TikTok Boss rises from poverty to popularity

Over the past two years, TikTok Boss has risen to popularity on the platform with his comedic antics.

But in addition to providing a bellyful of laughs, he has improved his standard of living, noting that at one point, he was homeless.

"Mi used to just see car pon di road and say 'A my car dat' and next ting mi know, mi gather up $400,000 off the app and could buy a Nissan Tiida. Mi achieve tings weh mi never know mi could achieve," said the entertainer, given name Milton Morrison. "One a di time a gas use to take mi up but now mi can buy gas. Mi love mi supporters dem outta this world."

The father of one said his life was not always rosy and he did not always make the right decisions. TikTok Boss spent his early years with his grandmother and other relatives in Southborough, Portmore, St Catherine.

"My grandmother Miss Carmen always had my back even when others weren't but she passed away. My life wasn't the worst, but I go through a lot and mi grandmother always tell mi say if yuh spread yuh bed hard, then yuh ago lay down in it. I grow in a nice home and my people was there for me but I follow friend and company," he said. TikTok Boss told THE STAR that he was expelled from Greater Portmore High School in ninth grade after a series of fights and suspensions.

"From dem time deh mi love money suh mi use to gamble and ting. Then yuh have the younger yute dem who did inna seven grade and because we have a grimy look, dem used to look up to mi as a 'G' and a warrior, suh anything happen to dem they would report to mi and mi would deal with it," he said. He admitted that he began hanging out with the wrong crowd, smoking and drinking as a teenager after his grandfather kicked him out for getting expelled.

"So I was on my own. For about four years, I was living the grimiest set of life. Mi was still in the community, and when time fi sleep, mi would be sleeping in an old car or on the air vent of the house top. Mi sleep on the air vent because the mosquitoes would bite mi in the car but the night dew would beat mi bad," he said.

"Mi never did a work and mi would just get up every day and walk out the scheme a make ends meet. Sometimes mi would go to a elder yard and knock him up and beg him a $200," Morrison added.

He later relocated to Hagley Park Road in St Andrew where he lived with his mother. This comfort was short-lived as the house was sold and Morrison's mother went back to rural Jamaica.

"Mi tell mi self say country life wasn't my life and mi nah go back deh. Mi gone back on the streets again and a inna one container mi gwan live. A bare rat and roach and although mi a man and mi militant, mi fraid a dem tings deh bad. Mi live in the container for about three years. It was a big yard and when mi fi go 'ride di bike' (use the toilet) the owner of the yard would allow mi to use his bathroom," he said.

Despite the hardship, TikTok Boss, 31, said he kept a positive mindset and knew that his burdens would be lifted. He said his father then assisted him by providing a roof over his head and he began working as a labourer. He joined TikTok four years ago, and he was impressed by fellow TikToker Swiss Lee's live posts and how they paid off.

"Bare big gifts mi a see so dat motivate mi. Mi know mi could a do this and mi always make people laugh by being mi self. Mi make a video with mi and mi little daughter and mi get two comments and that motivate mi same way too. Next ting mi know mi get gifts and mi cash out US$20 and mi was so grateful. Mi go back on the live and just express how happy mi was," he said. Among his top gifter is hip-hop superstar Nicki Minaj.

"Honestly, it just show mi say mi is a superstar for real. From Nicki Minaj can acknowledge mi ... it means a lot. I love Nicki Minaj so mi haffi shout out her. Mi grow up a watch Nicki on TV and now she a gift mi. Mi wish mi coulda hug har," TikTok Boss said. He admitted, however, that he has experienced dark times on the platform, and even thought of quitting when fellow TikTokers Niah Gang and Buss Head were killed.

"It was terrible to see [them] lose their lives like that. It shouldn't reach deso because everybody is just there trying to make a dollar. Just imagine yuh on live and just hear 'boom boom' and di man dead. Mi no like that and all a this just based offa bad mind," he said.