Who is Peter Pankey?
American rapper Peter Pankey Sr., perhaps known better by his stage name Peter Gunz, was born in The Bronx, New York City USA, on 6 January 1969, under the zodiac sign of Capricorn. He’s probably still known best for his and Lord Tariq’s hip hop duo, especially for their 1997 song “Déjà Vu (Uptown Baby)”, which peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Education and early life
Peter was raised in New York City, but hasn’t shared many details about his parents or the siblings whom he might have; it’s believed that he has two brothers and a sister, and that the family was rather poor while he was growing up. It’s also rumored that Peter’s father spent a lot of time behind bars, but this hasn’t been addressed by the rapper.
Peter became interested in rapping while attending a local high school, often performing for his friends; he was 17 when he performed at a club for the first time, but failed to gain any attention in the following couple of years.
Peter matriculated in 1987 and then worked various jobs for the following a couple of years, trying to financially support himself while pursuing his music career.
Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz
The two rappers began collaborating in 1996, and chose The Gunrunners as their duo’s name; they were featured in the song “Can’t Get Enough” by Whodini, which appeared on his 1996 debut album “Six”. They also helped write two of Whodini’s other songs, and these helped them become noticed by famous American former professional basketball player and former rapper Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal, who invited The Gunrunners to collaborate with him on his third studio album “You Can’t Stop the Reign”, released in 1996, and his fourth album “Respect”, which came out in 1998.
The two men then also worked on the 1998 song “Analyze This” by Nas and Jay-Z.
It was in December 1997 that The Gunrunners released their first song “Déjà Vu (Uptown Baby)”, which, other than charting on Billboard Hot 100, also peaked at #21 on the UK Singles Chart, and #1 on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart. The song was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for having sold over a million copies.
Peter and Lord Tariq’s only album, “Make It Reign” was released on 2 June 1998, and reached #8 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and #38 on the Billboard 200 chart, however, even though quite popular, the album failed to produce hits.
Peter and Lord Tariq went their separate ways in 1999.
Later career
Peter turned to TV following the split, and went on to become both an actor and a TV personality; he continued pursuing rap music in the first half of the 2000s, and was even featured in Lord Tariq’s 2005 album “The Barcode”, but eventually decided to leave rap behind him.
In 2008, Peter was featured in the documentary video “Big Pun: The Legacy”, and in 2010 in the series “Funk Flex Full Throttle”. From 2013 to 2015, Peter starred in the reality show “Love & Hip Hop: Check Yourself”, and was then cast to appear in the 2016 episode “Matrimony” of the reality show “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood”.
From 2013 to 2020, Peter starred in the reality show “Love and Hip Hop: New York”, alongside Yandy Smith-Harris and Rich Dollaz, which follows the lives of several women and their boyfriends/husbands as they’re trying to succeed in New York City.
Tomorrow pull up eat drink smoke and watch the show wit ya boy!! Dallas Daddys Home @ Dallas, Texas https://t.co/sr67SgqwKE
— Peter Gunz (@IamPeterGunz) November 8, 2022
Peter’s acting career was launched in 2019, when he was cast to play Fight Referee in the action thriller “The Fearless Two”, directed by Jamal Hall, and which starred Alonzo Herran JR, Patricia Alves and Ekow Yankey; it follows Kimberly and Cody who are steadily rebuilding their lives, while Cody’s being tempted to return to boxing. Also in 2019, Peter appeared in the crime movie “Time Matters”.
The year 2021 saw him play Ricky in the drama movie “Asbury Park”, written and directed by Legend, and which starred Glenn Plummer, Felicia Pearson and Fredro Starr. It follows four young men living in the rough neighborhood of Asbury Park.
Peter’s since appeared only in the 2021 series “Finding Chrissy”; he’s recently finished shooting for the upcoming movie “Why Women Trip”, while he’s currently shooting for the podcast series “Behind the Smoke with Shawn Pen”.
Love life and wife
Peter and American actress and etiquette coach Tara Wallace were in a relationship sometime in the ‘80s, however, he eventually began cheating on her with German R&B singer Aminata ‘Amina’ Schmahl, who’s probably best known for being one half of the R&B duo Black Buddafly, with the other half being her sister Safletou ‘Jazz’ Schmahl.
Peter went on to marry Amina, but then began cheating on her with his former girlfriend Tara; Amina eventually learned about this, as well as that Peter had cheated on her with various other women, but she still chose not to divorce him.
Peter has nine children with an undisclosed number of women, and amongst these is his son Peter Cory Pankey, Jr. who was born in 1987, and is today also a rapper, signed to Young Money Entertainment, and goes by the name Cory Gunz.
Peter’s married to Amina Schmahl as of October 2022, and has nine children with various women.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=951984495620430
Interesting facts and hobbies
Peter’s quite popular on Instagram, and there are nearly 900,000 people following him on the social media network today; he’s uploaded over 5,000 pictures and videos onto his account, most of which feature him spending time with his friends and family members.
He loves to smoke Cuban cigarettes.
Peter’s a fan of tattoos, and both his arms are nearly entirely inked.
He’s featured his pet dog in some of his Instagram videos.
Peter occasionally works out at a local gym in New York City; he was a lot more active in his 20s and 30s, when he worked out nearly every day.
He enjoys watching Hollywood movies starring his favorite actor Eddie Murphy, and some of his favorites are “Coming to America”, “The Nutty Professor” and “Beverly Hills Cop”.
Height, eyes and wealth
Peter’s age is 53. He’s bald, has brown eyes, his height is 5ft 10ins (1.79m) and his weight is around 190lbs (86kgs).
Peter’s net worth’s been estimated at over $500,000, as of October 2022.
