Adam22
Adam Grandmaison, famously known as Adam22, transformed from a BMX enthusiast into a polarizing but undeniably influential force in online culture and hip-hop media. Through his platform, No Jumper, he became a critical voice for underground artists, shaping tastes and launching careers. Yet, his journey has been anything but conventional, embracing ventures that often push the boundaries of internet celebrity. Adam22's 'No Jumper' evolved from a BMX blog into a powerhouse podcast, becoming a vital platform for discovering and promoting emerging hip-hop talent. His career is a blend of entrepreneurial success and controversy, marked by diverse ventures from clothing lines and music festivals to adult entertainment and cryptocurrency. Despite his impact on pop culture, Adam22 has faced significant criticism and allegations, including those related to sexual misconduct and financial impropriety.
AI Summary
Adam Grandmaison, famously known as Adam22, transformed from a BMX enthusiast into a polarizing but undeniably influential force in online culture and hip-hop media. Through his platform, No Jumper, he became a critical voice for underground artists, shaping tastes and launching careers. Yet, his journey has been anything but conventional, embracing ventures that often push the boundaries of internet celebrity.
- Adam22's 'No Jumper' evolved from a BMX blog into a powerhouse podcast, becoming a vital platform for discovering and promoting emerging hip-hop talent.
- His career is a blend of entrepreneurial success and controversy, marked by diverse ventures from clothing lines and music festivals to adult entertainment and cryptocurrency.
- Despite his impact on pop culture, Adam22 has faced significant criticism and allegations, including those related to sexual misconduct and financial impropriety.
From BMX to Hip-Hop
Adam Grandmaison, known to millions as Adam22, began his journey not in a recording studio, but on a BMX bike. He was deeply immersed in the world of extreme sports, developing a passion that would later inspire his first ventures into online media.
His love for hip-hop music, particularly the raw energy of underground artists, was just as strong. A specific line from Gucci Mane’s 'Bricks'—'I'm ballin' like an athlete but got no jumper'—stuck with him, eventually inspiring the name for what would become his cultural empire: No Jumper.
Building a Brand
In 2006, Adam22 launched 'The Come Up,' a website dedicated to the BMX scene. This laid the groundwork for his entrepreneurial spirit, soon followed by ONSOMESHIT, a BMX biking team and a related clothing line that even boasted a retail store on Los Angeles' famous Melrose Avenue.
The Birth of No Jumper
The 'No Jumper' name first appeared as a blog on Tumblr, originally financed by Grandmaison. It quickly distinguished itself by championing nascent talents in underground hip-hop, offering a critical eye to artists like SpaceGhostPurrp and Clams Casino, and even reviewing obscure Gucci Mane mixtapes with serious attention.
Podcasting Powerhouse
The true breakthrough came in 2015 when Adam22 revived No Jumper as a YouTube podcast. While it initially explored his BMX life, a pivotal interview with underground Memphis rapper Xavier Wulf went viral, shifting his focus dramatically towards interviewing figures across the hip-hop landscape.
No Jumper quickly became a recognized platform for both burgeoning and established rap artists. Adam22 has famously interviewed a who's-who of hip-hop talent, including Lil Yachty, Lil Peep, Juice Wrld, and Young Thug.
Perhaps most notably, his April 2016 interview with XXXTentacion — the Florida rapper's first official professional interview — garnered over 21 million views, significantly boosting the artist's exposure to a wider audience.
The podcast's reach soon expanded beyond hip-hop, drawing in a diverse array of guests from livestreamers and music executives to actors, fashion designers, and even other YouTubers like KSI. This cemented No Jumper's status as a broad cultural touchstone.
Recognizing his influence, Rolling Stone once dubbed Adam22 'underground hip-hop's major tastemaker' and 'an advance scout searching for combustible new talent.' The New York Times even humorously described No Jumper as 'The Paris Review for the face-tattoo set.'
By June 2024, the No Jumper YouTube channel had amassed over 4.7 million subscribers and a staggering 1.7 billion total video views, a testament to its enduring popularity and cultural impact.
Beyond the Mic
Adam22's ventures extended beyond digital content. In 2017, he hosted the inaugural Trap Circus music festival in Miami, showcasing his ability to translate online influence into real-world events.
He also found himself at the center of public attention during sensitive moments, such as organizing a memorial for XXXTentacion outside his ONSOMESHIT store in 2018. This spontaneous gathering, initially attended by hundreds, grew to over a thousand people before police intervened to disperse the crowd.
Controversies and Challenges
Adam22's career has not been without its share of controversies. During the 2022 trial of rapper Tory Lanez, No Jumper's news coverage was criticized for an 'overeagerness to share unverified information,' including a false claim on Twitter that Lanez was found not guilty, a day before his actual conviction on multiple felony charges.
In April 2025, Adam22 announced significant financial troubles for No Jumper, including layoffs and the closure of their retail store. He attributed these losses, in part, to their Instagram account being taken down and a lawsuit from former employees.
