“I’m from East Louisville and I’ve been in the West since 2008. I’m originally from Clarksdale Projects. You see, they tore my neighborhood down. Yeah, so I’m from the East End. I’ve been in the West for about ten years, now. It’s a beautiful part of town. It’s bigger. It’s alright. I come from the projects, so I was used to the project life, with the apartments and everybody’s in one space. It’s a bigger part of town, down here.
They need to put more stuff out here for the kids. They’re taking all the community centers and tearing everything down. In the neighborhoods, where it’s majority black, there’s no positive activities for the kids. Yeah, they got churches but everybody’s not into religion. You can’t force that on nobody. There ain’t no skating rink, movie theater, no nice little centers with game rooms and stuff. Even if it’s a computer room, where the kids can just go in there and get on a computer or an iPad. They need stuff like that.
The struggle inspires me because I really want more. I want more for myself and my community. I know what would help if the opportunity was given to a whole lot of us. A whole lot of us ain’t got nothing to do but to get get into the streets. The struggle inspires me and just seeing young black men turn their life around and doing something positive. When I see other people grow, it inspires me and makes me wanna grow. It makes me wanna put out that energy to make someone else grow.
I’m putting my energy to making myself better. I got a book called, ‘Hustling is a Habit’, it’s on Amazon. I’m also about to drop this new music, on Tuesday, on all social media outlets. It’s called ‘A Mouth Full’. I gotta couple properties, I’m into real estate. I’m trying to build a solid foundation and leave a nice little legacy. The way society is set up, it’s best to invest in yourself and be an entrepreneur. It’s so many opportunities and it make things happen for yourself.
Believe in yourself. Everybody’s a genius, you just have to tap into it and put energy into it. Get up off your ass because there’s opportunities out here. Don’t get me wrong, it ain’t easy. Some get it easier than others. You gotta create it. Don’t let nobody discourage you and tell you that you can’t do it. I’ve been through a lot, myself. My name is Raymont Forney and I come from nothing but at the end of the day, I want something. So that means that whatever opportunity is given, without me having to sell my soul, I gotta take it. I have to invest in myself. With today’s society, you’ll be working yourself in circles dealing with the day to day. That day to day will only get you so far. I say that to say to everyone to believe in yourself and chase your dreams.” - Raymont, Portland