How I Got Into The Rap Game

I was born in Jackson, Michigan but moved to Houston, Texas in 1980 at the age of 4. Back then it wasn’t the rap music Mecca it is today. However rap music was still the soundtrack of my life. I listened to rap as far back as I can remember. Some of the first albums I bought as a kid were Run Dmc: Raising Hell, Fat Boys: Crushin’ and L.L. Cool J: BAD.

The first time I heard the baseline hit and these dudes spitting rhymes, I was HOOKED! It wasn’t till I made a trip to Dallas to visit my step-brothers, and they turned me on to the Beastie Boys that I even knew white people were allowed to rap.

I returned the favor to my step-brothers a few years later and turned them on to Houston’s own, Geto Boys. My brothers had no idea you could squeeze that many curse words into one rap song…lol.

After hearing the Beastie Boys and seeing that I could actually do this rap thing myself, I started making my own raps on cassette tapes. I had a grey boom box with 2 tape decks on it and it had a built in microphone on the boom box itself. I would craft these RIDICULOUS rhymes about Bugs Bunny and other kid related things. Looking back, I’m pretty glad none of those tapes survived, they were pretty horrible. Traditionally white people have a harder time breaking into the rap game. Most people see an Eminem, Paul Wall, Pyrexx or Bubba Sparxx and think they are the only ones to try and do it and just get deals handed to them.

This is not the case by a long shot. Being that rap music started in the black community, for a white person to actually be accepted by their peers they have to work twice as hard at it. Sure on the outside looking in skills play a major factor in this acceptance, but also a large ingredient it street cred. Vanilla Ice set white dudes back about 20 years in this genre.

He portrayed himself as this Miami street thug who’s mom was a drug dealer etc. When in reality he grew up in a white suburban community in Carrollton, Texas (on the outskirts of Dallas) and his mom was a teacher, not a drug dealer. I myself was REALLY let down when I learned about him lying about all of this. I grew up in a somewhat middle class neighborhood, but by the time I was in 6th grade there was a full blown gang violence and crime problem. I grew up in Alief on the SouthWest Side of Houston, Texas. My block, Leawood 3, actually birthed one of the biggest and well known gangs in the Houston area, the SouthWest Cholos or S.W.C. as they were commonly known as. I grew up with the dudes that started S.W.C. since elementary school at Boone. It was then that Alief started being known as the S.W.A.T. and drive-bys, murders, getting jumped or shot at by gangs was a common occurrence. Growing up there gave me plenty of street cred. Around this time a guy who rapped moved to my neighborhood, right across the street in some apartments named Family Tree. His name was Brad Jordan but most rap fans know him as Scarface from the Geto Boys.

When he moved in to my neighborhood and I saw an actual example of someone rapping, coming where I’m from and being successful at it, the choice had been made. I was going to be a rapper, by any means necessary. At the point Scarface moved into Family Tree he had already dropped Mr. Scarface Is Back, and the Geto Boys were getting BIG support nationwide for their group albums.

Fast forward a few years and Houston was becoming a big rap market. DJ Screw opened the door for alot of cats with his slowed down mix tapes called Screw Tapes.

He had a whole click of dudes from the SouthSide that would do freestyle flows on his tapes. Lil’ KeKe, Fat Pat, Big Hawk, Z-Ro, Yungstar and many more all became local legends. We learned that we could get local support and actually make a career out of rap just off of Houston money. Other copycat DJs started to duplicate Screw’s formula for success and other clicks popped up all over Houston and surrounding areas. Swisha House was formed by Michael Watts on the Northside of Houston and was the only real competition for DJ Screw and his Screwed Up Click. Many others like Beltway 8, Screwhouse Records and Lion’s Den sprung up all over H-Town to get some of this rap money. Lion’s Den was actually my introduction into the business side of Houston rap. They were in my neighborhood, Alief, and actually their studio was walking distance from my house. I would go up there and hang out trying to see how I could get down with them. One thing I noticed was that all of their mix CDs, while sounding great and actually on par with DJ Screw and Swisha House were really a cheap looking product. They sold CDs with the titles written in marker on them. That was my “in”. I had been messing with graphics in my spare time. I went up to Lion’s Den and talked to Carl aka The Lion King about doing covers for him. I told him I wanted $50 a design and I would print the CD stickers for him for 25 cents a piece. He thought it was a great idea.

Lion’s Den was actually getting alot of shine at this time because Yungstar from Screwed Up Click was a part of it and Papa Rue, Den Den and Lil’ Flex were also on ALOT of the projects. I never had an opportunity to rap with Lion’s Den but the 2 years I did work with them I soaked up ALOT of game about the business side from Carl and Mustafa. I ended up moving away from Alief at this time, to live in Rosenberg, Texas. Which was a little too country for my tastes in the beginning. I thought for sure my road to rap music greatness was hitting a roadblock. However, as luck would have it a screw shop opened up in Rosenberg shortly after I moved there. It was called, NMS Laboratories.

