Growing up in Syracuse, New York and Atlanta, Georgia taught me three identity shaping values, that in turn have become the main pillars of my character. Number one, the positivity offset. Making light out of a situations where others see the glass half empty, shaped me as a young man. While everyone around me seemed to subject themselves to the darkness of life, I knew that positivity and optimism would get me in the mindset to not only escape the cyclical nature of settling with a life of...
Growing up in Syracuse, New York and Atlanta, Georgia taught me three identity shaping values, that in turn have become the main pillars of my character. Number one, the positivity offset. Making light out of a situations where others see the glass half empty, shaped me as a young man. While everyone around me seemed to subject themselves to the darkness of life, I knew that positivity and optimism would get me in the mindset to not only escape the cyclical nature of settling with a life of mediocracy and normality at best, but it would be the catalyst that would enable me me soar beyond any expectations that people had set for me. Once you realize that you are the creator of your own reality and shut out everyone else’s opinion or judgment, your life will change. Thinking “too big” simply does not exist.
Number two, understanding that you simply cannot loose if you bet on yourself. Between all of the discrimination and even violence that I've had to face and swallow, the 5 mile daily walk to the bus stop in the cold streets, being homeless in Atlanta and so much more, I began to loose my connection with the men and women around me. Compassion and empathy was looked down on and being “cut throat” was admired in my culture. This is why I spent 7 years of my life putting a smile on kid’s faces while working at the YMCA as a young man. I admired the children’s innocence, their ability to never judge someone and their honesty. Three traits that most adults around me lacked. Lastly, being able to internalize the concept of time. Time is all we have, but time is created by man and therefore does not even exist. This is something that I will often speak about in my lyrics and is tied into my way of life. Tomorrow is never promised, and I'm overly thankful for each and every day. I praise God when I wake up in the morning, that my eyes allow to see and I am able to take in another breath of that fresh San Diego air. With this mindset, I've understood that you cannot loose in life. In the rap industry, so many new artists are fixated on the number of diamonds in their chain, the number of women they have slept with. All I care about is being able to see another day. So there; the positivity offset, betting on yourself, and being a conscious individual who is not asleep to just how precious life really is.
So where does hip hop play into this? I’ve been rapping for 18 years. When I was years old, my dad put me on a stage at the neighborhood block party and told me “entertain them” At 7, I barely even knew what the word “entertain” meant. But I fearlessly took the stage and started beatboxing and dancing. At 7 years old I was able to feed off of other peoples energy. Seeing a few smiles in the audience was one of the best feelings I had ever felt, and it is no different to this day. I live to make people laugh and be themselves. At a very young age, I knew I wanted to be an artist. Even though I knew how to rhyme well by age 10, that simply was wasn’t enough. I adopted skills that would push me to the next level by listening to what people were saying. The critics, the fans and everyone in-between.
As I got older the road got only got tougher. I found myself at college in my third year with no more money to continue the path of higher education. However it wasn’t a total disappointment because durning the journey I met a beautiful girl named Nailah. I was home with no degree bouncing from job to job, but never did I let go of the magic of music. It never was enough no matter how hard I worked. No one believed in my music as much as I did. With no monetary I was homeless. I knew manifesting a dream of such magnitude would take some sacrifice, but not everything. I lost friends family and my home to find that bright light stage.
So Nai and I packed up what we had left and moved to San Diego California. Living off of food stamps I searched for a job so that I could get a car to continue my Uber career. It took three years of struggle and pain to get one, but once I did I freestyled my way to a 4.9 Uber rating.
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