About Me
Born Gerell Antonio Brown, the youngest of three boys, on June 20th, 1986 to George and Gwen Brown, in Rocky Mount, NC. It would be these very streets of Rocky Mount in which he horned his lyrical skills, and grew into the title of the Prince of the City. At the age of 11 he purchased his first rap cassette, Reasonable Doubt, by Jay-Z. It was this album that sparked his interest in the art and from thus forth he embarked on a musical journey that would earn him the respect of his peers and combatants alike. With his oldest brother, George, 6 years apart and his older brother, Gerrod, 4 years apart from him, he began to grow far more wiser than his age insisted by hanging around them. He remember's hearing his brothers recording on tape with childhood friend Manifest. They had formed a group called the Mass Confussion Troops (The name was suitable because this was during the Wu-Tang Clan era). Also, there was another local group that were making a name for themselves, Slang U. Several of Slang U's member's were friends of Gerell's brothers. Hearing his brothers and friends recording and doing shows at the American Legion made Gerell realize that anything was possible and someday his time would come. Thinking back, Gerell also remembers Jazo, then Jaz, and Teflon Kalumenati, then Keba, rapping with his older cousin, Jakwan in his grandfather's basement. He began writing rhymes in his school notebook and reciting them for his older friends on the bus route home to Cloverdale, a neighborhood in Rocky Mount, one of them named him Thugish Rell because of the how tough and advanced his rhymes were for his age. In Cloverdale he became known by everyone for rapping in cypher's and recording with an older kid, DJ. Hanging around older kids in his neighhood gained him more respect by peers his age. At 16 he was invited by DJ to enter into a freestyle competition held at the American Legion, judged by the crowd. Gerell went 2 rounds with 3 different rappers and left with the 1st place trophy. This trophy still sits on his mantel piece at home as a constant remember of his childhood achievements. It was also at 16 in which Gerell was expelled from South West High School and forced to attend Northwest Halifax High and his family moved out of Cloverdale to Charter Oaks, a neighborhood directly in between HillsDale where his brother's hung and Cloverdale were Gerell hung as a child. During his freshman year at Northwest he took a break from rap to establish himself and meet new people at the new school. During his Sophmore year he played on the basketball team at Northwest. On away games he and his friends joked around freestyling on the back of the bus until one day a teammate noticed that Gerell was doing more than joking around and could actually rap. Gerell remembers the teammate, Randall Hicks, asking him to, "spit something for real." He did so. From then on, the away game freestyle sessions were that of talent showcase for Gerell. At school he passed out mixtapes that he recorded on his home computer using downloaded beats and the Cubasis program giving to him by his older brother. These mixtapes earned him the respect and attention of his high school peers. Away from Rocky Mount at a new school, he took up the name CloverdaleRell as a way to keep up with his old neighborhood roots. Randall began to get Gerell into freestyle battles with other students at the school during lunch. Gerell remembers one battle that lasted for two weeks straight. He and the other kid went back and forth everyday until the students declared that it was a tie, (Gerell still thinks he won though). During the last week of his Senior year of high school, the staff held a carnival at the school for the students. At the end of the carnival they annouced that they would be holding a freestyle competition and opted for Gerell to get in it. The students would battle each other and at the end the remaining rapper would battle Gerell. He recalls that the student was a freshman, but was "nice as hell though." The two went back and forth for 3 rounds. At the end the teacher who held the competition declared the freshman as the winner but the crowded insisted that Gerell had won. Being though this was his last week in high school and the student was a freshman, Gerell didn't see it as a lost, he just passed the torch onto the freshman and graduated. While attended college at ECU in Greenville, he worked as a producer, engineer, and Hype Man in Hydro Records, a studio located just a block down from the campus, owned by Sallah "Dolla" Dean. It was there that he horned his production skills using Furity Loops, a computer generated beat making program. Selling beats and recording in the studio, he kept the name CloverdaleRell and became known throughout the underground music circuit in Greenville. Back in Rocky Mount his brother's were still recording with Manifest, who had now become the voice behind all music in the Twin County area. Gerell remember laying his first vocals down ever in a "real" studio in Rocky Mount. "I remember my brother Georgie telling me to come down to the studio to watch them drop a track. I didn't no that he planned for me to feature on it. One of my older homies from the neighborhood, Ben Frank, was doing a song called, "Your Hood Ain't No Harder than Mines," produced by Manifest, but he only had two verses done. My brother insisted that he let me get the last verse on the song and Ben accepted. I was shocked at the suggestion but I was wit' it though. I wrote my 16 and headed for the both. As I spit it, I remember the look on everybody in the rooms face. Everybody was shocked and amazed at how nice I had gotten. After that, I was in tha' studio like every other week doing features and recording songs." It was this same year that C Dub, (CEO of Heavensent ENT.), another local producer in Rocky Mount, called Gerell's brother and asked could Gerell perform in a Talent Show hosted by him and Jazo at the O.I.C. "There were alot of acts that night, and it was being recorded. I remember Dub saying that he was making a DVD or something. So when I went on stage I just knew I had to kill it. I had my swag on full tilt that night and just went and did my thing and the crowd accepted it. The next week Dub called and said he wanted to come to HillsDale and shoot a music video for me to go on his DVD. We did the video for, "For the Hood" featuring my homeboy Terrell, aka Ka$h and my cousin Jakwan, aka Esquire, produced by Manifest. The rest was history. Dub put the Welcome the the Mount 1 DVD out and everybody in Rocky Mount was feeling it. After that, I can't remember tha' last person to call me Gerell, everybodies like, ''CloverdaleRell this" now and/or "CloverdaleRell that" now, I fuckin' love that shit. " {And it was written down in the book of life, that a Man Child endured for ever more.............Damien Marley}.........(CloverdaleRell's debut album The Prince of the City is set to be re-released this summer...Stay tuned!!
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