opening weekend and went RIAA gold in three days. It is rumored to be his contract-ending and final project under Cash Money Records. Raph, who grew up watching his mother struggle with money, put his first paychecks towards the best in medical care for her, a new house, and her first trip to Europe. He has said the money troubles may be over for now but he'll never forget what it was like growing up wanting.

//FACTS Raph is currently dating Canadian actress Reyna Bledsoe. The couple is rumored to have been together since meeting at a Degrassi audition as teenagers. They avoid discussing their relationship with the press and maintain a low public profile.

Raph officially founded his own record label Maverick Sound in 2012. Though he has been unofficially recording under it since his first mixtape, Maverick is now a child company of Warner Music. Raph has been working on signing new Toronto talent since its inception. The current roster includes Raph himself, PartyNextDoor, ILoveMakonnen, Majid Jordan, and OB O'Brien. Raph also signed close friends and frequent collaborators Boi-1da, T-Minus, and Mike Zombie to Mav as in-house-producers.

Raph seldom grants interviews and uses his social media accounts, official website, and the Mav Sound blog to air promotions for his projects.

He has been hosting Mav Fest since 2010. Every summer he invites a slew of fellow friends and musicians to Toronto's Molson Ampitheatre to perform for and show love to his city.

With his continued success, Raph has begun to diversify his ventures. In September 2013, he became the part time global ambassador and part owner of the Toronto Raptors. In December 2013, he inked a shoe design deal with Jordan's Nikes. In December 2014, he opened his first brick-and-mortar clothing store in Toronto exclusively featuring Mav Sound gear.

Raph splits his time between LA and Toronto. He is currently building a private and self-designed estate in his hometown and completed renovations on his LA home, the sprawling ranch property in Hidden Hills dubbed YOLO Estate, in late 2012.