“Money did find us we some real grinders/ broke is contagous so get paper or get behind us!!†-CBlaq- 'Hold it Down'
Chris Lyles (born September 23,1980) better known as C-Blaq and Blaqboi was born and raised in Columbus, Ga.; just a few miles away from Atlanta Ga, the heart of the south. As a child he was fascinated with music; and like most southerners was brought up in the church where he found the oppurtunity to explore and master musical instruments such as the drums. It was at the young age of 13 that he was introduced to a genre of music that we now know as hip hop. "I was always into music, but when I heard 8ball and MJG ‘Comin out Hard’ that was a turning point in music for me. I felt they were speaking exactly what I was living u know? Something I could actually relate to; being I was in the streets doing things the average teenager will never do." In that early chapter of his life C-Blaq was really into just making beats, so he would use whoever's keyboard or beat machine that he had access to since he couldn't afford his own. "No I've never been poor. I’ve been broke, but never poor. Everything I NEEDED (like a place to stay) I pretty much had growing up. Now WANTS was a different thing!! We struggled jus like every other middle class family. My folks jus knew how to stack bread. Thats the way bills got paid!!" -C-Blaq
After taking high school for granted and barely graduating, he began to take his music more serious. "I stole a Yamaha keyboard and went to work; making all types of beats! U couldn’t tell me nothing"- C-Blaq. He had three friends that were looking into starting a group by the name of ‘Da Crew'. They were interested in C-blaq's beats to put the strenght in there music. He produced some tracks that came out very good which motivated him to make more beats, but it also made him wanna try rap himself. " Ya’ll can blame Tarus T for me rapping the way I do(laughing)! He showed and told me to not jus rap, but to actually say something.. .not to mention AZ and AK were doing they thang too!! It was time for me to see what I could do" - C-Blaq. At the age of 18 he shared a track in which he produced called ‘We Riding Out’ that became a street anthem for many Columbus natives. “Thats all it took..1 song!! Once u hear yourself on a track and others like what u do, that’s enough ammo to keep u doing what u doing." After producing and featuring with ‘Da Crew’ on a few songs, he moved on and joined a group called KFC (Ken Folks Click) where he also produced songs. It was at this point he started to get recognition for his flowing abilities. "Nsane ENT was who we were down with at that time. We were doing shows and opening up for several artist. We were well known around Columbus". After a while, KFC begin to fade away. " We were all just going in different directions in life so we had to fall back with it for a minute; which turned into a while!! I hate it happened like dat though, cuz we were some cold mufuckas!!" By this time BlaqBoi knew exactly what he wanted to do, which was start his own group, so he did just that. "When we use to be on da block, it was a few of my homies dat I use to freestyle with all night after smoking good. I knew we all liked the same type of music, but most importantly I knew we all could spit. I asked them what they wanted to do, and the rest was history. We started with nothing! I mean a karaoke and zoom beat machine, but made that shit sound like Protools!! Well thats what we thought! -C-Blaq" Not having a name in the beginning, they just called themselves BLVD G's, which consisted of C-Blaq, Vo, Fugi, and P Da Don. They instantly became hood legends by releasing over 50 songs in the streets in 2 years!! During this time, one of the members, P Da Don, was shot and is now paralyzed, which forced the rest of the group to continue there mission without a very vocal member. "When P got shot shit just started getting crazy!! We had to keep pushing though cuz the streets was loving us." As they continued they began opening up for different artist like BG, Young Bloods, and others, they realized a lot of people noticed the work they were doing; one person in particular. In the year of 2001, They met and hired a management team and signed to Strong Arm Breakage Firm. They were now known as NP3 (Nature's Problem) and were well on their way to big things. They begin opening shows for TI, Pastor Troy, Ludacris, and Outkast to name a few. That summer they begin working on their first studio album entitled "Flawless" that was never released. "We started working with these guys [SABF]but they were never around! They weren’t paying for studio time like they said they would, which made the people at the studio look at us like we were crazy!! They weren’t promoting or doing anything they said they were gonna do, so we wanted out of the contract. They acted like they didn’t want to let us out[of the contract], so we had to make them wanna let us out! That’s all Ima say about that!! (laughing)"
After being released from SABF, they had to change their name (Tre' Trill) and start over again. By Christmas of '01, Tre' Trill was just about done with their first studio album and decided to drop another street album (2k2) that would be an instant street classic!! " When we dropped that 2k2, we were getting calls from all types of people we had never heard of from all over the US; so our album had to be fire!!" Tre’ Trill dropped their first studio album entitled "Financial Stability" in the summer of 2002 (selling 10,000 copies independent). This made them feel as if they were well on their way. "Finacial Stability was a good album, but we weren't hip to the business part of the game. To keep it 100, we got pimped. The mixing and mastering was horrible and we didn’t get to listen to the FINISHED copy until the cds was pressed and ready to go the stores." Tre Trill continued doing shows all over the southeastern region for the next few years.
In 2005 they were offered another deal from an independent record company that will remain unnamed for personal reasons. " i'm not gonna name the sucker ducks dat fucked us cuz i dont wanna burn bridges plus i keep my enemies closer than I probly should." After signing to this ‘indi’ company for an album deal that didn't come out, they decided to take a break and take care of real life situations. "We had been thru a lot u know; we all had families and they had children to take care of. We had to fall back for a second, but we still together till this day."
After going through the groups and failing to reach his full potential, BlaqBoi decided he would go solo. “I was like fuck it! Ima try it myself, and my doggs supported me 100%" By mid 2006 C-Blaq dropped a mix cd, ‘Come Shop Wit Me II’ that created a big buzz across the southeastern region. "I dropped that mix tape in 2006..I was already moving back and forth from Atlanta to Columbus since high school doing da wrong thangs, so I decided to just make Atlanta my new home..it was the land of opportunity plus it was jus an hour away from da crib." Since dropping that mix cd, BlaqBoi has been featured on many projects from the south to the east and west coast. "If they wanted me to rap on it all they had to do was say the word bruh. It didn’t matter who they was unless I thought they were jus too lame!! (Laughing)" C-Blaq just dropped another mix cd in July of 2008 called 'Southern Gumbo' which is also getting great reviews in the streets. In it's early stages, it caught the attention of a very prestigious record company located in California that will also remain nameless for personal reasons. After offering him what he would call a "bullshit deal" he decided to just go ahead and release the mix cd on his on." I refuse to be pissed on and u tell me its raining! So Southern Gumbo was released soley by C-Blaq himself! I pressed it up and distributed it myself, so I appreciate it more than my other projects. As long as God continue to wake me up in my right mind Ima keep murking beats.. keep your eyes open for Mr 3-2..100." Currently C-blaq is allowing the growing success of his Mix Tape "Southern Gumbo" to take him further.
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