REAL BIOGRAPHY:Look up Hip Hop in the latest Webster Dictionary and you will find:Hip Hop: Date: 1983: a subculture especially of inner-city youth whose amusements include rap music, graffiti, and break dancing; also: an element or art form prevalent within this subcultureIn 1983, Hip Hop was part of a small, growing movement of inner city youths that passed the days with boom boxes, graffiti and hanging out on the street corner. But someone should get Merriam Webster on the phone, as Hip Hop has come a long way since the days of urban teens break-dancing in their high tops.Today, Hip Hop is no longer just an amusement for urban youth. Hip Hop is a culture that seeps beyond the gray inner city and into suburban America. It represents a movement of social self expression and the harsh realities of street life, reaching beyond the color of skin and socio-economic background or status and into the homes of a wide variety of American youth who are trying to find their place in society. Hip Hop is not just a genre of music, but a subculture born out of a need to survive the grim realities life can dish out, and a way to express the harsh circumstances that life sometimes implodes onto our paths.I heard somebody say whiteboy, what the hell you doin up in here?Born in the Pacific Northwest, Heath Martin, a.k.a. Real, started singing as soon as he could speak. He was raised with many different musical influences that crossed several genres including Gospel and R&B, which have carried into the music he creates today. Real turned to music as a form of therapy and expression, which is the only positive outlet he found that has helped him get through his difficult life experiences.Reals story is filled with tragedy. His mother was the victim of a violent crime and was murdered when he was very young, leaving him to grow up with a dark memory that would only be further clouded years later when he learned of the gruesome circumstances surrounding her death. Real never knew who his father was, and was adopted by his grandmother after his mothers death. His childhood was filled with rage and instability, and a rocky home life pushed Real into a cycle of anger and self-destructive behavior. In his mind, his life was a lie and he didnt feel like he belonged anywhere. Real discovered and connected to hip hop music, which is the one thing he loved and could relate to. Hip Hop culture provided a place where Real felt at home - it reflected his own life and the struggles he endured while growing up.Real comments, I remember even when I was young, people in school heard me singing in the hallways, and started asking me to sing for them all the time. Girls would come up to me and I would sing a song for them. They really liked it, and I enjoyed the attention. But more importantly, music provided an outlet for me, a way I could express myself, which I had a hard time doing otherwise.Like most kids of broken homes, Real moved around a lot, trying to find a place where that dark cloud of his past would fade. At the young age of 13, Real ended up in Chicago, deep in the grime of South Chicago pulling licks and doing dirt to keep his head above water. It was here that Real found an unlikely mentor in the streets, Big Homie, who one day heard Real sing and told him, Damn boy, you got vocals! He encouraged Real to get out of Chicago, handle his business, and put his talents to use. Real left Chicago with that advice, but didnt heed the call: he returned to his home state to live a life of theft and selling drugs, as it was all he knew how to do.One day, Real got a phone call that changed his outlook and approach on life: his friend and mentor was killed as a result of gang violence in the streets of South Chicago. The news shook Real enough for him to try to fill the dark void of his life with making music. Real recalls, When I got the news of Big Homie being shot, It was like Damn, this shit is real. It aint no game and I gotta do what I gotta do to get up out of tha game. Right there I realized I was on a path that would cut my own life short. Right then, I made up my mind that I needed to seriously pursue the only other thing I knew how to do... making music.Real took what he learned from years of playing late nights in clubs and hustling on the streets and focused on honing his craft. Anger, rage, confusion and sadness created a burning desire to express his emotions and experiences though music, which became the canvas he used to express those emotions in an explicit, no-holds bar format. He wrapped himself up in his music and has been creating sounds and songs that represent his life.Upon listening to Reals music, one can hear and visualize the tragedies that define and shape hip hop culture and hip hop music: The deaths of Tupac and Aaliyah and too many other hip hop icons, the horrific events of 9/11, relationship struggles these all feed into Reals music, evolving into a no-apologies, in-your-face form of self expression that reflect his own personal experiences and hard-won life.Perhaps one of the most important songs on Reals yet-untitled album is the gritty single, White Boy, which reflects Reals coming of age in a hip hop world with few, if any, white boys at the mic. The song is a shameless, no B.S. tribute to the power of hip hop and the boundaries it has crossed into all walks of life, regardless of skin color or social status.Showcasing his vocal capabilities with a soulful, sexy sound, Real gives it up on Tell Me a sultry, seductive take on pleasing a woman. Other tracks include Hey Ladies, an off-the-hook club banger that will bring everyone out to the dance floor, She Dat Girl, a jamming tribute to those successful and driven ladies who know what they want and go out and get it for themselves, Mama, a song of struggle and trying to come to terms with his mothers death, and others. Real describes other songs planned for the album, We gon mix it up a little bit. We gon have joints with straight hip hop hooks. Its gon be serious. I just hope yall ready!Real adds, Im makin these records for myself. Im not following what a record label wants me to do. I believe in artistry and originality. This music is me, about me, my life Its real.For fan club, upcoming shows, merchandise, publicity images and radio information please visit www.realgrimy.comFor Press Inquiries please contact Heidi Buech, Publicist, at
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