Tragic Hero: How his own worst enemy grew to be his best ally

Tragic Hero understands the difficulties of life like the back of his hand.

The backhanded mark upon his lonely mother’s face triggered him to get between his parents at an early age. The difficulty of life bled true when he cast his only father out of the house. The lyrics that were written in his notebook bled through when he became accustomed to the dark shadows of his very own worst enemy.

“I want to say that these things that get in the way have helped me in my life,” Tragic Hero told Rapzilla. “The more that happens, struggles that I go through, things that I see, experiences on personal levels, the more material that I have to work with. I’m not saying that I’m out here looking for drama. What I am saying is that those things that get in the way — issues, struggles, hardships, errors, time periods that are really dark — they create advantages when it comes to writing. Some of the stuff that happens in life is just unavoidable, and some of it is necessary for me to go through to learn to be a better man, a more Godly man.”

Born to Write

Dr. Tony Evans has said, “Success is not what you’ve done compared to what others have done. Success is what you have done compared to what you were supposed to do.”

Tragic Hero was destined to write and started at the age of twelve. His dad had been renting out a house in North Camden. Tragic Hero found a notebook in the house and started memorizing the lyrics on the pages. He went to school and started reciting the words like they were his own.

Peers were impressed and encouraged him to write more of the same. After being affirmed for somebody else’s lines, the instilled confidence caused him to write superior authentic lyrics. From that point on, creativity of his mind continually conceived naturally talented librettos.

“I might have reached ten thousand hours of writing,” Tragic Hero said, “if I hadn’t backslid in my addictions. From the ages 21 to 24, I stopped writing completely. Every single day after that, I wrote like mad because I had to make up for the years I hadn’t written anything.”

Tragic Hero, at one time, has had more than 1,700 voice memos of lyrics, song ideas, and melodies. As time passed, the writing materialized faster in his mind. The older he got, the savvier he seemed to become:

“The more I practiced on the piano, the easier it came to me,” he said. “I see the process much clearer now. I can sit down with an artist for an hour. If I understand who they are, where they are coming from, what they are working on, and the inspiration, I can usually write everything within minutes. It’s happening more and more often. It’s becoming a straightforward technique for me.”

Although Tragic Hero has years of writing experience in the tank, he claims that he is just getting warmed up in his career. He spends more time studying the dynamics of literature and how to write like an author. He has been implementing literary devices such as varying dynamics, plots, characters and allegories into his future projects.

“It’s funny because I don’t think that I’ve arrived where I want to be,” Tragic Hero said. “One of my natural strong suits is writing melodies. The more I study on writing, the more I understand about composing. I’m starting to interpret a lot more about music theory that I haven’t even touched on yet.”

Fighting His Own Worst Enemy

Aristotle has taught, “A tragic hero is a literary character who doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.”

Tragic Hero was drinking and doing stuff that he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He was living his life in a way that, deep down, he really didn’t want to live. One day, everything came crashing down.

He lost everything and had no place to go. He moved back in with his family. The night he moved in, he looked out the window and saw rain pouring over everything.

“I just shrugged my shoulders and knew it was God,” Tragic Hero said. “It was during a time when I was really repentant. That was probably one of my most intimate moments with the Lord.”

A couple of months later, Tragic Hero was able to find a house without a job. The house that he found at the time of turning his life around is the same house he lives in today with is wife and son.

“Every time I come in here I am super grateful,” Tragic Hero said, “because I know that I didn’t get this on my own merit. I literally had no job when I signed those papers and the Lord provided for me anyways. I will always be grateful to God for that.”

Tragic Hero declares that the most important priority when it comes to addiction is to have accountability.

“I know that it sounds really cliché,” he said, “but it was really hard for me to do that because I don’t trust very many people with sensitive information. Fortunately, I have been able to get around good people that love me for who I am, have gone through similar issues, have been able to defeat it and have control of it in certain areas. I continually need to be challenged in order to grow. That right there helps me out a lot when it comes to staying out of trouble.”

After getting his life on track, Tragic Hero jumped right back into music. He quickly met one artist after another, which eventually led him into meeting producer, Wes Pendleton during recording sessions.

Shortly thereafter, he learned about Rapzilla through various other artists who had been helping him with assorted projects. He got in touch with producer, Hot Handz, and then touched base with Marty from Social Club to help with their first mixtape. Paths then crossed with producer Wit, and everything fell into place for the first foundations of My Own Worst Enemy, which dropped on June 23.

“Wit loved some of the writing I was doing when I was in the studio,” Tragic Hero said. “He invited me to work with Dre Murray, Christon Gray, Alex Faith and I was able to do a lot of writing for them, earning myself a couple of feature roles. It seemed to take off from there.”

Being an Allied Husband & Ideal Father

Malcolm Gladwell has written, “We learn by example and by direct experience because there are real limits to the adequacy of verbal instruction.”

When Tragic Hero was young, he wasn’t very confident. A lot of old habits that were seen between his parents have subconsciously entered into his own relationships as husband and father at times. It is the product of growing up in a house where the relationship between father and son didn’t meet the standard.

Going through challenges with his own father has really taught Tragic Hero how to be a better spouse and parent.

“Being with my stepson has taught me about the concept of adoption and being adopted as God’s children,” Tragic Hero said. “I can confidently say that my son and I have a great relationship, and we’re super close. I know that it is the Lord teaching me how to love in my life. Growing up with very little has made me appreciative of everything I have. I know that the Lord can take away everything in a blink of an eye. I lived a life where I did have everything taken from me. So, I try to make sure that I instill that into my son and my wife — to appreciate every single thing that we get and to take care of it.”

Buy My Own Worst Enemy on iTunes or Amazon today.

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