Ron Artest was born and raised in the Queensbridge projects in Queens, New York. He has two younger brothers, Isaiah and Daniel. He played high school basketball at La Salle Academy and college basketball at St. John's University from 1997–1999. In 1999, he helped the Red Storm to the Elite Eight, losing to Ohio State in a classic game. He gained fame playing in some of New York City's high profile summer basketball tournaments at Nike Pro City, Hoops in the Sun at Orchard Beach, Bronx, New York and Dyckman Park at Washington Heights, earning himself nicknames such as Tru Warier and The New World Order, a name he received from Randy Cruz (one of the co-founders of the Hoops In The Sun basketball league at Orchard Beach in the Bronx, New York).
As a teenager, he was teamed with Elton Brand of the Philadelphia 76ers and current teammate Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers on the same AAU team.
Growing up in a rough neighborhood, he witnessed the murder of a fellow player on a basketball court. "It was so competitive, they broke a leg from a table and they threw it, it went right through his heart and he died right on the court. So I'm accustomed to playing basketball really rough." The player Artest was speaking of was 19-year-old Lloyd Newton, who was stabbed in the back with a broken-off table leg during an altercation at a 1991 YMCA-sanctioned basketball tournament.
World Peace's and Kimsha Artest (née Hatfield), his ex-wife and "partner" was married for 6 years. Kimsha is a cast member on VH1's reality TV show Basketball Wives: LA. The two have three children together: Sadie, Ron III, and Diamond. Kimsha and World Peace, who was still called Ron Artest at the time, married in June 2003 and divorced in 2009. World Peace has another son, Jeron, with his former high school girlfriend Jennifer Palma. World Peace's daughter, Diamond, also plans to change her surname from Artest to World Peace now that her father's name change has become official.
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