LEGACY

By GEOFF FOX The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 13, 2007

WESLEY CHAPEL - At 17, Brandon Greene was a high school dropout, addicted to drugs and ready to die.

In desperation, he prayed to God.

"I said, 'If you can help me, I'll give you my whole life,'" Greene said.

His resolve was tested the following day when friends showed up to party.

Greene declined.

Now 28, he says he has kept his word to God.

Married, with a 2-month-old daughter, Greene runs a one-man recording studio out of his Lexington Oaks home in Wesley Chapel. His company, Leg Up Music, produces Christian hip-hop and R&B music, and he performs under the name Legacy.

"Anybody that creates art or writes draws on their experiences, whether they're personal or emotional, and if they have a spiritual side, they draw on that, as well," he said. "I have a Christian and spiritual worldview, and that naturally comes through in the music I do."

Hip-hop artist Carlos Ramirez, who records as Los 1, was at Greene's studio recently, working on an album about "abstinence and sexual purity."

Inside a makeshift studio off Greene's foyer, Ramirez stepped into a foam-lined closet and rapped through his new song, "Detox," while Greene worked a sound board about 10 feet away.

"He's real good," he said of Greene. "The process can get pretty sticky, and if you have a guy that doesn't know what he's doing, it won't come out [sounding] professional. I need someone like Brandon who can tell me when something isn't coming out right."

Smoking Pot At 14
Greene, a self-taught producer, said he became interested in rap music while growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., where his brother's friend worked as a deejay in a local club.

At 14, when his family moved to Brooksville, he had started drinking and smoking pot. By 17, he had been taking drugs and drinking heavily for four years, he said.

The alcohol and drugs fueled his depression, pushing him to the brink of suicide.

"I just realized that my life had a purpose and meaning, and if I died, I wouldn't fulfill it," Greene said. "I wouldn't know what my life was meant to be. I'd just be remembered for being a drug addict and being rebellious. God revealed that to me."

He turned to God, praying alone in his room.

His transformation from a rebellious, pot-smoking teen began immediately, he said.

Shortly after, Greene passed a General Educational Development test and began attending church.

About that time, a career path started to emerge.

The previous year, Greene had begun working part-time at Brooksville radio station WWJB, 1450 AM, where he spent five years as an announcer, engineer and deejay. He began developing his production skills in his spare time.

In 1997, he enrolled at the School of Urban Missions in New Orleans, where he earned an associate's degree in urban missions two years later.

"I was in radio and finding some talent, but I wanted to use those talents to [explain] what happened in my life," Greene said. "But I needed education to be able to speak on something. If you want to be a lawyer, you study law. It was my responsibility that to speak on Biblical things, you should have a Biblical foundation."

In 2001, he returned to Florida and started interning at Crossover Community Church in Tampa, where he lived with Ramirez, whom he'd met at a rap competition, and other aspiring artists.

He spent about four years at Crossover, where he did chores, mentored young people, led Bible studies and taught children basic production skills.

"It was practical, hands-on things that I got to be a part of," he said.

At Crossover, he also met a woman he'd gone to school with in Brooksville.

"Originally, we knew each other in eighth grade, but we were in different cliques," said wife Pam. "Our paths crossed again at Crossover in 2002. We just started talking from there. We got married a year later."

Developing A Client Base
In 2005, Greene returned to New Orleans with Pam to work at the School of Urban Missions, where he did recruiting and other work. After Hurricane Katrina hit, the couple returned to Florida.

All along, he was performing Christian rap at church and community functions. Through the years, he assembled a collection of computers and other production equipment.

Back in Florida, he developed a small base of clients.

"I just had a sense that I had that I could step out and act on," he said. "We looked at [the possibility of producing music full-time] and prayed about it and considered the risks. I definitely felt there was a good enough client base, and I was getting more contacts through the client base."

Pam said the business is doing well. For now, she said, their home is fine for the studio, but they have discussed eventually moving the business to a storefront.

"We've talked about being more in Tampa, but he has so much business around here, too," she said.

Greene has about 20 regular clients, including several artists from Fla.vor Alliance, which ministers to the hip-hop culture through Crossover, as well as a folk and acoustic artist from Miami who records as Brisette.

For a self-described former drug addict who "wasn't very literate," Greene has come a long way.

Within five years, he said he hopes to hire an administrative staff and possibly partner with a video producer.

He is driven, in part, by a desire to prove worthy of his stage moniker, Legacy.

"I looked in the dictionary one day and thought [legacy] sounded cool - an inheritance, something passed on," he said. "When I'm gone, I'll leave something behind.

"I didn't want to be remembered for drugs, but as a godly person who loves his family." - The Tampa Tribune

Review: Green Light
Written by LaRosa
Monday, 14 August 2006

Legacy - Green Light
(Indie)

Florida, like Pennsylvania, has always been a home for solid Christian emcees. Florida is home to notable holy hip-hoppers such as Urban Disciple, KJ-52, Rawsrvnt, and Pettidee just to name a few. Now, with the success of his own albums and Crossover Community Church, Urban D is branching out and beginning to release other artists under the FLA.vor Alliance banner. One of these artists is an emcee by the name of Legacy and this is his debut album titled "Green Light."

Like a lot of new artists, I really haven't heard much from them, so I'm taking the album at face value. The cover art is nice and it gets the point across (wearing green Celtics garb). But cover art doesn't mean much in the long run because it's all about the music. So, let's talk about the music. When you listen to Legacy, he sounds like a blend of Urban D and KJ-52. It's a very nice sound, but albeit a bit familiar.

This is a very upbeat and bouncy album, much like you would expect from the state of Florida. Now, this isn't dirty south crunk bass bumpin bouncy, but more along the lines of a KJ-52 bouncy album that's more fun in nature. A perfect example of this would be the title track "Green Light." This is a very upbeat anthem type song that is perfect for getting a crowd moving. Legacy isn't limited to just this particular style though; he is able to get serious and speak about real issues like on the song "Livin Proof." Things do get a little crunk on this album though with the "Battle Cry Remix" featuring Florida native Rawsrvnt.

If I were to sum up this album, I would have to say that this is a pretty average album. Legacy did his thing and brought a solid effort for a freshman release. Listening to this album, you could definitely tell who his influences were. With that, the beats were on point and the lyrics & delivery were on par. This album is definitely for those that feel emcees along the lines of Urban D and KJ-52, so if you like them, you'll like this project. It's a green light, so it's time for me to go.

For fans of: Dirty south, throwin' bows, Pettidee, Rawsrvnt, clean + fun music from the south

*** OUT OF ***** - Sphereofhip-hop.com