“Bushwick Bill”
by Sharon/Ladee Storem/Acres

“FROM THE STREETS 2 THE CHURCH”

We all know him from the former Rap Group “The Ghetto Boys” with the hit single back in the 90’s “My Mind Is Playing Tricks On Me.” From a suicide attempt that left him blind in his right eye. We know him as the one and only BUSHWICK BILL, he has turned his life around to live for the Lord.
LADEE STOREM: So…what was the turnaround point in your life that made you decide to change your rapping career to positive rap and Holy Hip Hop?
BUSHWICK BILL: I didn’t think Gospel and Rap would go together until God showed me it was possible. I grew up in New York and Rap was a form of talking, back in the eighties rap always started off from someone that has been incarcerated more than once or had a run in with the law more than once. My album is a Ministry and I made sure that throughout this album there’s scriptures to go with the thought and the concept that’s been portrayed.    .:read more:

LADEE STOREM: I understand that at the age of eighteen you were professed to be an ordained minister, please explain?
BUSHWICK BILL: Through Redemption Ministry I took up a course in Theology and graduated. After graduation I stopped off in Texas to visit my sister and I met DJ. Ronnie Mack and DJ. Ready Red. DJ. Ready Red was a member of the Ghetto Boys, they had a song called “You ain't nothing” and “Car Freak” that was out at the time. I never knew I would be a member of the group because I was on my way to Florida to visit family and go back to New York to do missionary work with Redemption Ministries. My life took a dramatic change because I always had a love for music and that’s why I feel blessed that I can do music for God and not for the devil. Because he was the chief musician in Heaven before his falling, that’s why I can see how music can influence the negative in life. I thank God that I can influence the positive in life through music.

LADEE STOREM: How was it growing up for you? Did you feel you had to step up the game to make it on the streets?
BUSHWICK BILL: I never had to fight for popularity, being short people notice you, but when you’re willing to stand up and fight for yourself you’re going to get your respect. That’s why I’m willing to stand up and fight for the Lord and bring the deliverance through Christ and the knowledge of our Heavenly Father. Just like Bob Marley said “You Got To Get Up Stand Up, Stand Up For Your Right To Fight.” We have to fight for the kids out there and show them that there’s hope, discipline and love through Christ Jesus.

LADEE STOREM: Let’s go back to the day or night when you shot yourself. Why did you want to commit suicide? Do you feel that the Lord had something else planned for you and this is the reason why you didn’t pass away?
BUSHWICK BILL: The Bible reads in Peter that the devil once ran the earth as a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour and I was his prey. At the time I needed $500 dollars for my mom’s Blue Cross Blue Shield deductible and I couldn’t get in touch with the record label. When I did, they said they were too broke to pay attention. Back then I didn’t understand the different regulations of the music industry. I thought nobody cared, so when I went home I opened up the Bible that was all ready in the bathroom. I read a scripture and I felt that if my mom wasn’t my friend then who is? It was a misunderstanding for what God stands for because suicide is blasphemy and at the time I didn’t understand. I thought it would have been the right thing to do. I thank God for his love and mercy and he saw fit to give me another opportunity to still be here.

LADEE STOREM: Are you still in contact with Scarface and Willie D? Will there be another Ghetto Boys album? How difficult would it be for you to go from Living for Christ to reliving the Fame, Money, Drugs and Street Life from the past? Please explain?
BUSHWICK BILL: People always respected my lyrics with the collaboration of Scarface and Willie D. They always felt my pain and my confusion and if I’m going to share the growth in my life, then I would have to show them the spiritual growth through Christ Jesus. If it’s God’s will for me to do another album with the Ghetto Boys then it’ll be God’s will, but right now I’m focus on what God has me doing right now. It was just ordained for me to learn the art of rap so I can deliver God’s message through the music.

LADEE STOREM: The songs I’ve heard on your album are very touching and uplifting. I’m really feeling “Going To The River,” “Testimony of Redemption” and “Praise of A Good Woman.”
BUSHWICK BILL: The title “Praise of A Good Woman,” I never really had an opportunity to say anything decent about women in general during my ghetto music. So I thank God that as long as there’s life there’s hope and I can show that I do have common sense to understand that all woman are not evil, derogatory or prostitutes. When you read the Bible it talks about different powerful women even the Virgin Mary, she was a chosen woman by God. There are women out there that have the potential to be a good woman through Christ Jesus. “Going To The River” that’s like a rap baptism song. I never heard a rap baptism song I’ve heard the old gospel traditional “Take Me To The Water” song that I love till this day. I just thank God that I have the rap baptism song that kids can understand in a poetic form and to understand that it’s very important to wash the old man away and become a new man or woman in Christ Jesus. 

LADEE STOREM: Please tell the readers how they can purchase your new album and what’s next for Bushwick Bill. Will it be movies, a reality show, a new album in the making??? WHAT’S NEXT??? CENTERSTAGE MAGAZINE WANTS 2 KNOW!!!
BUSHWICK BILL: The skies the limit and nothing is impossible for God. So, I’m looking forward to having a reality show that shows the difference between living in the flesh and living in the spirit. I’m working on a movie called “Road to Redemption” that’s based on the Testimony of Redemption. It will show my trials and tribulations from my best to my worst. It shows how happy I am since I surrendered my life to Christ Jesus. I have updates about my album on my myspace page. Log on to www.myspace.com/therealbushwickbill for more information.

LADEE STOREM: Thank you for your time and much success to you on the Positive Tip. We need more positive messages in music today more now than ever!
BUSHWICK Bill: I would like to thank G Spot Productions, my wife Cindy Angel, my mom and dad, my kids and all the saints out there who kept praying for me and working with me to get me as far as I have.

 THIS YOUR GIRL ONE MORE TIME BRINGING YOU THAT GOSPEL 411 UNTIL NEXT TIME…..LIVE YOUR DAYS WHILE IT’S DAY BECAUSE 2MORROW ISN’T PROMISE 2 ME OR U AND U

ARE YOU A GOSPEL ARTIST/HOLY HIP HOP RAPPER? DO YOU HAVE A TESTIMONY? IF SO, WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU SO PLEASE CONTACT LADEE STOREM @ storm500037@hotmail.com
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