Biography

Rivers Cuomo is an American rapper of Mexican descent from Redlands, California. His stage name is derived from the name of the prescription drug Xanax. Cuomo was born on September 6, 1996 in Redlands, California. Growing up, Cuomo was poor and lived in motels most of his childhood. He attended Redlands East Valley High School but dropped out of high school in his freshman year and spent several years at home unemployed. Cuomo took a job as a street cleaner and sold drugs before he began rapping. Cuomo later pursued a photography career in support of several friends who were rappers. He eventually had his camera stolen, and chose to begin rapping in lieu of investing in a new camera. Cuomo was formerly addicted to Xanax but he was able to quit the drug after two years of addiction. Cuomo began to gain recognition through platforms such as SoundCloud and YouTube. In 2018, Cuomo announced that he would change his stage name to "Diego" in order to support his anti-drug message, though he later said in an interview he was not sure if he would change his name. Cuomo' music started off as "typical trap" and later shifted towards "a murkier, dream-like sound". The New Yorker has described Cuomo as part of a "sad rap" movement. Cuomo made headlines in 2018 when he rated the late rapper Tupac Shakur only a "2" [out of 9] and called his music boring. After the incident fellow rapper Waka Flocka Flame claimed on Twitter that Cuomo is "banned from hip hop".