The dude that owned it originally just bootlegged DJ Screw, Swisha House, Beltway 8 and Lion’s Den CDs, but when I met him he told me he wanted to venture away from that and start his own thing there. His name was Altimore but he took the name ScrewPimp for NMS Labs. He knew plenty of people locally who rapped and he had access to studio equipment. I told him about my history with Lion’s Den and how I could help him do pretty much the same thing they did, but I wouldn’t charge him for the designs and printing labels if we could partner up and do it together. The Kennedy Brothers were born! Me and Alitmore took over that city. We had a click of talented young, hungry artists that rivaled Screw, Swisha House or anyone else out at that time in my opinion. We formed the NMS Click.

This was my first opportunity to jump on mix CDs free styling and I loved the way I sounded. I also began to drop my own mix CDs under my label Drastik Recordz and I did all my CD designs under Drastik Designz. Being at NMS really opened the door for me to get ALOT of clients on the design end too. At this time I dropped; Ghetto Storm, Alief Codeine, PayDay (self titled) and PayStyle.

Things were going great, but during our reign ScrewPimp got locked up for a minute. He had the lease on the studio, he had the equipment and he was in jail. We would talk ALOT while he was locked up. On the phone and through kites (letters). He didn’t want what we worked so hard for to go by the wayside. So I tried to keep it going through 2 of the most talented cats in the NMS Click. Sx-Fo was real young at the time but he had ALOT of talent. He also showed interest in growing his own label, 30 Below. Also a part of the click, Big D was a legend in Richmond/Rosenberg and actually got approached by SouthPark Mexican to sign to Dope House Records at one point. He had Murder House Records somewhat established at this point and I felt I could give him the extra push to get it over the top.

One other cat that I really wanted to be a part of what I was trying to do was another real young cat named Young G-Quete.

With these 3 dudes’ hustler mentalities and my knowledge of the rap game I gained from being instrumental in Lion’s Den and NMS Labs success, I figured a team up with them was a no brainer. I set up a studio at the house and would convert tapes they made to CD, design their covers and help them get their stuff out there. Each of them were just as good as I knew they would be. They dropped ALOT of freestyle CDs at this time and got a good buzz locally. At this same time, I had changes happening in my life. My girlfriend at the time (who is now my wife), got pregnant. Now rap money and the money I was making at the Real Estate company I worked for part time was ok, but not enough to support a family. A good business opportunity presented itself with my brother in Dallas, so I got married and moved. I would still check in with Sx, D and Quete from time to time, but I didn’t have a real hands on part of what they were doing because I was 5 hours away in Dallas. I thought for sure my rap career had ended once again because of me moving away. How WRONG was I! As luck would have it the building right behind my printing company housed about 4 different rap studios. I started chopping it up with the dudes up there and saw out of the 4 studios up there, the one making the most moves was a group called SlumpMasters. They were doing slowed down mixes like we were doing with Screw music in H-Town but with a twist. It was insane the first time I heard it. I KNEW I HAD to be a part of that. I offered up doing graphics for some groups up there till I got to know the dudes from SlumpMasters. I did covers for Komillion, Secret Menace and a few others. Slump had their own graphic designers in house who pretty much taught themselves everything on their own like me. I finally started chopping it up with Starbuxx and he gave me a chance to get on the mic. Up to this point I had only done freestyles because that’s all we were doing in H-Town at the time. I was NO WHERE NEAR the level of these dudes in Slump. They were REAL lyricists. Even with it slowed down it was crazy how doped they were. I was horrible (in Big Aziz’ opinion….lol). But because of my hustler mentality they looked passed all that and still gave me a chance. Being a part of SlumpMasters gave me what I really needed to further my rap career.

Inside of SlumpMasters there were subgroups. Stretch and Swiss had E.O.T.S. (Enemy Of The State), Blak and Classick had D.D.C. (Dirty Dialect Click), Jawz and Dat Boy Paul had a group, Massive and Aziz had SlumpMasters, Starbuxx, Soule and Skrypt all had their own side things going on and I still had Drastik Recordz and my solo stuff on the side. But we all came together and formed the supergroup, S.O.S. (Sacred Order of Slump). We were like a rap game Voltron. I learned ALOT from my time with Slump. I learned how to set up a REAL studio, I learned how to record in Logic, I learned how to mix and master songs and most importantly I learned how to Slump and Dump (the Slump version of Screwed and Chopped) THAT was our bread and butter. We had many major clients at this time. Including Nappy Roots. Slump was getting national exposure thanks mostly in part to Massive and Aziz making a song called, Fire Clap that appeared in the movies, You Got Served, King’s Ransom and Bachelor Party Vegas.

During my time with SlumpMasters I dropped 2 solo projects, Bubba Slump Presents: Fried Slump and Money Ain’t A Thang.

