Lou Armstrong

LOU ARMSTRONG…



Born in New York City, in the borough of Manhattan to his Dominican mother and Puerto Rican father, who abruptly left when he was merely 3 years old, Luis Ramos learned to deal with loss at an early age. His immigrant mother was forced to move throughout all the boroughs of New York, working under the table jobs just to make ends meet. Life seemed like a never ending struggle for about 2 years, when finally God sent a light to shine on Luis, his mother and older brother. The light was a young, flashy Dominican named Biembenido Alberto Duarte, who until this day Lou considers his real father.



Shortly after these tough times, life took a change of pace for the Ramos Duarte family. With the new addition of two brothers and a step father with money, cars and clothes, Lou finally began to experience life as a middle class kid, with some upper class treats. Everything seemed fine until around the age of ten when Lou's family had to get up and unexpectedly move to a new state called Massachusetts.



As usual they did a lot of moving around, but Lou never fully understood why. That was all until the day his mother had to leave out of town and came back with the news that there father was now in the army. At that point she turned to Lou and said its time for you to become a man. His father was sentenced to 24 years in prison for possession of two kilos of cocaine. Then with no job skills and very little knowledge of the English language, Mrs. Duarte chose to continue in the business that her husband had left behind.



For the next few years Lou recalls harsh experiences such as the horror of his door being shot down, forcing him and his brothers to hide under their beds because Columbian drug dealers were looking to kill their mother. Even through all of this adversity, Lou never lost a love for music. It seemed to grow. It all started back in the days while living in the Bronx, where hip-hop was created

.

Influenced by rappers such as LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Kool G Rap, Lou always dreamed of becoming a MC. With a gift to entertain crowds and catch people's attention Lou began to write rap songs at the young age of 13. Shortly after the Duarte Ramos family’s home was raided by police and in a frustrated effort to put fear in Mrs. Duarte, they threatened to take her kids if she did not leave town. Mrs. Duarte not wanting to take a chance with the law once again, decided to pack their bags. She grabbed her four sons and fled to a city that would change their lives forever, that city was Boston Mass.



Just two years into living in Boston, while going into his sophomore year in Charlestown High, Lou was once again forced to deal with the loss of someone he loved. His older brother Alejandro Francis died after a lifelong fight with muscular dystrophy. This made Lou begin to take his passion for music even more serious.



He began to go places like downtown crossing, ruggles station, forest hills and other subway stations around the city to battle other rappers and earn his respect as a Latin rapper in a city where the majority of the rappers were African American. In the hallways of Charlestown High, Lou would have large crowds of people gather around and watch while he would freestyle and battle other rappers for hours.



By his senior year he was kicked out of Charlestown high and expelled from Boston public schools for selling drugs. Lou eventually received his high school diploma from a small alternative high school called El Centro. After high school, he realized that no one is going to hold his hand and at the age of 19 began investing his own hustle and work money into his music.



Shortly after, his long time friend known as gambino, noticed that he had talent and began to help with the music investments. They both believed in Lou's talent, but knew that being a Latin rapper would be against them and that they would have to work extra hard to be recognized. Inspired by the source magazine, one of the biggest magazines in the world, Lou and Gambino decided that their grind and presentation is what will separate them from the rest of the artist’s trying to make it out of Boston.



They put their money together, shrink wrapped a van and put out their first cd titled: Hitmakerz “We Here Now”, which was a 5 song e.p that they promoted for a year. Then they put out Hitmakerz Vol. 1, which they promoted for another year. Shortly after that they also put out Hitmakerz Vol. 2 and were about to call it quits after 3 years of promotion and grinding. That's when it happened. All of a sudden they started receiving calls for shows, music cd’s and it was as if you couldn't be on a street in Boston without someone playing a Hitmakerz song. 7 cd’s later and 200,000 plus sold, the Hitmakerz are the talk of their city, and many other cities as well. Their hunger, drive, persistence and determination, earned them the respect of their entire state.



Opening up shows for artist such as 50 cent, Jim Jones, Akon, Usher, etc. and getting on mix tapes from well known DJ’s such as Big Mike, Kayslay, DJ Scope, DJ Carmillo and others helped the Hitmakerz begin to truly make a mark in the rap game. Yet in a city know for hate and violent jealously, it was not easy to gain their respect and the Hitmakerz seemed to be put to the test and challenged at every show.



Then one day an event that would change Lou’s whole life took place. A local home town hero from a nearby city was shot and paralyzed and Luis Ramos was charged with six counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon. With 60 years and a 5 million dollar bail over his head, his long dream of taking his family out of the hood and making it in the music industry seemed very far away.



After a short bid in the house of corrections, Lou posted bail and was introduced to a term that lawyers love: a high profile case. What that mean from that point forward, was that his life would be dedicated to hustling to pay lawyer fees, while at the same time still feeding his family and pushing his music.



The rapper that was once on major magazines, major mixtapes and looked upon by major labels, is now a risk for labels and too negative to be booked for shows and played on the radio in his city of Boston. To make things worse, a few months later his younger brother Alberto Duarte, as well as a very close friend Hillary green, were both shot and killed a week apart, in unrelated incidents. After these two tragedies, Lou was at the point where he was very close to quitting rap and the dream of trying to make it for a city he grew to love, but that had brought him so much pain and suffering, was dwindling away. At the moment when Lou felt all alone and when he sensed that people turned their backs on him, is when the streets embraced him the most and his city got behind him throughout his whole case.



Recently on April 2008, exactly 3 years after he was accused for attempted murder Lou finally beat his case and is now in what he calls super, focused grind mode to become the legitimate hero of a city dying for someone to shed light on a huge, yet almost ignored talented music scene. "I want the world to know our side of the story, by a dude that really been through it out here" says Lou. He is determined not to let his city down.



With his smooth monotone voice and ability to paint vivid pictures through his words , Lou continues to draw new fans that are refreshed to hear someone still deliver the music real people love to hear. When you listen to his music, it's almost like you are forced to become attached to his life story and live his experiences through him. This is the story of Lou Armstrong.



Best Of Lou Armstrong



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Street Talk Vol. 2



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Hitmakerz Vol. 6 They Ignored The Warnings



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Sreet Talk Vol.1



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Hitmakerz Vol. 5 (The Time Iz Now)



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Hitmakerz Vol. 3 (We Still Here, Almost There)



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Hitmakerz Vol. 1 (We Here Now)



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