Supervision (aka Damin Bordenave aka Diamond Eyes), acknowledges the main thing that makes him stand out in the rap scene is his blindness, but he will not be singled out because of it. "I want people understand that Supervision is a true MC and an act who happens to be blind, not a blind MCâ€.
Most people can’t imagine what it is not to see, but for this star in the rough, being blind hasn't been as much of an obstacle as one might assume.
"I’m an artist not just a rapper. With my music, I deliver a wide range of hip-hop. Especially with my live shows. I put a band together and I put hardcore hip-hop with everything from R&B to rock. I want a diverse blend of music. I not only want the thugs to listen, but the young ladies in and fresh out of college, my gangsta girls, and anybody any age that wants to party with me. That’s why I formed the band and we do joints like “clubbin†“Spring†and “Ice Cold†all different joints but now we can play anywhere cats is parting.â€
Supervision is definitely confident regarding his skills. So confident that he had diamonds surgically implanted into his eyes. “I got to be different, every body else put grills on their teeth, I did the same thing I just put’em in my eyes….plus every time I blink it’s a house note and I see money dammnit…†boasts the newcomer who, much to his delight, is becoming known as the air apparent to the likes of Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.
It's been a long journey for Vision. Born June 24, 1977 in the 7th Ward of the St. Bernard Projects in New Orleans, at age 3 he moved to South Central L.A. with his mother and two older brothers. Two years later, young Damin was hit in the eye with a broken bottle during a fight with another youngster; after emergency surgery, he contracted pink eye, and three weeks later, he developed glaucoma. Between the ages of 6 to 8, he traveled back and forth from California to the National Institute Of Health in Maryland for numerous eye operations, but the surgeries were unsuccessful, and eventually he went blind.
"When I lost sight, I could have felt sorry for myself," concedes Vision. "I could have let myself go. But I had brothers who always made sure I was dressing in style and kept me fly. I had people who wouldn't let me down."
His plight caught the attention of a local black leader in Los Angeles, and eventually a documentary film on Damin (featuring Stevie Wonder), actually aired on ABC's 20/20. Perhaps this early introduction to Wonder piqued Damin's musical interest, because by the time he was 12 years old, his alter-ego Supervision was born.
By age 14, Supervision had compiled and released a four-song EP, Blind Styles, and he started battling anywhere he could--participating in the Sprite MC Battle, Source Unsigned Hype MC Battle, and the Rap Sheet Rap Olympics, where he performed with a then-unknown Eminem. All this attention led to his opening for West Side Connection, Too $hort, Mystikal, and Xzibit."When I said I wanted to be a performer, people tried to put me behind a piano," recalls the rapper. But soon he formed his first hip-hop group, B-Force, whose members were fellow students at the Braille Institute. "I was already writing letters to record companies. I remember sending one to Capitol Records with a demo," says the determined Supervision. "I felt like I was going to be a superstar even before losing my sight." Capitol later signed him to the deal he had been dreaming of, however after a couple of regime changes prior to the release of his CD, Vision was once again doing his own thing. This time though with more experience and a since of focus and drive that could be compared to no one!
Now, the enterprising Supervision is not only a rapper but a well rounded act. His company, Vision Intertainment, and Noisi V Music has four mix tapes (Rappin 4 Cheese Vol 1 – 4) and includes more then just music. In addition, Supervision has already ventured into the acting arena: He has a cameo in Denzel Washington’s Training Day, appeared on the Showtime series Soul Food, is scheduled to appear in a new feature film staring new skate-board sensation Paul Rodriguez Jr, and has song placements in: Desperate Housewives, Soul Food (the television series), Johnny Zero, The Shield, The District, 13 the movie, Bad Company the movie, and many more through his ASCAP publishing company “I Vision Publishing.†Additionally He and his band have won 3 installments of the international band competition called Emergenza international band competition, and have played legendary LA clubs like the Gig, and The Whiskey a GoGo.
According to Supervision, he's ready for just about anything: "After 18 years of rocking mix-tapes, parks, beaches, and get-togethers, banging on these doors of the industry and being knocked in the ass so many times, I'm ready to show what I got." Soon he'll have everyone seeing the light.
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