Denziblue

Jerome Denzel Barnett aka Denziblue was born and raised in the Harlem River Houses in Harlem, where his musical journey began at the tender age of five dancing at local block parties and watching local celebrities like Master Don and the Death Committee perform during the summer back in the mid 70's. During his teenage year's Denzi, his twin brother Jermaine and a few other neighborhood kids began to freestyle just for fun but as time went on Denzi began to take music more seriously so at the time of his mother's death he began to write more diligently while living in Kansas with his older sister who took him and his brother back with her after burying their mother. In 1988 Denzi and family returned to NYC for good and that is where he and Jermaine came across BMI and decided to become songwriting affiliates by creating SOL/Infinity Music Works at the age of 15 , with big dreams and aspirations Denzi met Producer and Entrepreneur Clifford L. Marshall of Dressed In Black Entertainment who then took him under his wing and made him his main hip-hop artist , through his connections Clifford booked Denzi under the moniker Lil pepz (which he is still known as when performing with his group Kontraband) to perform everywhere from Taft High School in the Bronx to Baltimore street fairs with the then unknown R&B Group Dru hill and then on Thanksgiving 1992 he had the pleasure of performing in a freestyle cipher with future goddess MC Lauryn Hill and her group the Fugees who liked him so much that they kept in touch for a while and although nothing ever came out of the relationship he used this experience to power his dreams of being a recording artist by linking up with his twin brother Jermaine, his god brother Leslie Clarke and childhood friend Vincent Perry to form Kontraband a hip-hop group with the lyrical appeal of Common, The roots, Kanye West and Black star individually known Mos def and Talib Kweli. While recording with Kontraband in 2003 Denzi was diagnosed with bipolar depression disorder a condition brought on by a lack of neurotransmitters in the brain which causes people to go from one emotional extreme to the next and even causing them to lose their jobs, families and even their lives by means of suicide, it was during this time that Denzi began to feel the full of effect of bipolar especially after being separated from his wife and then ultimately divorced his outlook on life began to look rather bleak until one day he decided to take his family's advice to use his creativity to channel his emotions instead of giving into his suicidal thoughts. So with the support of his friends, family and inspiration from his son Jaden he began to write and record songs that would eventually become a solo project aptly titled “Bipolar World Disorder” where he drastically displays his lyrical prowess and his soul production skills on songs like “Through it all” featuring ShaNeyce Robinson in which he serenades his oldest niece with wisdom about the responsibility of being a young mother and then there is the soulful kings men produced “Downward Spiral “ featuring SDM which is a summary of the trails and tribulations that he faces dealing with bipolar. And although he is still working on the Kontraband album it is his solo project that truly shows who denziblue is as an artist, father, friend and an advocate for bipolar awareness.