BILLY KANNON

"Music is healing for me," replies the laidback, 25 year old wordsmith named Billy KANNON as he takes a deep breath standing in front of a local Recreational Center near his home. "I've always had some type of demon in my life, but music has always been my way of releasing those demons." Born Curtis Mitchell Jr and raised by His parents in the smog-laiden, crime riddled city that is East Chicago, Indiana, by the age of 13, his parents had been divorced, he lost a brother to cancer, and from that point on, he would cling to the musical artform that his big brother had introduced him to at just five years old. "When I was a kid, my brother Butch had Too Short's Short dog in the house, Man I loved that CD!" Being exposed to all types of music, from Rakim to Chaka Kahn, Billy atributes his all-around style to those experiences. In the summer of 1999, a then-sixteen-year-old Curtis found the same passion for music in two childhood friends, Michael Jernigan and Carlton Weathersby. They rounded up a 13 emcee group called LOCKDOWN FAMILY. "We were just having fun, I think we might have recorded like two songs in whole time we were together." Hoping to branch off and united two of the prominent sides of EC(East Chicago) Harbor and Calumet, the trio hooked up with another super group headed be another chilhood friend, Dwayne Bazziel Jr., and his TGE imprint. Believing that they could make waves in the local rap game, the factions combined and formed HIGHPOWERED ENTERTAINMENT in 2000. "I learned alot about loyalty in that time," we went through a lot" Comprised of five emcees, JOE BRAND, NIGMATICS(BAZZIEL), FLOW(WEATHERSBY) MIKE JERN(JERNIGAN) AND TRUTH(MITCHELL), They became local stars, and their debut EP "OFF THA WALL:THE EP", debut to great praise. Bickering within the group lead to its disbandment in 2003, but the members remain close. At that point, Curtis was determined to keep moving. With a local musical genius and good friend Chris "Symphani" Austin orcestrating the bangers, TRUTH penned a now-classic Ep entitled "They Don't Know My Life". Still not yet garnering the attention that his local peers enjoyed, the two set out to prove the nay-sayers wrong. "I think my first REBELMUSIK Mixtape was me in full attack-mode for real." 2005 was a horrific year for Truth, In 2001, his father died and in the summer of 2005, his mother succumbed. The then-22 year old father of a baby girl came to the conclusion that it was time for a change. That December RebelMusick Vol. 1 was released to rave reviews. Riding high on the popularity of the Disc, His musical partner left town to pursue other endeavors. That's when the musician would meet the Indiana Pioneer known as "FingerRoll" from Gary IN. Truth officially signed with FingerRoll's NoTamin Entertaiment label. When it came time to make RebelMusick 2, TRUTH was no more, only BILLY KANNON remained. "It was a new beginning for me" With production from FingerRoll, LuckyStar, Symphani, NO I.D and other legends, RM2 was a instant smash. "I don't even view it as a mixtape, that shit's like a album!" states an enthusiastic Kannon. Now with his new Label GO-TEAM INTERNATIONAL, the Indiana Ambassador is preparing to release his epic mixtape deservingly titled "POWER". "It's that time again buddy!" Story by Jake Prince.



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