Hazzah

The Story of HazzahAn Irish/Egyptian, James Hazzah was born April 12th 1980 at New Rochelle Hospital, New York. He was raised in New Rochelle, just outside the borders of the Bronx. In the 1980s during Hip-hops early years, Hazzah was exposed to Hip-hop and its culture as early as four years old. He watched freestyle rapping, went to block parties and spent most of his childhood growing up as a minority - most of his time was spent in a black neighborhood. He was raised by a single mother.Hazzah attended Webster Elementary School where the arts were a big part of the schools culture. Every Friday, the students at Webster did not have classes and spent the day in programs focused on the arts. These programs were taught by young professionals who performed at Lincoln Center in New York City. After school, Hazzah would spend his time in the Lincoln district of New Rochelle at the Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle. Here, he excelled at running track and other athletic activities. On the bus rides to track meets, Hazzah would experience older kids freestyle rapping and beat boxing.Hazzah was very quiet during these early years - but the experiences would shape him for the rest of his life. Hazzah experienced people from all walks of life growing up in the center of New Rochelle, a melting pot. His mother constantly had parties at their house. She also ran a paper delivery service for the Standard Star newspaper. As a result, people would be at the house preparing for the paper delivery at 3 a.m. every day. There was always something going on or something to do during Hazzahs childhood. Hazzahs unique heritage is Irish and Egyptian and his ancestry extends even further to English, German, Saudi Arabian, Dutch and likely others. So basically, Hazzah is a true mutt, like most of us in the U.S.A. Naturally, the family pet was also a mutt.Hazzah has lived in many cities in America. In high school, Hazzah was on a basketball scholarship to a private high school in New Rochelle, NY. After shattering his foot in a football game, he was limited in his athletic abilities. Things didnt work out at the private school and after only half of his freshman year, he went back to public school at New Rochelle High. There, Hazzah often found himself in trouble and would play the tough guy all the time. He was suspended from school for a few months for fighting. His mother decided to take drastic measures to shake things up in his life to end Hazzahs path to death or jail before the age of eighteen.Hazzahs mother contacted his father, who Hazzah had seldom seen growing up. His father had been an alcoholic. Hazzahs father and mother decided to take Hazzah to Egypt for an extended three-month trip. They wanted him to experience the land where his father had grown up and to experience a distant culture. Hazzah had the opportunity to meet all of his relatives in Egypt and saw and experienced things most kids from his neighborhood could never even dream about. The trip was not that of a tourist because he stayed with relatives and experienced Egypt as one who lives there day to day. Hazzah credits the trip as one of the biggest awakenings of his life.Mid-way through High School, Hazzah and his mother moved to South Florida, just outside Fort Lauderdale. After graduating high school, he intended to stay in South Florida and attend college, living in South Beach, Miami - where he had spent many nights enjoying himself. Soon after beginning college, however, Hazzah was diagnosed with cancer.He was forced to drop out of college and stay at his mothers house. Hazzah had a deadly form of cancer called melanoma langerhan T cell. It was unknown whether Hazzah would survive this serious cancer. Hazzah battled the disease for ten months, going through over thirty surgeries. This was an extremely difficult time for Hazzah that frustrated him to the point of insanity. It also was very difficult for his mother as well, who was the primary figure who bore the burden of watching Hazzah suffer through a life threatening illness.Eventually, Hazzah began to write in earnest. It was the only thing that put his mind off the pain that he was in. He wrote numerous poems, screen plays and raps. Much of what he wrote during this time ended up on his first album, The Essence of Me.Hazzah eventually beat the cancer and decided it was time to go back to New York. He loaded up his car and drove back to New York to stay with his brother for a time.Hazzah was extremely motivated and his early efforts in the rap business landed him an independent deal. His music was quickly gaining him attention from labels in New York. Unfortunately, nothing substantial developed - so Hazzah returned to school. He earned two Bachelor degrees in Music Business Management and Public Communications from Ramapo College of New Jersey. Hazzah has worked his way up from Street Battles, MC competitions and performances at the world famous Apollo Theater to completing his first album, The Essence of Me. That album allowed listeners into Hazzahs world, detailing his ups and downs and the rights and wrongs that have occurred throughout his life. This was Hazzahs first solo LP, written and recorded mostly between 1998 and 2001. At the time, Hazzah went by the alias, J-Roc.Following the recording of The Essence of Me and graduating Ramapo, Hazzah formed a band to perform songs from his album and other original songs live. The band went by the name, J-Roc featuring ADEPT. It did a self-promoted tour of venues in towns and cities across the eastern sea board.Attempting to maintain the band while working dead-end jobs, Hazzah ran into severe money problems. He moved around the New York/New Jersey region, living in down-trodden neighborhoods. Eventually, he moved in with his girlfriend at the time, who was also the lead singer in their band, ADEPT. Hazzah took a job in sales working in the health and fitness industry. Still, money problems hampered Hazzahs music career and he saw himself having less and less time to focus efforts on music.In 2005, Hazzah was offered a position in the fitness industry - managing a fitness center out in Denver, Colorado. He took the opportunity and moved to Denver. Managing a health club took up most of Hazzahs time. In early 2006, Hazzah realized he was letting his passion slip away. One day, he had on MTV and saw a buddy that he used to jam with in the City playing drums in a music video. This inspired Hazzah. He wanted to refocus his life and go after his music career. He started calling music contacts back in New York. One of his friends, the drummer for the phenom, Matisyahu, told him that they had recorded their hit single at a studio in Colorado! Hazzah was put in touch with the studio and, after one meeting, decided to work with the studio and record new music.Currently, Hazzah has recorded a brand new demo. It includes three new, fully completed Hip-hop tracks. The CD will be shopped to various labels and management in the business. Hazzah is optimistic about his future. He has become very close with his family in the New York area and loves spending time with his nephews and little cousins. He plans to continue writing, traveling and living in different cities.We hope you have enjoyed reading about the life and times of Hazzah and hope you will stay tuned for more happenings in the career of Hazzah.