My first influences were Bone and 2pac. I met hip hop when gangsta wentmainstream. Watching Tupac Shakur buildhis legacy and then seeing his demise taught me a lot about the industry.

I always made rhymes in my head and would just spit em outloud, where ever I was at but I never really thought of it too much furtherthan rhyming. Every white rapper I sawthat hit it big always seemed like a parody rapper to me. Even when Eminem first blew up I was like,"Damn! Another white rapper withjokes!" I didn't like him. I didn'twant to accept what he was about. Then Iheard the explicit version of "My Name Is" and that kinda changed thegame for me. It was violent lyrics witha tinge of humor that got me but more-so how he put those words together.

Through Eminem I discovered a much more lyrical realm of theindustry. I started listening to Mos Defwhen he was doing his Black Star thing with Talib and also The Roots. Those two groups mixed with Eminem showed mea different way of hip hop. Since thenit's been like a treasure hunt of good hip hop. I would dig back to like Slick Rick and KRS and Big Daddy Kane. It all just stuck with me after that.

I developed different styles of rhyming and got someequipment. I taught myself how to makebeats, how to record and how to produce my own material. Now I want to give the world my story andentertain whether you can relate to it or not!