A GEM IS A STONE, ANY WAY YOU LOOK AT IT. GEM WAS BORN IN LOS ANGELES AND RAISED IN OAKLAND UNTIL THE AGE OF 9 WHEN HIS FATHER PASSED AWAY, AND SINCE THEN GEM HAS BEEN LOCATED BETWEEN LOS ANGELES, OAKLAND, AND ARIZONA. GEMS FATHER IS FROM MONROE LOUISIANA AND HE CAME FROM A FAMILY WHO WERE BORN INTO SLAVERY, EMANCIPTED AND WERE ABLE TO OBTAIN WELL OVER A HUNDRED ACRES OF LAND AND KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY FOR OVER A 134 YEARS...... GEMS MOTHER IS FROM BELIZE, WHICH IS IN CENTRAL AMERICA. SHE WAS BORN INTO A FAMILY OF MIXED CULTURES, HER MOTHER IS FROM HONDURAS, FATHER FROM JAMAICA, AND EVRYTHING ELSE SHE DONT SPEAK ON SO IM SURE IT DONT NEED TO BE TALKED ABOUT...... GROWING UP IN SCHOOL GEM WAS ALWAYS ONE OF THE SMARTEST KIDS. HIS FATHER RAISED HIM WITH RESPECT AND HIS GRANDMOTHER ALWAYS SHOWED HIM HOW TO APPRECIATE HIMSELF. GEM GREW UP AROUND PEOPLE WHO MADE DIFFERENCES AND CHOSE THERE OWN DESTINATIONS. HIS UNCLE (TERRY COTTON) WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MEMBERS OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AND WAS ARRESTED & INCRCERATED AFTER A SHOOTOUT WITH THE POLICE IN OAKLAND CALIFORNIA, IN WHICH LIL BOBBY HUTTON WAS MURDERED. GEM ALSO LIVED NOT TO FAR FROM THE LOS ANGELES BLACK PANTHER CHAPTER WHERE GERONIMO PRATT ATTENDED. BY THE TIME GEM WAS OLD ENOUGH TO RECOLLECT THINGS, HE WASNT LIVING IN A NICE HOME AND HIS FATHER DIDNT HAVE THINGS THAT HIS OLDER BROTHERS AND SISTERS WERE BLESSED WITH. GEM RECALLS GROWING UP SOMEWHAT BLESSED WHEN HIS FAMILY LIVED IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOS ANGELES IN THE LARGEST HOUSE ON 54TH AND CENTRAL, BUT THE MAJORITY OF HIS CHILDHOOD HE REMEMBERS LIVING IN A BASEMENT WITH ONE OF HIS BROTHERS, HIS SISTER AND FATHER. IN 1988 THE MOST IMPORTANT WOMAN IN GEMS LIFE (GRANDMOTHER) DIED NEXT TO HIM WHILE SLEEPING. THE DEATH TOOK GEM BY SUPRISE AS SHORTLY AFTER GEMS FATHER DIED. GEM HAD GROWN UP WITH THESE HARDSHIPS COMMON IN HIS HABITATIONS BUT WOULD NEVER THINK THEY WOULD BE THIS CLOSE. WHEN GEMS FATHER PASSED AWAY, GEM HAD TO GO AND LIVE WITH HIS MOTHER WHERE HE CAME TO SEE HIS OLDER BROTHERS AS GANG MEMBERS. SOON AFTER, GEM BECAME INVOLVED AND STARTED TO FORM HIS OWN CIRCLE. GEM STARTED TO HELP SCRATCH SERIAL NUMBERS OFF OF GUNS UNTIL THE FEDS ARRESTED HIS FAMILY MEMBERS, HE SOLD CRACK, AND EVEN ELECTRONICS TO REACH HIS GOAL OF BECOMING RICH, BECAUSE IN THIS WORLD ITS WHAT HE BELIEVED WAS HIS PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.... 6 YEARS AFTER GEMS FATHER PASSED AWAY AND HIS GRANDMOTHERS MEMORIES WERE AT END, A 15 YEAR OLD GEM WAS INCARCERATED AND SENTENCED TO 15 1/2 YEARS IN PRISON. AFTER FINDING OUT HIS SENTENCE WAS CONCURRENT GEM THOUGHT LONG AND HARD ABOUT BEING AN INDIVIDUAL AND STARTED TO EXERCISE AND READ EVERY BOOK POSSIBLE (INCLUDING "BLACK TAIL" NOW AND THEN). GEM ALSO WAS ABLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET IN PRISON AND WAS ABLE TO USE HIS TIME FOR LEARNING. THERE WERE TIMES HE THOUGHT HE COULDNT SURVIVE DUE TO BEING AN INDIVIDUAL AND NOT JOINING A "CLICK", HE BUMPED HEADS WITH SO CALLED "SHOT CALLERS" WHEN THEY THOUGHT HE WAS SOME PART OF THEIR AUTHORITY. IT WAS NEVER A THING WITH GEM ABOUT BEING HARD OR REBELLION BUT RATHER JUST BEING A MAN, INDIVIDUAL, AND LIVING HIS OWN LIFE, AND AFTER 9 YEARS AND MANY CLOSED DOOR CONVERSATION WITH CELL BANGERS, GEM WAS RELEASED TWO MONTHS BEFORE HIS 24TH BIRTHDAY... PRESENT TIMES YOU CAN FIND GEM WORKING ON HIS MUSIC, BEING A FATHER, AND COMING UP WITH NEW BUSINESS PLANS. GEM HAS HELPED MANY PEOPLE AND NOW FOCUSES ON HIMSELF HIS GOAL TO BRING GOOD RECORDS AND TRUE STORIES. GEM ALSO IS FOCUSED ON BRINGING HIS BROTHER HOME FROM A TWENTY YEAR SENTENCE IN WHICH HE WAS WRONGFULLY CONVICTED OF KILLING HIS KIDS MOTHER, AND FRIEND WHO WAS GIVIN 36 YEARS AT AGE 23 FOR PROSTITUTION IN THE STATE OF ARIZONA........ A GEM IS A STONE FOR MANY REASONS, MOST PEOPLE KNOW GEMS TO SHINE, BUT EACH GEM SHINE DIFFERENT AND GEM SHINES BECAUSE I DONT BUDGE....... MY VOTES ARE REAL..... LOVE TO QUEENS, THE WHOLE WEST COAST, TEXAS, AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO HAS LOVE........