About Me
On February 25th, 1986 the self-proclaimed "Corner Store Entrepreneur" was born in the ruff city's of Manhattan, New York. "It wasn't easy growing up in hell's kitchen" say's Protege "I was surrounded by negative energy, Hustler's, Prostitutes and Dope Fiend's you know...all the garbage that comes with the hood". Even through all the negativity of the ghetto Protege still maintained to have a good childhood. Like any other kid he would smirk at the girls, clown with his boys and play man hunt after the sun came down. He might have been your average kid from New York, but he had something a lot of people his age didn't 'Ambition'. "Im a go-getter" explains Protege "Persistence is one of my great qualities, im not one to take no for an answer, I been like that since I can remember". With a good head on his shoulder's and his unique swagger and confidence, it was clear that he was heading for greatness.It wasn't until he stole his cousin's tape player that he was introduced to music. "I took the tape player to school with me and on my way there I pressed play and the meth and mary joint was playing, after I heard 'Your All I need' I fell in love with hip-hop" Protege remembers "While everyone was playing ball at the gym I would be sitting on a corner writing rhymes, I was never good at sports so I saw this as something I could replace for my lack of athleticism ". After he graduated middle school his mother decided to move out of Hell's Kitchen and go to Union City, New Jersey. It wasn't much of a big change for him, "I consider Jersey to be a sixth boro of New York, im closer to time square then Harlem or the Bronx for that matter" he then adds "As soon as I move to Jersey it wasn't to hard to adjust but I didn't make friends that quickly, so I turned to making music to keep me occupied". By the time he turned 15 he build his own home studio to get his music career started. Protege spent most of the hours on the day writing song's, recording, and engineering his own song's without any experience. He considers himself of having a natural gift of understanding music a lot better then the average person."Im not a fan of hip-hop, I consider it to be a lifestyle. Hip-Hop to me is a the way a person dresses and carry themselves, I honestly believe you could tell a person's personality by the type of music they listen to" he further explains "but right now I feel that hip-hop is in a state of urgency, it's like we in the disco era. I feel as the artist are getting less creative by the day and we need something new...we need a savior for hip-hop"He openly admits that he might not be that savior, but he does feel he has something new to offer to hip-hop and to the industry. "What makes my music different from anything out right now is that I don't rely on a gimmick or on a certain formula like every other artist who's signed, my music is real, it's me to the fullest extent...if you want to get to know me or find out what kind of person I am just listen to my music". Protege full blown honesty and swift charisma is what separates him from anything else thats out on the market.With a mixtape in the work's and his Fresh "N" Fly campaign starting to kick off, fan's can expect to see and hear Protege a lot more often. When asked what are his plans for the future he simply smiled and said "My plan is to make Fresh "N" Fly Fam the biggest thing to hit hip-hop since Def Jam" Protege modestly explains "Im not out for self, I have a team, and I want them to be successful also. This game is so grimey and it lacks loyalty. Without my Fresh "N" Fly Fam this whole lifestyle im trying to bring out would be impossible."
