At age 10, West moved to Madison, WI along with his mother and younger sister in order to escape Chicago’s violent streets and disparities. He attended Madison West High School, where he excelled in his studies as well as basketball, an important hobby that West believes kept him motivated as a teenager and out of Madison’s south side streets. Unfortunately, basketball couldn’t take him as far as he wanted to go. After graduating in 1999, West didn’t attend college. Instead, illegal activity landed him four years on probation. But as a way to fulfill his court-ordered requirements, West gave going to college a second thought. He decided to attend junior college at UW-Manitowoc in Manitowoc, WI for two years, but later moved to Orlando, Fl in 2003 to accompany best friend and NBA player, Reese Gaines. West also resided in Houston, TX for a year as well as Milwaukee. But through it all, he constantly battled with following a straight path. West spent four months in the Milwaukee County Jail between April and August 2006. Now, back in Madison, he makes an honest living at a local restaurant where he works as a cook. Yet in every moment of spare time, West is in the lab doing what he knows best. After writing and performing for nearly 10 years now, West says music has always been the outlet through his struggles.
In 1998, he was a part of a duo group, T-N-T, with local artist Terrance Monroe. The two recorded over one hundred songs and released one album in 2002 titled The Chronicles of T-N-T. Then, from 2003 to 2005, T-N-T released three mixtapes titled Take Over Volumes I and II along with Roll Up Music. In 2006, West started his own label Monsta Click Entertainment (M.C.E.) after an unexpected split with Monroe. He released, Local Celeb, his first solo album, on April 6, 2006, which successively sold over 500 copies locally due to the blazin metaphorical lyrics of his first artist Jeremiah Farland a.k.a. J-ROC.West’s music is for all ages and ethnicities. His songs reflect his lessons learned, through savvy wordplay and memorable hooks. In addition, West’s phenomenal delivery and stage presence keeps him booked across Madison in almost every nightclub and bar from downtown’s King Club to the eastside’s Barrymore Theatre. Indeed, West is a local celebrity. Having done 50 shows thus far including an opening for mainstream artist, Remy Martin, he has undoubtedly established the name Bad Luck Booda.