Adult Entertainment and New Frontiers
Beginning in 2017, Adam22 ventured into the adult entertainment industry alongside his partner, Lena Nersesian, known professionally as Lena the Plug. Their initial sex tape, released for free in 2019 in collaboration with Pornhub as 'Podcast Smash,' was a reference to his No Jumper podcast.
In 2021, the couple launched 'Plug Talk,' a new podcast focused on interviewing adult film stars and engaging in explicit content with them on OnlyFans, further blurring the lines between their personal lives and public personas.
Crypto and Boxing
A February 2025 cryptocurrency venture saw Adam22 release a meme coin on the Solana blockchain. It quickly surged from a $500k to a $4 million market cap within hours, before insiders allegedly 'dumped' their shares, causing the coin to crash dramatically to $100k.
Crypto journalist Coffeezilla, known for exposing scams, labeled the incident a 'pump and dump' and presented screenshots suggesting Adam22 knowingly defrauded his fans. Though Adam22 expressed disappointment with the outcome, the controversy led to the deletion of his promotional posts.
In a surprising move on January 23, 2026, Adam22 made his boxing debut against adult film star Jason Luv, fueled by a personal feud. The fight, lasting only 73 seconds, ended with Luv winning by TKO in the first round after Adam22 was knocked down twice.
Serious Allegations
In 2018, Adam22 faced accusations of sexual and physical assault from two women, which he denied. In response, Atlantic Records chose to sever ties with him, highlighting the serious nature of the claims.
These allegations resurfaced and expanded in a June 2023 Rolling Stone exposé, where multiple women and girls, some as young as 16, accused him of sexual assault, abuse, and coercion, including pressure to film pornographic content. Adam22 again denied all allegations.
Personal Life
Adam Grandmaison is married to internet personality and adult film actress Lena Nersesian, known as Lena the Plug. The couple welcomed their daughter into the world on November 14, 2020. Adam22 openly identifies as an atheist.
Article
Adam22
Adam Grandmaison (born November 24, 1983), more commonly known as Adam22, is an American podcaster and YouTuber. He is the creator and host of the hip-hop culture-oriented podcast No Jumper. In 2017, Rolling Stone described him as "underground hip-hop's major tastemaker".
Early life
Adam22
Grandmaison became a BMX rider at a young age and enjoyed hip-hop music, including Gucci Mane's hit "Bricks" that includes the line, "I'm ballin' like an athlete but got no jumper." This inspired the name No Jumper for his future blog and podcast.
Career
2006–2011: The Come Up and ONSOMESHIT
In 2006, Grandmaison started the BMX website The Come Up. Later, he created ONSOMESHIT, a BMX biking team and BMX-based clothing line which at one point had a retail store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
2011–present: No Jumper
No Jumper was originally a blog on Tumblr created by George Potter. The blog, which was financed by Grandmaison, showed early interest in underground artists such as SpaceGhostPurrp and Clams Casino, and reviewed obscure Gucci Mane mixtapes, treating the underground with "critical attention".
Revived in 2015, Grandmaison's No Jumper podcast, hosted on YouTube, focuses on interviews with rap artists and pop culture tastemakers. As of August 2023, the channel has about 1.6 billion video views. It originally started as a BMX podcast with vlogs dedicated to Grandmaison's life running ONSOMESHIT's retail store. His interview of Memphis underground rapper Xavier Wulf soon turned viral within hip-hop communities, sparking Grandmaison's newfound interest in interviewing known figures within both underground and mainstream hip-hop.
Grandmaison, through his No Jumper podcast, has been noted for interviewing up-and-coming talent as well as established rappers. He has interviewed artists including Lil Yachty, Lil Peep, Pouya, Juice Wrld, Suicideboys, Young Thug, 6ix9ine and most famously XXXTentacion in April 2016; the latter interview has received over 21 million views as of 2023. This was the Florida rapper's first official professional interview, and it has been credited with giving him exposure to a wide audience.
In addition to underground and established rappers, Grandmaison through his No Jumper channel has expanded to interview a variety of artists and pop culture-oriented guests, of different careers and backgrounds including livestreamers, music executives, actors, YouTubers, music critics, and fashion designers. Notable people interviewed include Anthony Fantano, KSI, Riley Reid, "Sugar" Sean O'Malley, Aaron Carter, and Charlamagne tha God.
Rolling Stone described him as "underground hip-hop's major tastemaker" and "an advance scout searching for combustible new talent."
The No Jumper YouTube channel had over 4.7 million subscribers and about 1.7 billion total views as of June 2024. Jon Caramanica of the New York Times described No Jumper as "The Paris Review for the face-tattoo set".
Grandmaison hosted the inaugural Trap Circus music festival in Miami, Florida, in 2017.
