Kevin Jerome Gilyard, also known as Kevin Gates, was born on the 5th of February, 1986. He is an American rapper, entrepreneur, singer, songwriter and has a master’s in psychology. Several of his songs have topped the US Billboard 200, his 2016 debut album, Islah, peaked at the number two spot on the US Billboard 200 chart. His mixtapes such as Stranger Than Fiction, Luca Brasi 2, and By Any Means have peaked in the US Billboard 200 chart. He ventured into the hip-hop world in 2007 till date. Read on to know more about the tragic story of why Kevin Gates started his career in rapping.
Early life
Kevin has had a very rough life since he was a child. His mother is a Puerto Rican, while the dad is African American. His first arrest was in 1999 when he was only 13 years of age, charges being he was joyriding as a passenger. While he was still a little boy Kevin Gates lost contact with his biological father, years passed by, and when he was a teenager, he reconnected with his father. Gates lost his dad, who succumbed to complications from AIDS when he was only 14 years old. Kevin attended Bato Community College when he was 17 years old.
The reason behind rapping
According to Hotboxin, as a guest on Mike Tyson’s podcast, Hotboxing with Mike Tyson, Kevin Gates revealed to the world a side of him that he had suppressed for quite a long time, intensely personal things. When Mike Tyson’s co-host, Henry Cejudo, posed the question “ what brought you into the rap game” Kevin opened up about issues most people did not expect. He claimed to have been molested as a child, he did not disclose who exactly molested him, but he went on to state mechanisms he used to deal with the psychological torture.
Kevin further went on to say how rap was like an escape from all that was happening around him because he had stated that he came from a very violent and pretty harsh environment filled with aggressiveness. After being molested, he felt vulnerable, making him take up every single kind of martial arts available. He did boxing and every other thing that he could lay his hands on to feel macho. In his own words, Kevin Gates says, “I wanted to be the toughest person on earth. Music was an escape for me”. He further states how he did not have the strength to come out and admit to the world of that part of his life.
Statistics on Child molestation
Kevin joins several celebrities who have opened up about being molested as children, such as Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Evan Racheal wood, Terry crews, Ellen DeGeneres, and Tyler Perry. This is according to Ranker’s vote on everything ( https://www.ranker.com/list/celebrities-who-were-sexually-abused/celebrity-lists ). Kevin stated on Mike Tyson’s podcast that after he released a song on how he was molested, whenever he went to the gym, he would meet bodybuilders and other men who at times would hug him and break down begin to open up about how they also suffered something of the same sort of close to what Kevin Gates experienced. This shows that many people are suffering from the psychological effects of being molested when they were children. This makes one wonder if the current generation of youngsters is also going through something like this or probably worse. Statistics show that 1 in 10 children will be sexually molested before their 18th birthday, this is according to Darkness to light. The statics further state that 1 in 7 girls and 1 in 25 boys will be sexually molested before turning 18. When people come out and openly admit to being molested and showing that they are still pushing on, it is a way to show the younger generation that despite their experience, they should not let it be a setback in their lives.
Why he ended up in prison
Kevin has been involved in several legal issues; just as he dived in the hip hop world in 2007, he found himself behind bars from 2008 to 2011, where he spent 31 months. He earned his master’s degree in psychology by taking up a prison program. He was later released because of good behavior, after which he went back to music. Kevin was yet again arrested for possession charges of having illegal firearms. He went on to say that he was innocent and only pleaded guilty, only to reduce his sentence. In his own words, he said that one could “beat” the charge, but one cannot “beat” the ride. If he claimed his innocence, he would have still been in jail, fighting the charges for three to four years. The most logical reason behind how Kevin Gates was found in so many criminal cases is that he wanted to hide his vulnerability. It all makes sense now.
His career in the rapping world.
In 2007 Gates was signed up by a local label Dead Game Records; he has done several collaborations with different musicians like Boosie Badazz and Webbie during the mid-2000s. His music has majorly been inspired and based on true stories and events of his life. In the song “All or Nuthin,” which was released in 2008, Gates describes a lot of pain. He paused his music career in 2008 after he found himself in prison. Amazingly he did not give up. While in prison, he took up a course that helped him reveal his past. After coming out of prison, Gates immediately went back to music, and in 2012, he released the album “Make Em Believe” this gave him a good start again, and Young Money Entertainment signed him up as he caught the attention of Lil Wayne’s. Unfortunately, he didn’t join them but started his own record label, which marked the beginning of his career afresh. As we can see, Molestation and imprisonment were part of Kevin’s life, but his tragic story has not prevented him from being who he is.
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