JUSTIN LEWIS

Coming from a troublesome childhood, like a lot of rap artists and producers, Justin Lewis is no different. Living in Palatka, Florida, where anyone there can tell you that "there's nothing there for anyone", Justin managed to find trouble, or more or less... allow it to find him. But though he'd seen so many hardships, he's adamant that he found his serenity - through music. Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, he was quickly moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, to be closer to his Mother, Cynthia May's side of the family, where he spent the first seven years of his life. Justin's Biological father has been in and out of incarceration his entire life. At age twelve, Justin's Mom sent him to stay with his Father for a couple of months. During this time, John had his own lawn business: "Handy Man John's Lawn Service", which Justin got to work with him in. Though he knows little of his Father, one thing stood out to him above all. John O'brien Lewis was well known in the parts of Columbia County for his grand gift of a splended country singing voice. From singing kareoke in local bars to being known on the local radio stations such as 99.9 Froggy FM, by his legal alias: "Cowboy". Justin also got to do kareoke with his Father and says that it's one of his fondest memories of his Dad. As a young child Justin always wanted to make the sounds he heard on the radio, but it wasn't until he first moved in with his Father that he knew, that in some part of him, - he was destined to. After a short while and begining to get cold feet, he soon returned to live with his mother, Cynthia. She began to have trouble raising her three sons and was finanicaily forced to move into section 8 housing. An apartment complex called Ragsdale, in Palatka, Florida. It was there, at the age of thirteen, that he learned how to rap. Later he and one of his best friends, Terrance Gibbs, would write raps together in school and battle at the lunch tables. They later formed what was Justin's first group/band... "ColorBlind". The name came from Terrance being black, and Justin being white. They enjoyed the word play. Like a lot of teenagers without much to do as far as recreational activities, he started finding things to do. And most things.. illegal. He became what was referred to as an "out of control teen". Somewhere over time, during the few years that this all took place in, his mother couldn't take it anymore and sent him to live with his Father a second time. John had recently just been released from a work release center in Lake City, Fl. This would be one of the hardest times in Justin's life. John was no rookie to the world of drugs, & so the truth is, both him and his son started selling drugs as middle men through a partner, only to make a little cash to support themselves while John was out of work. During mid 2004 whilst Hurricane Frances was tearing through I75, Justin was kicked out of the hotel in which they were living in, at only fourteen years old, under the suspicion of selling crack cocaine. After two months of being homeless, he broke into a vacant hotel room and was arrested for the first time in his life for Breaking & Entering. He spent six hours in the Columbia County Jail before a case worker came to get him. He was then placed in foster care. After living with a few familes, he was returned to Palatka to temporarily stay at the "safe house", called Interface. He saw this as their biggest mistake and used the opportunity of being in his home turf, and ran away. After remaining low under the radar for 4 days his case worker dropped his case and Justin was reunited with his Mother. After experiencing with drugs and alcohol and partying, he began to rebel and lose focus with his academics. He had already been through so much growing up that he felt as though he "knew it all", for lack of a better phrase. Just as stubborn as his Father, and due to commiting a few petty crimes, time caught up with Justin and he served a few short sentences in juvenile hall in St. Augustine, Fl, (age 15 - 16) as well as attending a six month program at Greenville Hills Academy. (GHA) (age 16 - 17) At age fifteen, he recieved his first guitar for Christmas, from a man whom his mother was seeing at the time. It was a classical accoustic guitar. He had a few lessons on it, learning the basic chords. While Justin was in his six month program, he had the opportunity to work on the D.O.T. crew, mowing grass and cleaning street signs, making fifty-four dollars a day, every other week. When he was released, he recieved a check for $386, and immediately rushed to the Palatka Music Center and bought his first electric guitar. An all white Lotus Strat Copy. In the early months of age fourteen, while living with his mother, a few short months before his struggle in Lake city, he met a man named Derrick. Derrick was a very skilled guitar player with twenty years of practice. Derrick saw the devotion in Justin and became his mentor and confidant. He taught him everything that he knows about guitar. Shortly after being released from GHA in mid 2007, he and his Brother, John Paul Lewis, were invited by Derrick to become roadies for the local Palatka band that Derrick played for. There he became very knowledgeable in setting up professional band equipment such as amps, wires, mics and P.A. systems, drums, guitar effect pedals and bass setups. It was also when he first learned how to use chromatic guitar tuners. From the age of 17 - 22, Justin spent a majority of time playing the guitar and writing alternative rock melodies. Though his love for Hip-hop has never stopped, he's had few oppurtunities to fund the production of his music, due to lack of finding work in today's economy. Now, at 22 years of age, Justin is adamant that he wants to pursue his music in the hip-hop / rap genre, telling his story and trying to find ways to occasionally relate to others who may have been through some of the same things he went through. Having used the freeware software, Audacity a few times in previous recordings, and learning how to use certain tools therein, and playing around with the beat making software, Fruity Loops Studio or Fl. Studio, composing his own instrumentals, he has gathered much knoweldge on how to record and produce. After buying his first USB condenser microphone, Justin is making it a stuborn point to have his first album release be completely independent.