About Me
IT IS NOT HARD TO RECOGNIZE THAT THE SOUTHERN RAP CULTURE HAS A STRONG HOLD ON THE ONCE IMPENETRABLE HIP HOP INDUSTRY. WHAT WAS ONCE UNTHINKABLE, OBVIOUS SOUTHERN INFLUENCE ON THE HIP HOP CULTURE HAS NOW BECOME THE STANDARD. THESE GHETTO STORYTELLERS ARE GIVING LISTENERS CLEAR INSIGHT TO THEIR WORLD, NEVER COMPROMISING THEIR VARIOUS STYLES AND CONSTANTLY STRIVING TO BE INNOVATIVE IN ORDER TO GIVE THE GAME WHAT IT HAS BEEN MISSING. AMONG THE LAUNDRY LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM THIS REGION ARE SOME OF THE INDUSTRYS HIGHEST SELLING AND MOST POPULAR ARTISTS. THE NEWEST PROSPECT FOR INDUCTION TO THIS ELITE CLUB IS RAPPER JV.
MY STORY
BORN IN THE BOTTOMS OF THIRD WARD, JV WAS FIRST INTRODUCED TO RAP MUSIC BY HIS FATHER, A NOTORIOUS GANGSTER AND DRUG DEALER IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD WHO WAS AWAY MORE THAN HE WAS HOME. RIDING AROUND IN HIS DADS ELDORADO, JV WAS INTRODUCED TO VARIOUS TYPES OF MUSIC, BUT IT WAS WHEN HE HEARD TOO SHORT RAP HE KNEW THAT HE HAD FOUND SOMETHING SPECIAL. MY OLD MAN WOULD PLAY ALL TYPES OF R&B AND HIP HOP FOR ME WHEN WE RODE AROUND TOGETHER, BUT THE FIRST TIME HE PLAYED SHORT DAWG FOR ME TO LISTEN TO I KNEW THAT IT WAS ANOTHER SIDE THAT THE GAME WAS MISSING, IT WAS THE TRUTH AT ITS RAWEST FORM. TOO SHORTS BRUTAL HONESTY AND VIVID DESCRIPTIONS OF WHAT HE SAW AND EXPERIENCED EVERYDAY IN HIS COMMUNITY HIT HOME WITH JV, BECAUSE HE COULD RELATE TO THE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS THAT WERE BEING EXPRESSED. RAPPERS LIKE SHORT DAWG, THE GHETTO BOYS AND NWA WERE WHAT I CALL GHETTO COMMUNICATORS, THEY WERE SAYING THE THINGS I WAS FEELING AND LIVING A LIFE LIKE MINE. THEIR MUSIC TRANSCENDED HOODS; IT WAS UNIVERSAL TO EVERYONE EXPERIENCING IT. THE OLDEST OF SIX CHILDREN, AND PRACTICALLY THE MAN OF HIS HOUSEHOLD, JV BEGAN SELLING DRUGS TO PROVIDE FOR HIMSELF AS WELL AS HIS FAMILY. EVERYONE AROUND ME WAS SELLING DRUGS. I MEAN MY DAD, MY AUNTS AND UNCLES WERE ALL DEALING, IT SEEMED SO NATURAL. BY THE AGE OF ELEVEN JV WAS AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN THIS TYPE OF LIFESTYLE HE RECALLS, BY THE TIME I WAS ELEVEN I WAS RUNNING TWO APARTMENT TRAP HOUSES. HERE I AM A CHILD WITH TWO APARTMENTS. THROUGH IT ALL MUSIC WAS ALWAYS HIS BASE THAT KEPT HIM SANE DURING ALL THE TURMOIL AND WAS AN EVER PRESENT CONSTANT IN HIS LIFE. IT WAS ALSO AT THE AGE OF ELEVEN JV DISCOVERED THAT HE HAD A FLARE FOR WRITING RAPS WHILE IN JUVENILE HALL ON HIS FIRST OF MANY DRUG RELATED CONFINEMENTS HE EXPLAINS, I WAS LOCKED UP IN JUVE FOR MY FIRST DOPE CASE WHEN I STARTED WRITING RAPS. I PERFORMED THE SONG I WROTE IN A TALENT SHOW THAT THEY HAD AND ROCKED IT. AS A DESCENDENT FROM A LONG LINE OF DRUG DEALERS AND GANGSTERS IT SEEMED THAT HIS FATE AS A CAREER CRIMINAL WAS INEVITABLE, AND HIS CONSTANT STINTS IN JAIL WERE THE WRITINGS ON THE WALL. WHILE IN PRISON SERVING TIME FOR A 40 YEAR SENTENCE FOR A DRUG AND GUN POSSESSION CONVICTION, FOR WHICH HE FILED HIS OWN APPEAL AND WAS LATER RELEASED, WAS WHEN HE SAYS GOD REVEALED TO HIM IN A VISION HIS DESTINY TO BECOME A SUPERSTAR IN THIS INDUSTRY. I WAS ON A SIX MONTH LOCKDOWN FOR STABBING AN INMATE IN THE NECK WHEN I PRAYED TO GOD AND ASKED HIM WAS THIS THE TYPE OF LIFE HE HAD PLANNED FOR ME, THE LIFE OF A JAILBIRD? IT WAS THEN GOD REVEALED TO ME IN A VISION AND THROUGH THE PEOPLE AROUND ME HIS ULTIMATE PLAN FOR ME. UPON RELEASE JV WAS CONTACTED BY LONGTIME MENTOR AND FRIEND, RONNIE BOOKMAN. RONNIE CALLED ME 2 DAYS AFTER I GOT OUT OF JAIL AND ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO GO BACK IN OR DID I WANT TO MAKE SOME MONEY AND BE ON TOP IN A LEGAL WAY. THAT IS WHEN HE PRESENTED JV WITH THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME.
ALWAYS DRAWN TO WHAT HE REFERS TO AS GUTTER MUSIC, JV WAS INSPIRED BY ARTIST SUCH AS THE GHETTO BOYS, TOO SHORT, BUST DOWN, TIM SMOOTH, ICE-T, AND NWA. HE HAS OVERCOME MANY OBSTACLES TO GET TO THIS POINT, HIS MUSIC IS A CLEAR REFLECTION OF HIS JOURNEY THUS FAR, AND HE IS READY TO TAKE LISTENERS FOR THE JOY RIDE OF THEIR LIFE.