On June 20, 2018, Grandmaison held a memorial event for rapper XXXTentacion, who had been murdered in Florida two days prior, in front of his ONSOMESHIT store in Los Angeles, with a crowd of about 300 people. The crowd soon grew to over 1,000, and police in riot gear eventually appeared in response. According to reports, rubber bullets were shot and tear gas was used to disperse the crowd.
Grandmaison was one of the promoters for YouTube personality FouseyTube's event "Hate Dies, Love Arrives", which was shut down via a bomb threat which left 1,500 people evacuated. Shortly after the event, while Grandmaison interviewed Shane Dawson, mid-interview, FouseyTube, Keemstar, Sam Pepper and Ice Poseidon interrupted, causing the interview to go viral.
During the 2022 trial of rapper Tory Lanez for his 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion, No Jumper's news coverage of the event was stated to have promoted "an overeagerness to share unverified information". On December 22, 2022, the podcast's Twitter account falsely claimed that Lanez had been found not guilty on all charges. The following day, Lanez was convicted by the jury on three felony charges in respect to the shooting: assault with a semiautomatic handgun, having a loaded and unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and gross negligence in discharging his firearm.
In April 2025, Grandmaison announced that No Jumper was going broke and that they were laying off employees and closing their retail store in Los Angeles. It was also announced that they were selling their warehouse and relocating to a smaller workspace. Grandmaison additionally explained that two of the major reasons for the financial losses was their Instagram account being taken down and a lawsuit filed against the company by two former employees.
2017–present: Pornography and other ventures
Grandmaison began debuting in personalized pornographic films alongside his partner Lena Nersesian (known professionally as "Lena the Plug") for the website OnlyFans in 2017, uploading a 2-minute and 16-second video to YouTube announcing a sex tape starring the two of them, to be released once his girlfriend was to reach 1 million subscribers.
In December 2019, the film was announced to be a professional pornographic film and was released for free in collaboration with Pornhub titled "Podcast Smash". The title is a reference to Adam22's No Jumper podcast and stars him and his partner Lena the Plug.
Grandmaison, along with his fiancée Lena, announced a new podcast in November 2021 titled Plug Talk, which focuses on interviewing pornographic film stars on OnlyFans and having intercourse with them afterward. It premiered November 16, 2021, with guest Adriana Chechik.
In February 2025, Grandmaison released a crypto meme coin on the Solana blockchain. He announced the coin on Twitter 30 minutes after it was deployed. Within hours, the coin grew from a $500k market cap to a $4 million market cap. At which point, insiders dumped their shares and the coin crashed to a $100k market cap. Grandmaison subsequently deleted his posts promoting the coin on social media. Coffeezilla, a crypto journalist who is primarily known for investigating and exposing crypto scams, referred to the coin as a pump and dump scam. He also released screenshots of text messages with Grandmaison that show that Grandmaison "knowingly" scammed his fans. In the aftermath of the controversy over his crypto coin, Grandmaison made a tweet where he expressed displeasure with how his meme coin ended up and asked for feedback from fans about what he could do to make his next meme coin better.
On January 23, 2026, Grandmaison made his boxing debut against pornographic film star Jason Luv, who has performed two unsimulated sex scenes with Grandmaison's wife Lena the Plug. Grandmaison developed a feud with Luv after Luv made comments about sexually performing better with Lena than Grandmaison. The fight lasted only 73 seconds, with Luv winning by TKO in the first round after dropping Grandmaison twice and Grandmaison stayed down for the 10 count after the second knockdown.
Sexual misconduct allegations
Adam22
In 2018, Grandmaison was accused of sexual and physical assault by two women. Though he denied these accusations, Atlantic Records severed its relationship with him.
On June 1, 2023, Rolling Stone published an exposé revealing multiple women and girls—the youngest aged 16 years old—who accused Grandmaison of sexual assault, abuse, and coercion, including pressuring them to film pornographic content with him and his wife, Lena. The article cited a blog entry by Grandmaison writing about one of his alleged victims: "She was 16, but come on man, look at her. She's 18 or 19 in most of the pics here but she didn't look much different at all then. If statutory rape is wrong I didn't wanna be right." Grandmaison denied the allegations.
Personal life
Adam22
Grandmaison is married to vlogger, internet personality and pornographic film actress Lena Nersesian (Lena the Plug). On Valentine's Day of 2020, the two announced that they were expecting their first child together. Their daughter was born on November 14.
Grandmaison identifies as an atheist.
Discography
Singles
<table><thead><tr><th>Title</th><th>Year</th><th>Peak chart positions</th><th>Album</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>US Bub.</td><td>US R&B/HH Bub.</td></tr><tr><td>"Hard" (featuring Tay-K and BlocBoy JB)</td><td>2018</td><td>14</td><td>4</td><td>Non-album singles</td></tr><tr><td>"Rivals" (featuring Killy and Smooky MarGielaa)</td><td>—</td><td>—</td></tr></tbody></table>