10 years ago I couldn’t tell you I’d be trying to pursue my music career in Hip-Hop, I would’ve told you I’d probably be playing professional basketball in the NBA or playing ball overseas. I guess the harsh realities of growing up in Cleveland OH brought me to my senses after realizing that my basketball career would be put on hold along with my academic probation preventing me to play college ball. But my mama ain’t raise no fool! See no matter what I did in life I had to be successful. I had to finish college and I had to do something positive with my life. I was getting caught up in the street life most males my age were experiencing and I knew I was much better than that! So, what did I do…in April 2000 I joined the Air Force. Me getting away from my old surroundings and daily routines was the best move for me. I got stationed at Langey AFB, VA where I got reaquainted with some of my old past times. You see growing up in Cleveland was different than growing up in let’s say New York. New York is known for their reputation of molding top-notch MC’s, but what about Cleveland? Besides Bone Thugs-n-Harmony we didn’t have anybody else who had that big of an impact on the Hip-Hop culture. But Cleveland has an abundance of quality rappers who never make it out and take it beyond their hometown, so I feel it’s definitely time for someone else to step up and carry the torch for my city. So, that’s where I come in at! Hip-Hop was always a major part of my childhood to early adulthood. It was the way I talked, dressed and the way of life for me, since I can remember sneaking tapes in my room when I was 12 years old. I grew up listening to Slick Rick, N.W.A., WU Tang, DEF Squad, Ghetto Boys, Tupac, Common Sense, NAS, Jay-Z, Biggie, Snoop Dogg, KRS-1, … I’d be here allday naming everybody but just about everybody! I think I get a lil something from all the rappers I listened to, I just personalized it a lil bit. But I first started writing when I was 13 and I was actively freestyling when I was 16. But see back then I never looked at myself as wanting to pursue music like that, it was just an around-the-way thing ya know. I would freestyle in school at lunchtime with a couple of buddies of mine and I started getting noticed more as a rapper and less as a ball-player. I never payed it any attention. Years would go by and I was still trying to pursue basketball…determined. I worked so hard at it I just knew I was going to make it. I failed! I had stop going to classes in my college and I was just throwing my life away slowly but surely. My NBA dreams had vanished forever. I still remember it like it was yesterday. Oneday I was playing one-on-one with my homeboy,”China-Man”, and he said,”You ain’t gonna get in the league(NBA) but you should try the rap game.” You should have seen the expression on my face…I laughed at him right in his face…”Pass the ball scrub!” I never knew I would actually record my first demo 2 years later and start getting recognized as “A Problem” in the rap game out here in VA. Let’s just say 4 years after that I would go on to make 15 more independent albums, 3 dvd’s, 20 various mixtapes hosted by VA’s most renouned DJ’s; countless shows stateside and overseas including popular clubs in some of the biggest cities and in countries like Iceland and Canada and over in the Bahamas; thousands of downloads of my music across the world; featured on over 50 music websites including Itunes, Napster, Sonymusic..etc I’ll just leave it in God’s hands and the rest is fate. That’s why I always say, ‘Never Sleep On Your Dreams’, because sometimes the things that are right up under us are the things that can turn our whole life around, and I believe it! God Bless!
