Whatever Happened To Chanel West Coast

With her bubbly, infectious laugh and fun-loving personality, Chelsea Chanel Dudley (best known by her stage name Chanel West Coast) made a name for herself on MTV's hit reality show "Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory." Chanel always knew that she wanted to break into the entertainment industry. Growing up, her father worked as a DJ in New York City, and when he performed at nightclubs, he let her tag along. She also took singing and dancing lessons, and eventually, her love for Tupac Shakur inspired her to chase her dream of becoming a rapper. However, her big break finally arrived when she became friends with Dyrdek and was subsequently invited to be a part of the "Fantasy Factory" cast.

Although rapping was always her dream, she took a chance and accepted the offer, hoping that working with MTV would help her rap career in the long run. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have panned out that way. Chanel has been off the radar for a few years now. Here's why her dreams of a successful rap career never quite worked out how she envisioned, and what she's been up to in the meantime.

So, after "Fantasy Factory" ended, what did Chanel start working on? She's still very passionate about rapping, but now, she's primarily known for appearing as a co-host on Dyrdek's latest show, "Ridiculousness." "Ridiculousness" began airing while "Fantasy Factory" was still filming new seasons — the first episode of the show premiered back in 2011 — and Chanel has been working on it ever since. "Ridiculousness" is basically what happens when "America's Funniest Home Videos" meets "Tosh.0"; the hosts showcase the internet's wildest home videos to get the audience laughing and cringing.

In some ways, agreeing to work with Dyrdek back in 2008 was a good move for Chanel. The decision guaranteed years of steady work and publicity with MTV. It definitely put her in the spotlight for the first time. However, it also sent her down a career track that still hasn't brought her to her original goal, and it seems like she might be in too deep by now to change it up.

Chanel has definitely put her music career on the backburner for several years. That could be because of her commitments to reality shows, conflicts with her label, the turmoil caused by a bankruptcy filing, or maybe a combination of all of it. Either way, her long-awaited debut album took years to materialize. Chanel West Coast released a slew of recordings in 2014, the same year her album was expected. Unfortunately for folks in the mid-2010s, Chanel West Coast's debut full-length didn't actually become available to the public for more than six years. Her fans had to make do with her second mixtape, "Waves," in 2015, with artists YG and B-real. 

In October 2020 — a relative eternity after 2014 in the rapidly evolving world of hip hop – Chanel West Coast's first ever full-length album, "America's Sweetheart," finally became available for public consumption. The magnitude of the moment was not lost on the musician. "It's an oxymoron and contradicts the perception that many have of me," the rapper said of the title in a press release. "I have flaws. I've made mistakes. I've benefited from white privilege. I've had second chances in life that, unfortunately, many people have not received."

Chanel West Coast promised to donate proceeds from the sales of "America's Sweetheart" to the criminal justice reform charity REFORM Alliance, co-founded by rapper Meek Mill. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much in the way of proceeds from the record — it sold poorly, peaking at #37 on the iTunes album chart.

No matter what industry a woman is trying to break into, she will usually face some additional challenges that men just don't have to put up with. As more and more women in Hollywood open up to the press about the discrimination they have dealt with over the years, it has become clearer than ever to the public that regardless of how far women have come, there is still lots of progress to be made.

Chanel has spoken up about the fact that her gender has held her back in the male-dominated world of hip hop. She says that women in hip hop are encouraged to be catty and competitive instead of supportive and cooperative, and she also believes that there seems to be more space for successful male rappers and hip hop artists, while labels only want to promote a select few women. 

When asked if she thought that being a white rapper had affected her success at all, she said that her gender had presented more obstacles. "It's hard being a woman in the hip-hop game, but I'm lucky to have good people around me who have had my back," Chanel told TooFab. "It's actually less about race and more about being a woman."

Chanel has gotten herself into a few public altercations with other rappers, which may have tarnished her reputation in some circles. When Charlamagne tha God revealed that he thought she was a "wack rapper" while appearing on "Ridiculousness," Chanel couldn't help but defend herself and fire back with a few choice words of her own. Although she claims that things calmed down within a few minutes, Chanel doesn't regret standing up to Charlamagne, even if it came across as scandalous. "The last thing I was gonna do was let somebody call me a wack rapper and not use that time right there to state the facts and set things straight," Chanel told TooFab.

There were also some rumors flying around about Chanel getting into a spat with Nicki Minaj, who seems like one of the last rappers you would want to feud with. However, Chanel defended both of them by saying that their disagreements were completely blown out of proportion by the media.

Some future projects that Chanel has promised to bring to the small screen just haven't happened. Chanel revealed that she was working on a docuseries with MTV back in July 2018. "My music career is really hectic, and that is what I'm always doing," Chanel told TV Insider. "So, we're going to have a series about that really soon. I can't say where it's going to be yet, but that's what I'm working on." She said that she wanted her fans to know what she was working on when she wasn't on "Ridiculousness."

However, plenty of time has passed since she first mentioned this series, and so far, there have been no new updates on it. A series like this might have boosted some interest in her life outside the world of reality TV, but as of right now, it is unknown as to whether or not it will actually air.

Chanel was originally signed to Lil Wayne's record label Young Money Entertainment in 2012. It was definitely a promising turn of events for Chanel, who was excited that she was about to get the opportunity to work with so many talented artists who were getting tons of radio play and winning countless awards. Initially, it seemed like just getting signed to Young Money would be her ticket to success, but unfortunately, she didn't feel welcomed into the Young Money family.

Chanel says that she was often seated separately from the other Young Money artists at important events, and she never even got ahold of Lil Wayne's phone number. Although Lil Wayne was always complimentary towards her in public, it seemed like Chanel wasn't really feeling the love. In fact, Chanel told LA Weekly that she "felt like the red-headed stepchild of Young Money." But who knows what the future holds? Perhaps Chanel still has the shot at stardom that she always dreamed about.

Her ascent as a rapper has at times been messy, drawn-out, and arduous. After all, the music industry is not known for being an easy or simple place to succeed. On the bright side, Chanel West Coast's personal life seems to be coming together quite nicely. In 2022, according to People, she publicly revealed she was dating model Dom Fenison. A few months later, in June 2022, Chanel and Fenison arrived at the MTV Movie and TV Awards: Unscripted together, where the rapper used the red carpet to show off her burgeoning baby bump. "I'm really excited for this next journey in my life. It's probably my scariest journey yet, but sometimes the scary roads lead to the best endings," the rapper told E! News.

A few weeks later, on Father's Day 2022, Chanel West Coast announced the big gender reveal moment via slo-mo Instagram video; she and Fenison were expecting a baby girl.