It was at this time I formed a pretty tight relationship with Classick and Blak-N-Mild of D.D.C. They asked me to join the group, because collectively we felt we could do some good stuff as a group.

At this point I was considered one of the better SlumpMasters. I brought all my knowledge from Screwing and Chopping stuff in Houston into the Slumping and Dumping and the sound was OFF THE CHAIN. Massive, Aziz and Starbuxx were still the top dogs and the best SlumpMasters in the group, but everyone was really feeling what I was doing at the time. Classick wanted to get better at Slumping so we worked out a deal where I would teach him how to Slump better and he would teach me how to rap better. I got the better end of the deal BY FAR. In my opinion, Class was one of the best lyricists out back then. Not just in Dallas, but in rap period. I would jokingly call him, “The Biggie Of The South”, but I meant it, the dude was a BEAST! Some things happened within Slump that I won’t get into on here, but that group dissolved. Me, Classick and Blak didn’t want all we learned in Slump to just go to waste. So we kept on Slumpin’. But with more of what we brought into it with our skills. We called it Slumped and Thowed to show it was different than Slumped and Dumped but still the same. Kind of like Watts and Screw. We started getting ALOT of clients and things were going REAL good. We were growing as a group on the rap side as well. Classick brought in his cousin, Truk Turna and Truk brought in a guy he knew from work named, Dawg Wonder. This cat Dawg had just written raps on message boards and stuff but was a SERIOUS beast on the mic. Real talk, the dude is SICK like the flu. D.D.C. was ALOT bigger than the 5 of us, but Me, Classick, Blak-N-Mild, Truk Turna and Dawg Wonder were the agreed upon “face” of D.D.C.

Around this time we were getting real serious about the group and where we wanted to take it. So I felt we needed a brand. ALOT of groups back then were getting the custom painted shirts, fitted caps, shoes etc. from cats like Miskeen. I found a dude on MySpace that was doing better work than them and wanted to get him down with us. His name was John The Baptist and his clothing line was called Baptist Originals.

I made a promise to him that if he worked with us on prices and stuff, when we start making it big he would be coming along for the ride and selling ALOT of his clothes on the way. He had faith in what I was doing and I had faith in what he was doing, so we struck up a kind of partnership with each other. It worked out just the way I thought it would for both of us. As soon as we hit the scene in his clothes we were turning heads. I would direct them straight to John when they asked where we got the gear from. He was doing ALOT of business at this time, but he always put our stuff on the front burner when we needed stuff for photoshoots and shows. We started getting a pretty good buzz going when we dropped Barbershop Volume 2, our first project as a group.

If you ask anyone in Dallas about that album they will tell you it was a CLASSIC without a doubt. We started getting booked for alot of shows. Getting good press. People knew us when we were out, even when we went to events like SXSW in Austin. Also around this time we were entered in the first annual Battle Of the Bands contest for DFW Quick Newspaper. Somehow we won. It wasn’t just rap musicians in Dallas who were entered in that contest. It was EVERY genre of music, rap, rock, blues, punk whatever. We were voted THE BEST in Dallas.

I dropped my last solo album at this time, called Git On Yo Grind.

It got ALOT of press and love in the clubs because I got the premier DJ in Dallas at the time, DJ Drop to do the mix for me. I was on top of the world at this time, but inside I felt like I was at the bottom of the world. Being successful at music meant I had to spend more and more time away from my family. At this time me and my wife had 3 daughters. She felt like a single mom because I was never around. I didn’t want that for my girls. I wanted to be a present parent not an absent one. I started almost wanting a way out, but at the time I would have been stupid to just drop music and walk away. I was doing TOO GOOD. God always finds a way to make things happen. Well he did that in my life. I was also selling X pills at this time to supplement my income, because even with my music and my job it was hard to get the bills paid weekly. When I got busted my life got turned upside down. My wife didn’t know I was selling drugs, my brother and partner in my company didn’t know it either and ALOT of people close to me lost respect for me. Not my music industry friends, but my FAMILY. I sat alone in a dark room, on the verge of losing EVERYTHING. My wife and kids, the company I had worked so hard to help grow everything that MATTERED. I turned my life over to God that minute. I put the mic down and walked away from rap music. I just wanted to be a legit business man that my wife and kids could be proud of. At this time I started listening to Christian rap music and really liked it. It had come a LONG way from how it sounded about 15 years ago when I tried to listen to it. I wanted to read about the artists I was listening to. At the time there was no magazines out there catering to Christian rap music, so I approached my brother and told him my idea about starting our own using our printing company to produce it. He thought it was a great plan and Tha Message Magazine was born. We did the mag for 2 years, got national distribution in stores in the United States as well as Canada. I believe ALOT of lives were reached and changed through this magazine. I truly believe God used my career in rap to later reach people with His word through our magazine.

To make a long story short (well this story was long….lol). It was a long bumpy road to reach the place I ended up but I wouldn’t change one part of it….and that is How I Got Into The Rap Game.

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