Arioose

February 17, 2011, Staten Island, NY. Former gang member turned inspirational hip hop artist Arioose won over an audience of several hundred students at Port Richmond High School.

Just four years ago this hip hop role model was involved in a Haitian gang, sold drugs and was facing three years incarceration for an armed robbery he committed with another gang member. Shot and nearly killed, Arioose found himself hitting rock bottom in a juvenile prison in New Jersey where he would later learn his craft of songwriting and producing music.

Enter Karam Nahas, the criminal defense attorney who represented Arioose as a juvenile and is currently his manager. Arioose wanted to change, wanted something better for his life, but didn’t now how to go about it. He reached out to Karam. After a rocky start, Karam promised to help Arioose if he graduated school and worked hard at whatever his ‘legitimate’ passion was. That turned out to be hip hop music. Over the past three years, and one year since his release, Arioose has written over 50 songs, recorded at studios on the East and West coasts and performed wherever he could at athletic events, universities, clubs, and private parties. “For a Minute,” a song written by Arioose, mixed and mastered by Spider at the Tony Maserati studio, was performed in Las Vegas at the Rio Crown Theatre while “Playing my Hand,” a song mixed by Ibo Butler and Sotti Entertainment, was released in Las Vegas on Power 88. Arioose has also performed at the UFC Boston Fan Expo in 2010 debuting his UFC track called, “Anything Goes…” and last summer performed at the Van Warped Tour on tour with Columbyne, a rock band.

At Port Richmond, Arioose sang: “Pain in 1804,” a song about his homeland Haiti; “Don’t You Care,” about renewable energy; and several commercial songs written for corporate sponsors like Untamed Industries Apparel Company. Arioose finished the show with a surprise -- a fight song he wrote for the Port Richmond Raiders. Arioose received ovations during his inspirational story and was thanked by many kids who enjoyed the show.

Quotations:

“I’m just glad I can give back and inspire others with my story through my music. Someone helped me change my life, I want to help others, especially the kids.” --Arioose

“Port Richmond had a great vibe and we enjoyed doing the show. Arioose has a long road ahead of him – as do many kids. Playing schools is an excellent way to reach kids, many of whom could go either way and simply need some direction and support.” -- Karam Nahas Esq.

Student reaction to the show? Here’s one text:

“yhu came 2 mii skewl 2daii & truthfully, ii wuz like here comes someone else tryna 2 tell us wat 2 do but bye the end ii wuz like im really liking dhis way of teaching...yhu were good. well thanks 4 coming 2 us wit the truth, & some background of yourself...instead of like ii said telling us wat 2 do, hope yhu can come back soon” - ROUGHKUT LLC