Gameboy: "Don't call me a rapper"
Sacramento.
Capital City. "City of Trees." Home of Kings and Monarchs alike.
Launch pad of the mass 19th century migration westward known as the
"Gold Rush." And in 2002, America's "most-integrated city" (Time
Magazine).
This integration can be seen in the mid-sized city's simply complex
inhabitants. Meet Markas Andre Valdry-Santos otherwise known as
Gameboy. This spirited 21-year-old of Black, Latino, and Pacific
Islander decent hails from the Meadowview/Valley Hi neighborhood of
South Sacramento, notorious for its disturbingly high crime rate and
the inspiration behind his moniker: "I got a little A.O.B in me
(laughs). Everybody I know is from Meadowview, so my boy started
callin' me M-Game and it just stuck. Then everybody started callin me
Game for short, [and] I rode that out until I started callin' myself
Gameboy. Plus, I wanted to take off the affiliation to that other
guy."
A look at his inspirations prevents any further affiliation with "that
other guy." Just as diverse as his background, Gameboy draws from a
wide-range of influences that affect his music: Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z, My
Chemical Romance, Gnarls Barkley, underground rapper Murda Mook,
Common, Erykah Badu, Freeway, Musiq Soulchild, and spoken word artist
Shihan round out his personal Top 10. With such a wide-range of
artists to draw from, it's futile to ask Gameboy about his niche in
hip-hop: "I don't rap. Not even a little bit. Soul music would be
the best category, minus the singing. Even REALITY would be good."
Gameboy attributes his propensity towards being real "in a line of work
where personal integrity is almost always thrown out the window" to
his humble beginnings. Raised by a proud mother ("my best friend")
with support from his grandparents and later his step-father, the
young MC is all too familiar with the struggle of day to day living.
"Finances? In the beginning, we didn't have any finances. Me and my
step-bro would alternate shoes every other day so people thought we
had two pairs of shoes instead of one, no lie. Things got better as
my moms got older, by then I was already takin' my lunch money to the
dice game."
At an early age, Gameboy realized that he would have to be the master
of his destiny if he was to prevent this cycle from continuing.
Honing his skills to reflect his quick intellect and sharp wits,
Gameboy has mastered a distinct delivery pilfered with crafty
punch-lines and layered meanings that often require a "rewind" to
fully grasp. When asked what makes him different from other MC's out
there, however, he remains hesitant in applying labels: "man I cant
fill out my own grade report."
He hopes that this dedication to his craft will yield a change for his
loved ones while providing him with a platform to express his unique
point of view. "[I do this] so that one day I can own my first house,
get my moms and 'em out of Sac, and just positively affect the masses.
I just need a conduit for my ideas and the rest will follow."
Provided the right access, Gameboy believes he has the talent to
redefine a genre that has been overrun by gimmicks and
narrow-thinking: "They gonna remember me one way or another as someone
consistent. Real. Just Markas. You know when people can't find the
right words to describe someone and they say something like Oh,
Markas? Markas is, well.MARKAS! Everybody will know exactly what
that means."
LINKS:
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theonlymgame
