“Maintain yourself and try to strive for greatness. Living around here makes it kind of hard for people. It’s hard to get jobs and stuff like that. Keep that mind frame to keep going and do let it stop you.

It’s been so hard for me to find a job. I have help but I want to do things for myself. I have keep reminding myself that I’m going to make it. People are going to know my name, one day. Right now, I just want to get me a job and get into college. I trying to go to college for two years and get my associate’s degree. I want to be an IT Technician. That’s what I want to do. I just want greatness for myself. My time is now, so that’s what I have to be on.

My father’s my biggest influence, man. He just keeps me going and motivated. He’s always keeping that pressure on me and tells me to not stop. He reminds me that this isn’t the end but the beginning. I’m glad to have him around.” D’Montae, pictured with Trey in Shawnee

“It’s alright, sometimes, to live in the moment. Go as you are. Right now, people are always on social media and watching how other people live their lives and will rush to be like the next person. The best thing is to be on your own time. That’s the way to live, no matter what. You can have all of the money but if you can’t enjoy it and be on your own time, it ain’t even worth it. - Brandon, Chickasaw

“I was only nine years old when my mother died. We were living over there by Shawnee Terrace and my mother was always down here, hanging out with her friends. She had friends all through here. One night, she was walking through the alley, over there off of 15th and Madison. She got in the car with a man, who didn’t like the fact that she was cool with someone that he didn’t like, and I guess she said something wrong to him and he started shooting at her. He shot her once in the chest and twice in the head. My granny didn’t even recognize her when she went to see her body. For real, jealousy is the reason why my mother is gone.

People really don’t understand that in God’s eyes, everyone is really brothers and sisters. People are really out here killing their own brother and sister. The whole world is just messed up to me. It needs to change. You can’t even walk outside without somebody shooting. 

There’s too many snakes in the grass. People have to watch out because everyone’s loyalty ain’t deep. A few months ago, my thirteen year old nephew got shot. The bullet is close to his heart. He felt like he could just run around people that he grew up with. They switched lanes and shot him. Sometimes, it’s the same people that you eat and share bread with that are fakest. My loyalty’s deep.

Right now, I just have to focus on things that make me happy. I don’t want to keep thinking about the past. I need to focus on something that’s going to keep me going forward instead of something holding me back in the past.

I struggle every day because there’s always something that’s keeping me from getting to where I need to be. It just makes me feel like I need a mother. I don’t need a person to tell me what to do. I don’t need a guardian. My daddy’s not in my life. I just want my mother.

My advice to world? Don’t disrespect your mother. People argue with their mother and the next day, not thinking that the next day, she could be gone. It hurts me to see people disrespect their mother. At the end of the day, you have to stick with your mother through it all, no matter what. Whatever drama she goes through, you have to go through it with her. That’s where your loyalty should run deep.” - Brianna, Russell

“I’ve been here my whole life, for fifty years. In a nutshell, this is my home. With that being said, it’s a beautiful place, down here. It gets a bad reputation due to some of the acts that go on down here. As a whole, the community is fabulous. We’re all friendly and we all get along, outside of the small percentage of the negative. We love on each other and stick together. It’s a great place and I’m happy with it. I love the hood. I love it down here.

I’d like to show some of these young cats positive influences. I wanna show young men that there are opportunities in the West End. Just because you are a resident of the West End, it doesn’t limit your opportunities. You can get out if you want but you can stay and help build opportunities for someone else. This community is strong and there’s a lot of money down here, that unfortunately, gets spent outside of the community. We lack a lot of things down here. When I was a young man, we had a lot of black owned businesses, like mom and pop stores. We had grocery and meat stores that were owned by black people. It has diminished. 

For a long time, the mindset has been to get out of the West End but this is our roots. I’d rather create more roots and show these cats that you can be an entrepreneur. You don’t have to be a drug dealer or out here robbing people. There’s opportunities out here for us. You can create your own thing and don’t have to go no where else to do it. That’s why I do it. I wanna show them something.

The West End needs more black owned businesses. We need more programs to engage the youth and some things that they can relate to. Show them something tangible. It has to be something that a young person can acquire. A lot of youth don’t realize that it takes a little bit of work to be able to have something because they’re so used to things be given to them or being denied the access to resources. A lot of them just don’t know and if they don’t know, you can’t really hold them accountable for it. They only know what they see. 

