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Memphis Ash

HipHopWired.com: We want to know how you originally got introduced to music. We’re hearing that it was through your mother because she used to rap around the house all of the time. Is that true?

Memphis Ash: Yeah, both of my parents actually got me into music. My mom used to freestyle around me a lot. She had the old school flow though {laughs} . She’s real country, so when she would spit, I thought it was dope. Then my Dad, he was touring in Japan with his R&B group before I was born. He taught me how to play piano and bought me a guitar. I also took violin classes in school. My Dad used to have people record his shows and put them on DVD, so I was inspired by seeing that.

HHW: You were raised in a Jehovah’s Witness household. Forgive our ignorance, but, just what kind of music were you allowed to listen to?

Ash: My Mom was fellowship at the time. So that means you just practice it, but you’re not in the church yet. You’re just going to Kingdom Hall like everyone else. The things we listened to probably weren’t going to be allowed if anyone knew. I was raised that way, but we didn’t live by the hard guidelines. We didn’t celebrate birthdays and holidays, but we I wasn’t restricted on what I could listen to. .

HHW: Memphis has traditionally become known as a hard town to grow up in, what was your experience like?

Ash: In Memphis, you got gangs on every single corner. Walking to school you might get asked, “what you bang?” Even as a kid you can’t make the mistake of wearing wrong color. But my main problem was living in unstable conditions at home. My parents were splitting up, so I was always with my Mom. She was kind of stubborn, on that whole “I don’t need a man,” thing. So she was doing it all by herself and we were always in last place. I remember transferring schools four or five different times in one year. My mother was always in and out of jail for random stuff so she was rarely around for anything. I remember when I was 13-years old, she got locked up for six months. I wound up living with my Grandfather and his people, but, I didn’t know them like that. I was always having to stay with people who I didn’t even know like that, and getting abused a lot of times. That forced me to get out on my own and make friends with people in the street so I could have a Plan B. That’s how I got introduced to the ‘hood. My childhood was rough, I don’t look at it as traumatizing. We slept in shelters, behind homes. But I prevailed. I just look at it as what made me who I am today.

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