For most people who grow up in Bognor Regis, Sussex, UK rap & drill barely comes up as a topic of conversation. Many people are confused about his backstory, so let us be the ones to clarify that now. Ross grew up in Bognor Regis; however, he was born in Croydon and later moved to the notorious Brandon Estate in Southwark, whilst he was studying at university.
Who Is Trap Lore Ross:
Trap Lore Ross, real name Charles Ross, is a YouTuber, journalist, influencer & self-proclaimed hip-hop historian. Ross started his YouTube career in 2017 with a now-deleted channel called Ross Hacks, where he’d create rant videos, prank videos, vlogs, and stand-up comedy routines. This channel was terminated sometime in 2019 after he dropped his first ever video on his main channel, which is about legendary rapper & music mogul Jay-Z.
Ross would go on to cover mainly American artists such as Rick Ross, 50 Cent, R. Kelly, Diddy, Drake, and O-Block’s King Von. We’ll go into detail about Ross’s most controversial artist documentaries.
Trap Lore Ross’s Net Worth:
It is hard to estimate Trap Lore Ross’s net worth due to his ever-growing number of videos, the lack of disclosure on his end, and how his videos have the ability to skyrocket in views due to many of them being evergreen content; however, we can use some tools to get an idea. Based on this site, his main YouTube channel earns $113k per year, whilst his clips channel earns up to $236k, meaning he is likely a millionaire (assuming he’s been earning that way over the last 2–3 years). Trap Lore also has his other channels we haven’t accounted for, as well as a Patreon membership, which we are unable to estimate.
TLR & 50 Cent:
What helped TLR gain traction initially was his documentaries about 50 Cent. The most pivotal one being about the beef between 50 & Rick Ross, which ended with 50 Cent (real name Curtis James Jackson) being sued and becoming bankrupt after losing. In this doc, TLR resurfaced the fact that 50 exposed the sex tape of Rick Ross’ baby mother. He goes into detail about the start of the beef, the diss tracks that were released, 50 getting sued and the eventual outcome of the trial.
This video would be deleted (and later reuploaded) for copyright infringement, with Trap Lore Ross adamant that 50 Cent (or someone close to him) was responsible for this takedown. The reasoning for this view is because his research led to an email with apparent online G-Unit ties.
The reuploaded video had the same content, just with differing footage at times and more censoring. It is still up at the time of writing, and you can watch it below:
Trap Lore Ross & King Von:
The documentary that helped TLR establish himself as the Hip-Hop Historian was his Chicago documentaries, which featured notorious figures such as T.Roy, Edai, and most notably O-Block’s King Von. The King Von documentary was in-depth and over 3.5 hours long and was initially removed by King Von’s team before eventually being reuploaded.
Trap Lore Ross would make a bunch more documentaries, which obviously upset Von’s family, friends, and associates and led to him getting his real taste of backlash & “culture vulture” allegations. TLR would eventually bring up that he was a fan of Von and even cried when he died. Ross would further speak about how Von, real name Dayvon Daquan Bennett, changed his life and would honour the fallen rapper by getting a tattoo of the artist’s face on his calf.
Central Cee & Ybeez feud:
On February 12, 2025, Ross would release a 3-hour documentary on YouTube about Central Cee, which pertained to his background, upbringing, life story, music, and more. In this video, the journalist would break down the beef between the Shepherd’s Bush gang 12Anti (which Cench is affiliated to) and the Ladbroke Grove-based gang that goes by CGM. In this video, the Bognor Regis man would state how he believed the Day In A Life rapper was a drug dealer in his past, he deemed that Cench was inauthentic in his music, and artists like his fierce rival Digga D were the real deal.
This issue would continue with the YouTuber throwing little digs at Cench. Eventually, Trap Lore Ross & Akademiks would link up and meet each other at ComplexCon and do a livestream together. They would go to Central Cee’s stall, where Ross would shake Central Cee’s hand to “squash the beef”.
Shortly after this, Cench’s manager Ybeez would storm in and tell Trap Lore to “get the fuck out the booth”. Things reached a boiling point when they went away from the booth and Ybeez would warn Ross to ask for permission next time, where Ross would say, “It’s been done”. I’ll let you guys check that part out yourselves:
Controversy:
Many people dislike Trap Lore due to the way he covers the UK scene, as well as the fact he is a white (presumably middle-class) man in Black culture who profits from said culture. Many on UK Drill & Chiraqology subreddits tend to criticise his current work. Many even go as far as to call him an informant!
He has also received criticism from music critics such as Ed Rants, who labelled him a “talentless hack” and would also have a back & forth spat with Youngs Teflon, where he’d call the former Section Boyz rapper “washed” over his criticism of Ross’s coverage of Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty.
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