JUK

"Find Your Mind" Music Video



border="0" width="500" height="188" />



JuK was born in Bordentown, N.J., as the youngest of 3 children (Kristina (older sister) and Daniel (older brother). By age 5 though, the family quickly moved south to Cape Coral, Fl., where he was raised. JuK was not allowed to listen to rap music growing up.



He came up singing in the church and school chorus, but never took it too seriously, until an injury in his Junior year of high school, that would forever change his life. After getting hurt in a pick-up game at the local basketball courts, JuK was placed on crutches and had to remain inactive for 6 weeks, while his ankle healed up. Not able to do the normal things JuK was accustomed to, he decided one day to sit down at his dad's old piano, and play a little bit. Well what a great decision that was.



Within 6 weeks, JuK had found a new talent, previously undiscovered up to that point: song writing. JuK began working hard at the restaurant and saving up money, and within 5 months, gave up his NBA dreams, and had recorded a CD in a local recording studio. JuK produced the entire album himself on Fruity Loops. It was more of a pop CD with a little bit of Hip-Hop influence. He started selling CDs around school, and by the end of his senior year, had sold over a thousand CDs.



After graduating, instead of flying out to LA to take on the music industry, JuK listened to his parents and went to college at the University of Florida, where he studied Journalism. Going to a brand new place of over 50,000 people, JuK struggled to adjust. Starting at the bottom of the food chain again, where he didn't know many people was a hard change, but JuK saw Hip-Hop as his way out. JuK dug deep into his poetry of expression, and started studying the greats of the rap game restlessly, as he scribbled his own thoughts in his journal. He studied Nas, Jay, Em, Big, Pac, Lauren Hill, Big Pun and Big Daddy Kane, just to name a few.



He got into a rock/hip-hop band called 'Star 69' and began honing his rock song-writing skills on a guitar he had borrowed from his father, while teaching himself how to play that guitar. The band toured regionally around Florida for two years and came out with an album in mid 2005, but then quickly broke up, because of creative differences.



It was also there at UF that JuK was given the nickname 'White Chocolate', as the only white boy in a nationally known Hip-Hop dance group called 'Apocalypse Dance Troupe.' He performed on BET with them in 2004 and 2005, at their annual Spring Bling competition.



Also in 2005, JuK formed a short-lived hip-hop group with fellow Gainesville rapper, Raw-D, called 'Black and White Television', and they dropped an album called The Bridge is Laid, which gained some minimal underground attention.



After graduating UF, JuK moved back home with his family and got a job selling construction equipment at the local Hertz Equipment Rental in Fort Myers, Fl. However, after a year and a half, JuK could no longer let his dreams of music pass him by. In February 2007, JuK rented a 14-foot Budget rental truck, hooked up his '98 Ford Escort on a trailer, kissed mom and dad goodbye, and drove cross country to LA.



Really being on his own for the first time in his life, JuK made some bad financial decisions and worse personal decisions. During this time, however, he managed to drop a Hip-Hop album called hE=eMCee 2, which he had recorded much of in Miami with Latin Superstar Daniel Rene. Still trying to figure his life out though, JuK was in no position to promote the album properly.



Down and dejected, JuK dug deeper into his own personal pit.



Yet it is only by God's incredible grace that we are saved. After hitting rock bottom in some of the hardest times of his life (for details, check the lyrics), JuK finally let go and let God, as he started back to church again. Through the incredible pastoring of Dave Polus and Michael Wenger, and the incredible friendships of people like actor Josh Ferguson, he eventually rededicated his life to Jesus Christ, and will never be the same again.



That's where this album Get Free sits, at the beginning of his amazing new walk with Jesus. Amidst a past of ups and downs, JuK is now a new creation in Christ.



"Hip-Hop Artists Need to All Shut Up" Music Video



Music available on ITUNES NOW under "JuK" or album "hE=eMCee Squared"