Sophyne was born Robert West in a small unincorporated town right outside of Champaign Illinois.
The baby of two his father was imprisoned for 30 years due to a series of bad life decisions and was left to be raised by a young mother and 1 sister that was three years his senior. Chicago, Illinois was not what the young mother had in mind for her family, so she named her son after a local police detective who had helped her provide for her children and herself after her young love was stripped away by life and prison. Her next move would be city life, so she packed up her babies and headed for California.
They landed in San Diego, Ca. a few miles from the U.S. border Tijuana Mexico Baja California. A baby herself with babies to raise and look out for, the young beauty was a fresh face with a fresh start. She soon caught the eye of a young hustler with more experience than she and a vision for his family. They soon made it official and moved in together, at 6’ foot 4” inches 265 lbs he had a great attitude and an even better job. He was a supervisor for General Dynamics.
It seemed as if the sky was the limit for the two, that is until the young hustlers street affiliations caught up with him and began to spill over into his family life. The young hustler was affiliated with the Syndo Mob Bloods, which would eventually break off and become known as the Lincoln Park Blood Gang. During the 80’s Syndo was heavily invested in the activities that the post Reaganomics era had left the streets. Crack Cocaine and the distribution of it was one of the last and only options left available to a man trying to produce extra revenue to feed his family.... Shittt in the 80’s money damn near grew on trees or so it seemed.
However, the theory of relativity always plays a part. After the money started to grow, most cats started deviling in their product trying to not so much to get high, but to understand the allure of the drug. Most likely, the drug was a product of the Government intended to saturate the ghettos of lower and middle class America and have the minorities start killing their own communities and bring the Government out of debt at the same time. The hustler was hooked, got his woman hooked, lost his job, lost his home and in the end finally lost his family. The young beauty saw that her children were fending for themselves and knew that she had not come this far to allow her kids to live the lives of addicted adolescence. After years of leaving and forgiving, spousal abuse, child abuse and at times even worse, she finally admitted to herself that she could do bad by herself. Her children now 13 and 16, she moved in with her parents whom had followed her to California a few years earlier in search of the same dream! Sunshine, palm trees and a booming economy.
With a son that was full fledged gang banging and a daughter that was completely aware of herself and her feminine ways of persuasion, they were all three tired, tattered and a bit worse for the wear so they suppressed their pain for a few forced smiles and kept pushing forward. They would experience life together until yet again prison would tear their family apart. With one Government check that was barely enough to pay the rent. Together they paid for what little groceries they could afford and stole the rest. We survived like that for a few years knowing that all we had was each other.
My niece's father was a constant in our home at that point so what used to be 3 was now 5. He literally taught me how to be a “Man”, how to dress, how to iron my clothes, how to smoke weed, how to gang bang, I mean I learned how to hold a gun without shooting myself.. Even if not directly, My Brother L introduced me to the lifestyle that made me who I am today, Good and Bad. I can honestly say that our older Brother Byrd is the reason why I love R&B music. I could always sing but never thought that singing was manly or gangsta! Bro showed me what to love about R&B... At times I wonder if I would have gone through all of the things that I’ve been through if my mother had never left my stepfather, but that's just part of childhood trauma resurfacing.
As we grow older, our needs grew as well. Clothes, Shoes, Personal Care Products, and everything else. The level of thievery grew as well until prison finally caught up with my sister and stole 13 years of her life! It’s funny when I think about it now. Before my mother left my stepfather he left us with one last gift, a curse of sorts saying, “You think life without me will be easy?” He laughed at the thought of my mother raising us without help, then he continued to speak,”Mark my words, she is going to get pregnant and he’s going to jail”. My stepfather told my mother referring to us. As I sit here in the penitentiary recounting my life for ya’ll, I reminisce on how in less than a year of his departure my sister was definitely pregnant and I was assuredly on my way to juvenile hall.
In my years since then I have been through many unbelievable things and can remember several associates, I refer to them as such because I realize now how real friends come far and few in between. I recall several associates telling me “Sophyne, you are one of the only people that has 3 or 4,5 and 6 once in a lifetime opportunities.. I have earned my own day in the city of Imperial Beach Ca, for winning writing competitions. I’ve saved lives, had children named after me, witnessed lives being stripped away, survived automobile accidents that no person should have ever survived, I have performed in front of hundreds of thousands of people, I’ve lived in mansions, slept in cars, had bags full of money literally and I’ve been broke, traveled the entire United States through my music.
From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.... I have gotten an opportunity to perform with every single artist that has ever inspired or influenced me to write, perform or create music. Except for a few that are no longer alive such as Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke and Tupac Shakur, although my brothers Money B and Shock G are responsible for catapulting his career and I’ve spent several years working with them.
My point is, I have finally decided that it is time for me to release all of my suppressed emotions. Music was partially helpful but there is only so much that you can say through song. I now have created a platform to be able to express myself in a different way creatively. An opportunity to thrill my audience and help many others at the same time, to understand that they are not alone, That I am speaking through experience! Not just some wanna be thug trying to sound down and ain’t never been through the shit, feel me? The streets are real, the streets are alive, and the streets do not forgive... In fact the streets are like a lover scorned. It’s such a beautiful struggle, I was in love with the streets for a majority of my life, but you have to be careful because some cats get married to the streets.. The only difference is that when the streets divorce you, she don’t want 1/2 cuzzin she wants it all.
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