Cleveland — He is the voice of one of our own.
Straight Outta East Cleveland, Rapper Ray Jr. only chose music after attending college on a basketball scholarship and earning a degree in Communications.
"What? All this education and you wanna write music?", Natasha Watts recounts her first thought when she learned her son was a legit Rap Artist.
Today, Ray Jr's mom couldn't be more proud.
The popular Rap Artist is also “educating, training and developing the next generation to excel in music”, his mom says.
Local aspiring R & B singer Cassidy King is an excellent case in point.
"Yeah he helps me out. He’s a great guy. A great mentor. If I have any question about my music I turn to him. Everything I am I owe to him," King says with a smile.
"Never forget where you came from. Then you gotta lead by example," that, Ray Jr. says, is his story and the jist of his new book, “Legit Paper”.
He says it means money made honestly.
"Coming from where we come from we don't have a lot of options," Ray Jr. says.
His story is about beating the odds.
"You know, using your brain and doing things that's different and not scared to be different in a good way. I mean music is the start but it aint the end," Ray Jr. says, pointing out it’s how he got here but it doesn’t define him.
Ray Jr has mentored thousands not just other rappers who've made it.
"He's paid for proms. He’s paid for kids schooling," his mom says, proud to be able to brag.
“It just feels good to help people. Making sure they do the right thing and always giving back to the community," says Ray Jr, a husband and father of 3.
He has also been inspiration to countless other kids like 11-year-old Jameer Church from Citizens Academy who is also from Cleveland and proud.
Jameer was all smiles when he got Ray Jr.’s book signed for his birthday.
"Because when he wrote this book I got inspired and I wanted to be more like him," Church says, still smiling.
"Stay on the right track and be good to people and everything else will work out," Ray Jr. says from experience, because he's has been there.
"Being broke. Being rich. Being talked down on. Made fun of. Lost friends to the streets. All that," Ray Jr. says.
He still visits friends in prison saying he loves them like family and hasn’t forgotten about them.
It’s also not lost on him that it could have been him.
“Yeah. That’s in the book too. You should read it,” he laughs, saying he’ll even sign it for Channel 3 News.
Perfect, we say for a home grown kid from Cleveland who’s still Sees The Possible.