I gotta record but I was fortunate enough to be exposed to other things.  That taught me that the talents that I had, I could use to my advantage and use them right here. I was exposed to other things that helped me along my journey.

We need to pass down the positive things to the people. We’re experts at passing down the bullshit. We’ll rather pass the game to the young cats and lace them like shoes but lace them bullshit. We need to lace them with good shit. When I talk to these kids out here, I don’t talk to them about the streets. I talk to them about their future. I’m a high school dropout. By the time I hit ninth grade, drugs was so fluent in our community and I wanted to sell dope. I caught up in the madness and went to the penitentiary to learn my lesson. I’m not a penitentiary type of cat, I can’t be caged up. When they let me go, I got into sales and used that in the legal world. That’s where I’m at with it. If I don't have a job, I can make one.

My advice to the world is to recognize that we’re all the same. Regardless of the color of your skin, it’s all about the content of your heart. If we breed that into our youth, we would be able to love one another and create some unity. The youth is our future. If we keep with the examples that we’ve been given, it’ll be rough out here with the mindset of the people because there ain’t no love out here. We have to build it and do it in our youth. We have a couple of generations that missed the boat and were the start of the downfall. That’s speaking about my generation. My parents had good jobs but they fought for that. What’s sad is that our people is giving back, in less than a lifetime, everything that was fought for. 

King was killed in 1968 and I was born in 1968. The generation before me fought for everything and within a lifetime, look what we digressed back to? We had problems with police killing people in our communities back then and we had people who fought that and minimized that and restored order within our communities. Here we are, today, less than a lifetime later, we’re giving it all back.” - Jason, owner of Flo’s in Shawnee

"Where did my interest in chess stem from? I’d say have to say my daughter, Sarah. She’s my first child and only child. I introduced her to chess when she was six. She started participating in tournaments at the age of seven. I wanted to introduce her to chess because there’s a lot of studies that show if a student gets involved and stays in chess, it’ll help improve their reading skills and math skills. That’s one thing that I really wanted for her. Reading wasn’t an issue, because she’s a bibliophile, like her dad and mom.

I remember when she walked in the library in Boone County and looked at me and said, ‘Daddy, I’m in heaven.”. The math was an issue. We weren’t strong in math. My friend told me to get her in chess and it’ll help her with the math and it did. 

I saw what it did for Sarah and I wanted to introduce chess to other kids and that was it. In September 2010, I went into it, with the encouragement of Dr. Anthony Middleton, from Cable Baptist Church and I haven’t looked back since. 

Our vision is to become the most successful urban chess program in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In order to accomplish that, we need the financial material resources. We have to get the students to tournaments, bring in other trainers, and keep solid training materials. Our biggest challenge, right now, is raising money to get to the nationals. Secondly, I would like like raise money to be able compensate our coaches for their time. Thirdly, it doesn’t hurt to have more clocks. We could use more clocks.

We’re looking to be the best and we’re going to maintain program. When I’m dead and buried, I want this program to continue to be the best.” - Corbin, Director of the West Louisville Chess Club in Russell

“I’ve been in Park Hill for almost twenty-six years. It’ll be twenty-six years in October. So, I’ve been here for a while. I’m kind of ill, so I just hang out around here. I love going to church but I haven’t been able to attend lately. Now, I just listen to it on my radio but when I start feeling better, I’ll make it back in there. I have arthritis in my legs and it’s been going on for some years. It keeps me from doing a lot of moving. 

With all of this going on, I’ve started to enjoy reading. I’ve learned how to read better. It makes me really want to go back to school. It’s never too late, you know. Things were just going on, in my life, that kept me from going back to school. I feel like I can really do it and see myself reach my goals.” - Carolyn, Park Hill

“I like the West End. It just makes me feel like I’m home. I haven’t had a negative experience. Nobody’s every robbed me or anything like that. It’s been good. I even love that my daughter can grow up and be around people that look like her. 

One of my favorite places in the West is the Urban League. I love that place. It has been an amazing place for me and my daughter. Everything you need, no matter what, you can get it there. We need more places like the Urban League. We need more places that really take care of the people within the community. If we had more places that focus on the youth, the homeless, and mental health, we would have a better community. 

My goal is to have a place and program that’ll help get the youth off the streets. I’m trying to figure out how to do that and then I’ll execute. I want to have a place where the homeless youth can come to and focus on something positive and have another outlet. 

