Source: Art By Otherworld Rio
Willie “Ray J” Norwood is an undisputed hall of famer when it comes to Reality TV. After first bursting onto the scene courtesy of THAT tape with THAT Kardashian, Brandy’s brother has carved out his own lane of reality TV fame.
Ray J’s first (official) intro to reality TV fame came when VH1 gave us that hilarious “Flavor of Love” spinoff, “For The Love of Ray J” where we learned just how ridiculous Ray’s personality was. He sorted through girls with wild nicknames like Unique, Cocktail, and Danger (who smashed the homie) for two seasons of pure reality TV gold.
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“I didn’t have a haircut, fam! That was an old beanie from my mom’s garage that I just grabbed.”
That was short lived however and he moved on to “Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business.” Remember that? It was on that show that Ray was profiled with his big sis Brandy, his mother Sonja Norwood and father Willie.
He’s since moved on to ”Love & Hip Hop Hollywood” where he settled down from his playboy ways with a red wine tossing Princess Love. Now done being a ladies man and officially a seasoned reality TV star, we saw Ray morph into the season’s resident Karlie Redd by spreading gossip and messy Auntily getting people like Safaree to spill their own secrets. Things apparently got so juicy during that secret-spilling with Safaree that during LHHH season 5 Ray continuously shifted his hat in awe and a memorable meme for the ages was born.
According to Ray J, he had NO IDEA that this moment would explode into the #RayJHatChallenge and he laughed it off saying that his hat was “stressed” trying to stain his head.
“My hat and my head was trying to connect, right?” said Ray J who admitted that the scene took over 90 minutes to record. “This hat had a mind of its own,” he said. “I gotta go talk to the hat.”

He later added on “The Breakfast Club” that he was wearing the hat because he felt “insecure” that day—and the drama with Safaree only made things worse.
“I didn’t have a haircut, fam! That was an old beanie from my mom’s garage that I just grabbed. It’s easy [to use] to kinda massage your mind. And then I got this stress/bald spot that came out of nowhere. I do the bald fade, but when the hair grows back a little bit you can see it. So my stress spot was exposed and I felt insecure that day. Things were happening. Safaree was not telling me what I needed to know. It took a minute.”
Welcome to the hall of fame, Ray J! Hang your hat (continuously shape-shifting) hat by the door.
Source: Creative Services / Getty
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