Peezy: Yea I graduated and got my journalism degree in 2005. But I stayed in Bowling Green for about another year or two after that.
Did you want to stay in Bowling Green?Peezy: Naw. My life had took a turn for the worse when I blew an opportunity that I had for an internship right after graduation.
Can you talk about it?Peezy: Yea man, I don't have anything to hide at all because I'm not fake. I think a lot of people that don't know me, or think they know me, get the wrong perception a lot. What I do and how I function around my job and my family is strictly professionalism and respect for my family members. But how I function outside of those two is the way I really am and where I feel most comfortable.
So what was the opportunity you had after graduating from WKU?Peezy: I'm not gonna put out any company names, but it was a newspaper in Atlanta, Ga. where I was offered a paid internship, which can sometime lead to an immediate hiring of a full time job after the internship. Anyway, I blew that opportunity because I was making poor choices in my life at that time. That's when I really put my music in front of my career and began to live recklessly.
What was so recklessly about your life at that time?Peezy: For one, I had a daughter with my high school sweetheart around our sophomore year in college (she went to the same college as me.) So after I graduated and blew my opportunity with the internship, I felt like I didn't have a pot to piss in. I didn't have a job. I moved into my girlfriend's apartment at that time and was really searching to find myself. I quit doing music because I wasn't getting paid for anything. Most of all, I didn't have any way of supporting my daughter at that time other than her mother, her family and my family. Sometimes I would just ride out in the middle of nowhere at night and just sit in my car, contemplating on what my next move was gonna be.
So what brought you out of this funk, or how did you get back on your feet?
Peezy: Easy, my parents. Regardless of what I was doing at that time, they never gave up on me. It's like when a person is on their deathbed in the hospital and the only thing they have left to support them or be there for them in their time of need is their family. My family didn't turn their back on me. My girlfriend at the time was very supportive and even helped me find a steady job in Bowling Green at the time. I had a lot of doubters, but I had more supporters that were there for me in the time I needed them.
How did your parents help you out?
Peezy: Well after they told me about myself, (laughs), they would always give me that encouragement and belief that I needed to know that I can get myself out of this situation. And I definitely know it was their prayers as well.
At what point did you land back on your feet again?
Peezy: It was when I got my first reporting job in Huntington, W.Va. at a newspaper there. I felt like I was on top of the world because things were finally going right. My girl at the time was still finishing school after she decided to go back, I could finally support my daughter now, and I was doing it all by myself. Couldn't nobody tell me nothing. Because my girl had to finish school, I had to live by myself in Huntington for about six months, and that's when I decided to get back into music.
Was this when you started getting back in the studio and recording again?
Peezy: Yep. This person I worked with who was real big into music introduced me to a producer there name Michael Crawford, who went by Mr. Mike.
How was your first encounter with him?
Peezy: I was nervous as hell! I didn't know him from anywhere and he didn't know me, so it was kinda weird at first. We went into the studio and started listening to beats he made, I gave him a few tracks, then one of his boys was like, "If yo' shit nice man, he'll give you a beat." So I spit a few bars and the rest was history.
Was that the closest you had ever worked with a producer before?
Peezy: Well, for what I was trying to do, yes. For me, it was more about the chemistry we had, and the fact that I wasn't your ordinary rapper. I can honestly say that, I don't think Mike ever met a journalist who worked at his local newspaper and was tryna rap at the same time. I'm a different kind of person, special and unique all that the same time, ya dig?
By Desmond Harris
Stay tuned for the conclusion of my three-part interview with Peezy as he continues to get more in depth with his past and present relationships, the dating life, and where he stands at now with his music and journalism career.
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