Kevin Jerome Gilyard, also known as Kevin Gates, was born on February 5, 1986. He is an American rapper, entrepreneur, singer, songwriter and has a master’s degree in psychology. Several of his songs have topped the US Billboard 200, his 2016 debut album Islah peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200. 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 world of hip-hop in 2007 till date. Read on to learn more about the tragic story of why Kevin Gates started his rap career.
Early life
Kevin has had a very difficult life since he was a child. Her mother is Puerto Rican, while the father is African American. His first arrest came in 1999 when he was just 13 years old, accused of riding a carousel as a passenger. When he was still a little boy, Kevin Gates lost contact with his biological father, the years passed, and when he was a teenager, he reconnected with his father. Gates lost his father to complications from AIDS when he was just 14 years old. Kevin attended Bato Community College when he was 17.
The reason for rap
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 asked the question “what got you into the rap game,” Kevin brought up issues most people didn’t expect. He claimed to have been molested as a child, he did not reveal who molested him exactly, but he went on to state the mechanisms he used to deal with the psychological torture.
Kevin went on to say how rapping was like an escape from everything that was going on around him because he said he came from a very violent and quite harsh environment filled with aggression. After being mugged, he felt vulnerable, which forced him to take up every type of martial arts available. He did boxing and whatever else he could get his hands on to feel macho. In his own words, Kevin Gates says, “I wanted to be the toughest person in the world. Music was an escape for me”. He further states that he did not have the strength to come out and admit this part of his life into the world.
Pedophilia statistics
Kevin joins several celebrities who have said they were sexually abused as children, such as Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Evan Racheal Wood, Terry’s Crews, Ellen DeGeneres and Tyler Perry. It’s according to Ranker’s vote on everything. Kevin said on the Mike Tyson podcast that after he released a song about how he was assaulted, every time he went to the gym he met bodybuilders and other men who sometimes hugged him. and were breaking down, starting to open up about how they were hurting too. something of the same kind of close to what Kevin Gates went through.
This shows that many people suffer from the psychological effects of having been sexually abused as children. This begs the question whether the current generation of young people are also going through something like this or probably worse. Statistics show that 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday, according to Darkness to Light. Statistics further indicate that 1 in 7 girls and 1 in 25 boys will be sexually assaulted before they turn 18. When people come out and openly admit to being abused and show that they are continuing, it is a way of showing the younger generation that despite their experience, they should not let this be a setback in their lives.
Why he ended up in jail
Kevin has been involved in several legal issues; just as he plunged into the world of hip hop in 2007, he found himself behind bars from 2008 to 2011, where he spent 31 months. He earned his master’s degree in psychology through a program in prison. He was later released for good behavior, after which he returned to music. Kevin was again arrested for possession of illegal firearms.
He went on to say he was innocent and only pleaded guilty to reduce his sentence. In his own words, he said you could “beat” the load, but you couldn’t “beat” the ride. Had he maintained his innocence, he would still have been in jail, fighting the charges for three to four years. The most logical reason behind how Kevin Gates has been found in so many criminal cases is that he wanted to hide his vulnerability. Everything is explained now.
His career in the world of rap.
In 2007, Gates was signed to local label Dead Game Records; he did several collaborations with different musicians like Boosie Badazz and Webbie in the mid-2000s. His music was mostly inspired and based on true stories and events in his life. In the song “All or Nuthin”, released in 2008, Gates describes a lot of pain.
He interrupted his musical career in 2008 after ending up in prison. Amazingly, he didn’t give up. In prison, he took a course that helped him reveal his past. After his release from prison, Gates immediately returned to music, and in 2012 he released the album “Make Em Believe”, which gave him a strong start, and Young Money Entertainment signed him while he was catching the eye of Lil Wayne. Unfortunately, he did not join them but created his own record label, which marked the beginning of his career. As you can see, Molestation and imprisonment were part of Kevin’s life, but his tragic story didn’t stop him from being who he is.
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