"Cause them punks like to hit it and quit it / And I'd rather stay and play" - Sir Mix-a-Lot, "Baby Got Back"
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Countless rappers have boasted about their respective quests to top Wilt Chamberlain's apocryphal claim to have slept with 20,000 women. There are also quite a few rappers and singers who have entered monogamous relationships and stayed there to bask in the warmth of holy matrimony. LL Cool J has been with his wife for 29 years. While that mark may currently be unbeaten among hip hop's elite class, these hip hop couples may top it before it's all said and done.
Click through the gallery to celebrate hip hop's best couples.
Cam'ron & JuJu
Cam'ron and JuJu met in 2002 and have been dating on and off since 2007. "We met by chance," Cam'ron told V Magazine. "There were stars out and the light of the moon was glistening… Nah, I met her at the airport. I was coming from a show and she worked at the airport. I stepped to her and I was like 'Yo, give me your number.' I was walking one way and she placed herself in the lane."
.@Mr_Camron can get protective of @IamJuJu_ pic.twitter.com/I83EtdCQ0A
Pharrell & Helen Lasichanh
Pharrell has been with Helen Lasichanh, a 36-year-old model and designer, for over a decade. They got married in 2013 and have one child, 8-year-old Rocket Man Williams. Lasichanh is pregnant with the couple's second child.
Miguel & Nazanin Mandi
Miguel began dating model-singer Nazanin Mandi when he was 18 years old. After 12 years of dating the lovely Nazanin, this past January, he finally put a ring on it.
Last year, during an interview on Ebro in the Morning, Miguel spoke about his philosophy on relationships. “I don’t feel the pressure because I know when I commit, I really commit. Now it’s just thrown around because you can easily break up, and I’m not that kind of person,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that to her, and that’s not how I was raised. I don’t think that would be honorable.”
Snoop Dogg & Shante Broadus
Snoop married his high school sweetheart Shante Broadus in 1997. They divorced in 2004 due to Snoops' chronic infidelity and renewed their vows in 2008 after their daughter Cori was diagnosed with lupus.
“That’s what it boiled down to. Cori’s lupus showed us we need to be together forever," Snoop told People in 2010.
“Without (Snoop), I don’t know what I’d have done," Shante added. "It’s amazing how this all turned out. We were gonna get a divorce. But we wouldn’t have gotten through it (the lupus diagnosis) that way.”
LL Cool J & Simone Smith
LL Cool was 19 years old when he started dating Simone Smith, in 1987. They've been together ever since. They tied the knot in 1995 and have four kids together.
T.I. & Tiny
T.I. has been in a relationship with former Xscape member Tameka "Tiny" Cottle since 2001. They have six kids and are 92 episodes deep into their VH1 reality show "T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle."
Ice Cube & Kimberly Woodruff
Ice Cube married Kimberly Woodruff in 1992. They have been together long enough that Woodruff appeared as a character in the N.W.A. biopic "Straight Outta Compton."
Ja Rule & Aisha Atkins
The hip hop industry may have turned its back on Ja Rule, but not his wife Aisha (IG handle @mizzrule_), whom accompanies him everywhere from scuba diving to "Hamilton." After the notorious groupie Karinne “SuperHead” Steffans alleged that she had participated in drug-fueled orgies with Ja, Aisha told Vibe the following in 2006:
“I don’t believe what she said. I love my husband. And it’s going to take more than a broke-down beyotch to make me leave him. So there you go… I was 14 when I fell in love with Jeff. I lost my virginity to him. So I don’t care what other people say. This is my household, and this is my marriage.”
Kendrick Lamar and Whitney Alford
In 2015, Kendrick became engaged to to Whitney Alford, his high school sweetheart, girlfriend of 10 years, and "best friend."
“I’m loyal to the soil," Kendrick told The Breakfast Club. "At the end of the day you want to always have real people around you period. Everybody that’s been around me has been down since day one and I can’t change that. I don’t change for nobody. I always show respect when respect is being given and people that’s been by your side, you supposed to honor that. That’s how you stand up.”
J Cole & Melissa Heholt
In 2015, J Cole proposed to Melissa Heholt, whom he met and started dating a decade ago while they attended St John's University. event planner and executive director of Cole's Dreamville Foundation. They got secretly married later that year. This January, director Ryan Coogler inadvertently put Cole on blast and spilled the beans during an interview at an MLK Day event.
"I've been drinking, I've been drinking..."
Kanye West & Kim Kardashian
“She gave me everything," Kanye said of Kim in 2013. "She gave me a family. She gave me a support system. She was in a powerful enough situation where she could love me without asking me for money, which is really hard for me to find."
.@KimKardashian woke up to an orchestra in her living room from @kanyewest today #HappyMothersDay pic.twitter.com/MQrI8BiM3t
Alicia Keys & Swizz Beatz
Alicia and Swizz got married in 2010 on the French isle of Corsica. They are supportive of their 5-year-old son Egypt's fledgling music career.
“[Alicia is] just a natural mom,” Swizz told People. “She even surprised my mom, who wanted to give her tips but was like, ‘What tips can I give her?! She’s already ahead of the game.'”
Ice-T & CoCo
Ice-T is so enamored with CoCo that their E! reality show was called "Ice Loves CoCo." Last November, after 13 years together, they welcomed their first child, Chanel Nicole.
"We’re not breaking up. It’s not part of the plan," Ice-T told CeleBuzz. "We talk a lot, we got great communication and I think that you gotta stay on the same team. I think a lot of times, celebrity life, both people have careers and they kind of create two teams that potentially work against each other, you gotta stay on the same team. We don’t fight, we don’t argue. That’s not really how our operation runs."
John Legend & Chrissy Teigen
Legend and Teigen met in 2007, wed in 2013 in Italy and welcomed baby Luna in 2016.
"I'm with someone who is totally secure in himself," Teigen told Cosmo in 2014. "He's not trying to be anything other than what he is. The confidence he has brings it to me. We're by no means freaky-deaky, but let's just say we're open to things. We're very okay with PDA. When we go to a restaurant, he loves when I wear a dress so he can do some upper-thigh rubbing. I would love to see more husbands and wives making out!"
Paul and Crystal Wall
Paul Wall (IG handle @paulwalbaby) and his wife Crystal (IG handle @cryswalbaby) have been together since 2005. In an interview with Vlad TV, Paul spoke on the racism they deal with as an interracial couple. “We were taught to love one another," he said. "We were forced to love one another, and we were shown the different cultures so we could coexist, respect and love each other.”