I want people to be more positive and do everything with love. Know that there are good people out here and not everybody’s negative. Smile more and show more love.” - Nisha (pictured with daughter, Mykah), Russell

“I’m the director of the West Louisville Tennis Club. When we first had our opening day, we had about seventy parents and kids out here. Every Thursday at six o’clock, we have free tennis lessons. We’re a non profit organization that plays tennis here and have been here for decades. We travel to different cities to play other clubs, too.

As of today, there are only two blacks who were inducted into the Kentucky Tennis Hall of Fame and that’s Arthur Lloyd Johnson and my friend Bruce Stone. That’s part of the legacy of the West Louisville Tennis Club. 

I’m a certified tennis coach and I work for the United States Tennis Association. That’s the same organization that pays Venus and Serena Williams. We have a chapter here called the USTA of Kentucky. I’ve been in different schools, targeting the areas that’s not exposed to tennis. So, we’ve been to all of the West End schools trying to expose African American youth to tennis. 

This is the home court for St. Francis and Central High School. It’s been a decade since Central’s had a tennis team, so it’s been pretty good for the community. Hopefully, we can continue this venture with the community, exposing kids to another sport. Not only that, we’re just trying to help raise kids in the community.

My brother, Frank, introduced me to tennis. He really got excited with Arthur Ashe won the Wimbledon in 1975. He went out and bought a couple of rackets and I didn’t have a choice but to come out and play with him. He taught me how to play. That was in the mid-seventies and I’ve been playing ever since. As the years went by, I realized that it’s one of those sports that you can play in your seventies and eighties. I had a cousin that played until he was 83 years old. It’s one of those sports that gets under your skin and you can’t help it. You can’t play basketball and football forever.

We do a lot of fellowshipping and having fun out here. Plus, you get to stay in some type of shape. It’s a lot of fun. We have tournaments where people will come in from all over and get points. If they earn so many points, they can go to New York. 

I’ve been kind of disappointed and hurt by West Louisville’s crime situation. I started an organization called 'Prevention 2000’ which is about keeping kids safe. My wife, my daughter and I would go teach kids about stranger danger but I’m really concerned with the number of deaths that we had. 

I’m concerned about the lack of affordable housing and jobs. If people can’t work, they can’t live. There’s no affordable housing here. The ones that are available, are getting bought by investors that don’t live here nor care about the community. If you can’t work and have a safe place to live, what kind of quality of life do you have? It seems like no one wants to get really involved in matters, such as this, until it affects them and that’s too late. We need to be more proactive with those things and the community will be much better, as a whole.” - Mr. Donnie, Chickasaw

"Life goes on and you can’t let it stop you. You can’t sit in your misery because you won’t get ahead. You gotta keep pushing and move forward. Everyday’s a blessing. You gotta love your life.” - Justus, Russell

“When it comes to performing at Forecastle, I’m speechless. Last year, I performed with 1200, as one of his backup singers. Now, I’m honored to have a chance to hop on the stage, grab a mic and show people what I have to offer.

I’ve been performing since the age of nine and been writing since eleven. Personally, I have a lot of growing to do, musically. I think that if I mix my personal life with my music, it’ll show that I’m keeping it real with people. I can put my life experiences inside the booth, write about it and record it. It’s my outlet. I put my all into this music thing. By the grace of God, I’ve been able to perform, write, and sing music.

I've always had this mindset to where I wanted to be the best. To be the best, you’ve got to believe the you’re the best and I believe that I am. I just want to push myself to be better. I’m too competitive. I have to continue to work hard. My parents told me that if I find myself sitting on the couch, somebody else will be working harder than me. I don’t want that. That’s why I push myself mentally and physically to get in the studio, whether that’s pushing a button or writing a rhyme. 

In the West we need love, more voices, and we need to come to together. There’s too much hate going on in the city. We need more people out here, to start a movement and not down talk the youth. It’s time to better the city. We need to show the youth that they can pick up a mic, a pen, or a camera. Put the guns down. You can pick up anything and use to better your community. We need to come together and it all starts with you. It starts with that one person that’s willing to speak out and come together to show people that we can come together. It’s all about love, more voices, and coming together.” - Metez, Shawnee

Catch his performance during the West Louisville Showcase, this Saturday, at Forecastle!

“After all of the performances that Amped allowed us to do, we don’t think that we’ll be nervous at Forecastle. When we get up there, it’s going to be like woah! It’ll be a big crowd but it will be fun.

