Blackbear, born Matthew Tyler Musto, is an established American hip-hop singer, songwriter, and record producer who has collaborated with well-known singers, including Justin Bieber. Blackbear often doesn’t publicly talk about his family, so this might leave you all the more curious about if Blackbear is adopted.
It is unclear if Blackbear is adopted. Next to nothing is known about Blackbear’s parents, not even their names! What is known is that he has two brothers, TJ and James, whom he talks about quite often and a sister called Jade.
Read more below about what’s known about Blackbear’s family life and his personal struggles.
A Chaotic Childhood
Blackbear was born on November 27, 1990, in Pennsylvania to parents whose names are unknown; he grew up in a dysfunctional family where his father was addicted to heroin, which resulted in the family uprooting and moving to Florida in a desperate bid to escape his father’s toxic habits.
In 2018, the Census Bureau found that 38.1 million people in the States are poor. This seems to be the case for Blackbear, who didn’t have an extravagant childhood, as the rapper recalls, “I was poor my whole life.”
Blackbear has not completed any formal education, having dropped out of high school to pursue his musical career, making him part of the 25.5% of America’s high school dropouts.
Revealing what his parents thought about his impulsive decision to dropout, Blackbear said, “My family was very unsure, and they told me to have a ‘plan B’ until I did my publishing deal at 21 for over a million dollars. Then I tattooed my neck to prove I’ll never become a lawyer.”
Star of the Stage
Growing up, Blackbear went to shows and concerts, so he really knows how to connect with his fans with his performances. He’s a guy who believes that if you’ve got talent, you should flaunt it. He makes this crystal clear when he says, “I was born for the stage, so while I’m young, I’m gonna give that to the world.”
The goal of his performances is to make people go ‘wow’ and walk away from his shows feeling uplifted; he “just wants to provide a good stepping stone for the party.”
A Fatal Near-Death Experience
Throughout his career, Blackbear has faced his own unique personal experiences and even a near-death experience. But he lives to see another day, what a fighter!
In his song ‘Nevada’ from his first EP called Sex, Blackbear recites the lyrics, “I’m just like my father / I don’t know when enough is enough,” a painfully personal line which would later become eerily clairvoyant when Blackbear is hospitalized for a condition caused by substance misuse, causing a near-death experience for the rapper.
If there’s one positive to come out of a negative, it’s that Blackbear managed to write a large proportion of his first album Digital Druglord during his hospital stay.
Revealing how his hospital stay changed his life, Blackbear recalled, “I was diagnosed with necrotizing chronic pancreatitis, and it definitely put a pause on live performances for a while. But I haven’t drank in years, so hopefully, no more surgeries.”
For those of you that don’t know, necrotizing chronic pancreatitis is where enzymes in your pancreas start killing the pancreatic tissue. If the dead tissue becomes infected, then you can face life-threatening complications, which appears to be what Blackbear experienced.
It’s safe to say that Blackbear has traveled along some rocky roads during his short time on earth, but he hasn’t let this hold him back. In fact, Blackbear revealed that he’s compensating for lost time in the hospital bed by working hard to release more music for his fans. Blackbear’s the prime example of a person who has an enviable drive to succeed no matter what gets in his way, and that’s pretty admirable.