From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
1. Master P
Percy Miller aka Master P was raised in poverty at the Calliope Housing Projects in New Orleans, LA.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
2. Metta World Peace
Ron Artis aka Metta World Peace spent his youth at the Queensbridge Houses located in Long Island City, Queens.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
3. Whoopi Goldberg
Karyn Johnson aka Whoopi Goldberg spent the first 19 years of her life in the Chelsea Houses.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
4. Mos Def
Mos Def grew up in the Eleanor Roosevelt Houses in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn neighborhood.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
5. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah spent her early childhood living with her grandmother on a farm in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She is now worth a reported $2B.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
6. Tyler Perry
Tyler spent most of his early days as a playwright living in his car in New Orleans, LA.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
7. P Diddy
Sean Combs may be wealthy now but things weren’t always so easy. He was raised in a public housing project in Harlem.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
8. Bill Cosby
As a child, Cosby lived in Richard Allen Homes housing project. Many of the characters in Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids were modeled after people he knew.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
9. Chris Rock
Comedian Chris Rock was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is in Brooklyn, New York.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
10. Paul McCartney
McCartney was born in Liverpool, England and his family lived in the Council Houses, the British version of public housing.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
11. Wesley Snipes
Snipes grew up in the housing projects named Monroe Houses in the Bronx.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
12. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
In 1950, he and his family moved from a shared apartment in Harlem to the Dyckman Houses in Inwood (considered a step up). There he spent his childhood in Building 3 on the fifth floor.
From the Projects to a Penthouse was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