We’ve had a lot of experiences and opportunities with Amped. We feel ready. Amped helped us be more confident and not be so nervous. We want to let our words be known to the public. We want to tell our stories that are really valuable to our community. It’s about getting a different message out. Now, there’s rappers that are always rapping about girls and other things. It’s not a lot of spotlight on Christian rappers.

We want to encourage and help people with our songs and make it so that they can relate to it.” - X, Chickasaw

Catch their performance during the West Louisville Showcase, this Saturday, at Forecastle! #FORECASTLEWEST

“How do I feel about performing at Forecastle? It’s about time! It's crazy to see us still celebrating the "first" to do things but there has to be a first. I look forward to the impact of our participation and how it affects the Forecastles that follow.

When people walk in their purpose, all that other stuff comes with it. I try to inspire other people. But then again, people don’t be knowing their purpose, so they’re out here lost.

I couldn't ride a beat, when I was younger. So, when rapping and stuff, I couldn’t ride a beat. I didn’t like it. Instead, I started writing poetry. I used to get made fun of in middle school for speaking properly. They used to call me ‘white boy’ and stuff like that. I wrote a diss poem about my bullies and during lunch or at a talent show, I would spit the whole poem. I would go in on my bullies. I would say something like, ‘because I play soccer and speak proper, well every duck don’t go quack’. I was going in, bruh. From that point on, in middle school, people left me alone. They knew I could spit. I was 12 years old. 

When I was 13 years old I was trying to make change, political change. I was speaking words that would get me assassinated. Now, at 30 years old, I’m more concerned about teaching other people the craft and then teaching the young adults how to teach the craft. I need the pipeline.

I didn’t have any mentors. It was me, by myself. As I got older, I realized that the outlet needs to be there and accessible to everyone. I’ve been going to these big ass assemblies, talking about all of these literary devices that people can use to express themselves. At the same time, I want people to do some type of good for the community. Now that I’m older, I’m just worried about leaving it for somebody else.

I’ve lived in a lot of places in Louisvile. I lived in Newburg, Shively, and the East End. When I got older, I realized that the West End has real people. I wanted to live around my people and people who were humble. I use it in an economic and personality sense. I’m humble as well, economically. I don’t have a lot of money and I’m still out here. It feels good. It keeps me humble. 

The West End needs financial infrastructure. When I say financial infrastructure, that means that we need jobs that can be stipend for living in the West End. If the city said, ‘Hey, West End residents, you’ve been impoverished and we kept you under and put these plants in your space. We want to give you clean air and pay for your rent for a month or two’, that would be beneficial to the city. The West needs some type of economic restitution on behalf of the city. 

The West End also needs leisure activities. There’s no reason why I have to drive 10-15 miles to go to a movie theater, and I’m talking about Baxter. There’s no reason why I should have to go all the way out Dixie to go to a paintball range. There’s all of these abandoned lots, all of these abandoned places. Give us a paintball place. You’re upset about kids shooting? Give them something to shoot at a paintball range. Hell, give us a gun range. Why not? We got permits out here. 

Lastly, we need good, safe, healthy food options. Stores are far. I know that the city is trying to add stores and stuff. We don’t need nothing new. We just need an update on what we already got. Man, 28th doesn’t have bad vegetables because it’s on 28th. They have bad vegetables because Kroger doesn’t give a fuck about the people that go to the 28th store. If they did, we would have better choices. It’s not about expanding, but perfecting and maintaining the the quality of service. We need good food, good jobs, and good play.

Spread love. Honestly, it’s a choice. If somebody cuts you off in traffic, it’s a choice to beep your horn. It’s a choice to be mad about it. It’s a choice to give them that power to make you mad. Spread love from the smallest, most humble person with nothing to the biggest CEO or President. If we are not going to deal in the value of humanity and love for humanity, then we are dealing with everything that goes against humanity and everything that goes again our survival and coordination as human beings. Yeah, spread love and make the right choice.” - Lance, Chickasaw

Catch his performance during the West Louisville Showcase, this Saturday, at Forecastle!

“We’re pretty excited about performing at Forecastle. We looked it up and seen that it’ll be around sixty thousand people. That’s a really big crowd, so it’s a big deal. Together, we’re real hype and we feed off each other’s energy. We’re just accomplishing our dreams by letting people hear our message.” - El Fuego, Chickasaw

Catch their performance during the West Louisville Showcase, this Saturday, at Forecastle!

“I’ve been locked up 3 times, since my son passed away. I’m going through a lot. My son was 5 years old and he passed away this year. I’m trying to shake back and get back on the right path. I’ve got 4 other kids and stuff. I’m just going through a lot.

He had an allergic reaction to peanuts. I was getting ready to start a new job at the hospital. He had an allergic reaction, which was unexpected. He wasn’t with me at the time. I let him go to his grandmother’s house and that was my last time seeing him. That shit hurts. It still hurts. It was just March 31st of this year. It’s still raw. 

I’ve been dealing with it in the wrong ways. I act on shit and then about shit later. That’s what’s been getting me in trouble. I don’t know how to deal with grief and I keep so much anger built up. The smallest thing will trigger it. 

My kids keep me motivated. I gotta get back to what I was doing at first. I still got kids to take care of and this ain’t doing nothing but hurting them. I just want me and my kids to be straight. That’s all I worry about. I ain’t the type of person that goes to clubs or anything. I’m just all about my kids.

I do want to go back to school. I wanted to work my way up at the hospital but I ain’t gonna let this stop me. I’m gonna get back in it. I want to do anything in the hospital field. I just want to do something different. 

Love your kids. Be there. There’s a lot of parents that are absent. You just never know when it’s going to be your child’s last. At least I can say that I was there for my son. But something happens to them and you never get the chance to say you love them or say bye or anything like that.” - Devanna, Shawnee

“Being in the West is cool. It’s not what everybody makes it seem. It is a tougher experience, compared to people, who are on the outside, looking in. All they do is advertise the bad shit. People are just making it worse than it already is. It could be better. It needs to be a whole lot better.

Treat people the way you want to be treated. It’s not all about skin color. Just try to help somebody and it doesn’t necessarily have to be with money. You can just talk to someone and help lead them down a different path. Man, treat people the way you want them to treat your kids. That’s what it boils down to. 

My life ain't no where near over. I done live a lot, so I don’t even think about me. It’s about bettering my situation for the next generation to come. That’s what it’s about. You've got to put values in your kids. That’s where it is. Half the stuff that we need to see, hasn’t been put into these kids. I was lucky to have some of the role models that helped me. These kids need role models.” - Squeak, Russell

“This is my son. He’s 9 and I’m 62. I got a clean slate, right here. I have two older sons. In my early life, I tried to stay focused on providing safe and comfortable surroundings and making it nice for my family. I missed out on a lot. This is my second go round. My mother said that God is giving me another chance. I missed so much with my first two. Now, I see it. I’m able to be here. I’m getting to pass my knowledge to him and that’s the benefit.” - Charles (right) & Marion (left), Shawnee

“I was born and raised in the West End, off 36th & Market. My experience in the West was good. I got 8 brothers and sisters. My father’s a hard worker. My mom died when I was 15. She had breast cancer. My father was a parks worker. He would cut the grass and stuff. He would be at all of the parks throughout the city. He did the damn thing and I’m proud of him. He just had a stroke a few days ago. We’re so used to him being the backbone and with that, everything is breaking down. I really feel bad.

The West End needs more people, like back in the day. We need more concerned people. We need more activities and community centers. We used to have the Galleria. We were able to take a Pepsi can to Kentucky Kingdom and get in for free. We used to have block parties. We need more people to guide the youth and take some time to get to know them. Let the kids get out. Nowadays, it’s all about video games and telephones. We need more people to be active and caring. The community needs a lot. Knock on the door and ask an elderly person if they need something from the store or do they need their grass cut.

 Some people just asked me if I regret writing the book. I don’t regret it but I regret what my father’s going through because his heart hurts for me. I never wanted that for my father. People asked me why I did it and I honestly did it to make it better for my family. I was the provider. I told God that if I write this book, I would obliged what he’s asking me to do, and that was to stop escorting. I was the kingpin of escorting. I was putting everybody on top. Was I eating off of them? No, I was breaded. I just wanted to make people’s lives better but I feel like I made it worse. 

It’s been rough. Everybody in the family can’t be around the kids. I can’t be around my grandkids. I can’t even talk to them. It’s not fair. My intentions were never to hurt anyone. It was never personal between me and Rick. I don’t know Rick but what I said to Rick was that we’re the same people. The only difference is that he’s got a lot more money and we come from two different sides of the track. Our spoons are still silver. His may be a $1 million spoon and mine might come from Walmart. 

I never meant to hurt anyone. I saw the ins and outs with the players. I saw all of the that. I seen the players breaking down because they were dismissed for smoking weed or something like that. I saw all of that. I never meant to hurt anybody. I just wanted my family to be better. 

God told me that I’m going to go through 40 days and 40 nights, but I have to trust in him. Let him guide me. He’s going to create a path for me. I need to believe in him, not other people. He’ll guide me and it’ll be okay. See, things don’t always come in money. For me, I lost my whole family and all of my friends. I lost everything because everyone thought that I was going to come into millions and I didn’t. I can still hold my head up, thought. I had lawyers tell me that I did what nobody else has done. I just had to hold my head up and keep pushing. 

I’m a hustler to my heart because that’s where I came from. That’s just what it is. Do I hurt people? No, I try to humble myself. If I got it, I give it to people. I still get smacked every now and then. It’s just another band aid that God’s got for me. Keep it pushing and it’ll heal.

Stand in your truth and stay true to your heart. Strive for whatever it is that you want and push forward. There’s so many road blocks and obstacles but that’s just what they are. We will get through them and get over them. If there was never any obstacles in life, there will be nothing to get over. You have to go through obstacles in life. It’ll be okay. Stand in your truth. If it’s true, you stand by it 100%. That’s what my father would tell me.” - Katina, Park DuValle

"Before my granny died, she would always tell me to play football and get my family out of Louisville. Right now, I’m in a bad school, because of what happened in these streets. I’m getting out of there, real soon, when I get to ninth grade. Hopefully, I can go to Ballard and play football for them. 

Sports keep me focused. Before I got shot, I used to be on the gang gang stuff. I don’t even be on that stuff anymore. My granny used to all tell me that ‘if you live by the streets, you’ll die by the streets’. Ever since she told me that, I don’t be gang bangin’ and I’m back in sports.

My daddy died the day after my 5th birthday. He was supposed to buy me a game system and the police ran up on him, out of no where, and started shooting at him. He had a gun on him. He died. 

I got a little brother and sister that I have to look out for. I be telling them that dong bad stuff is not gonna get you anywhere. It’ll get you locked up or in jail. I’ve been trying to stay in sports, to get that stuff off my mind. That gang bangin’ stuff’s not gonna get you dead or in the penitentiary. I’m not trying to go there, I’m trying to live. I just want to live my life. 

My mama has cancer, too. Me and my cousin, Tajean are going through the same thing. Both of our mamas have cancer and both of our daddies are dead.  I always think about my mama and my daddy all the time, so I have to play football, to get that stuff off my mind. I gotta focus on the sports. My daddy used to play for 10th St. I always wanted to play for 10th St. and they let me on the team. Now, I’m trying to go to Ballard and stay focused on that.” - KeiRon, Russell

“I’ve been in the West End all of my life. It’s been cool. I don’t even come out a whole lot but when I do step out, it’s cool. It’s always something to do. It’s just something about the West that I like. Everybody thinks the West End is bad but it’s not. People just need to come together.

My passion is modeling and designing clothes. Other than that, I’m not into anything else. I’ll buy some clothes and rip them up, distress them, and put my own little style to them. I also like styling people and putting their clothes together for them. I like dressing them up and getting their hair and makeup ready for them. Seeing their reactions and making them happy, makes me happy. That’s when I realized that it’s a passion. I want to take that stuff and build it. I’m trying to build my brand, now.” - Jasmine, Chickasaw

“You see people fall apart out here, man. Drugs and alcohol get to them. I see people that I used to hang out with, everyday, shooting up and shit. It’s a hell of a jungle out here, bro. People don’t get it. They just ride by and think that it’s just a nice neighborhood. It can be a jungle. You have people that live here and have to deal with this shit. I stay away from it all. I just stay positive, bro. It’s some negative ass shit. It’s heartbreaking, it’s tragic. 

I’m just trying to make my world a better place. To tell you the truth, I’m going out west, bro. I’m going to Cali. I belong in a booth, using my vocals. I’m trying to be rockstar. I’m an artist. I already have a graphic design degree, so I’m going to take it and run with it. 

What keeps me focused on my passion is my drive. My grandpa brought my family from nothing. He set a goal for himself to have a million dollars before he turned 30 and he did it. I got some big shoes to fill. Plus, I’m the first born. That’s my motivation. 

My motive is just peace and love everywhere. I don’t leave no bad blood anywhere, even with my exes. I just don’t do it. I stay peaceful.” - Corey, Portland