Steps

God made someone influential in the early part of my music career in 2004. In October 2010, that person was killed.


I was a junior in high school. I had just overcome much of my depression and was in a new school now after flunking out of the last one. As quiet as I was back in high school, its almost hard to imagine that I’d meet anyone that would become an essential part of my life beyond a school setting. I can’t remember exactly how this person and I met, but our introduction to each other must’ve  been the product of hearsay. Either I heard he made beats then eventually approached him, or, he heard about me (yea right) and he came to me. OK, yea, I must’ve introduced myself to him one day. We never had any classes together and he was a grade under me. I didn’t congregate with others in the cafeteria and was very much an introvert…so…let’s just stick with the scenario of me walking up to him in a hallway one day and telling him about what I do.


Well, from that point we exchanged contact information. One day after school ended, I decided to catch the bus with him back to his house. I’d normally catch the bus to my grandma’s house but since they both stayed on the Westside, going to my buds house wasn’t too far out of the way. When we made it to his house, he pointed out an old Porsche that was sitting at the side of his house. It belonged to a family member but he was telling me that one day it would be his. I started to think to myself, “This guy’s peoples must have money. I bet he has all type of music equipment and software on the inside.” Little to my surprise, I was right. We walked up to the third floor, pass the library (yes I said “library), and into his room. We’re straight in the hood and this dude has a mini library in his house. That’s just unheard of! But anyway, we get into his room and he has a small studio set up in it. It was totally smashing the little digital recorder and microphone I had back at home. He showed me his microphone, computer, and if I can remember correctly, a mixer. There was tons of other stuff too. But check this: dude had a frickin elevator in his room! It didn’t work anymore but still…still! He talked about having Pro Tools (the professional, standard program of recording) and I didn’t even know what the heck that was back then. I just played along like I knew what he was talking about. I didn’t want to seem too far behind his knowledge that he’d start to lose respect for me or the beats I was about to play for him.


So I played him a couple of my beats that I burned to CD. I made the beats on my discontinued Optimus keyboard synthesizer that I owned. Thinking back now, those beats were so crappy but my level wasn’t so far behind his that he wasn’t impressed. I just did the best I could with what I had. He played me some of his beats and I thought that they were so much better than mine. He said that he used Fruity Loops. I had the same program but I didn’t make beats on it too much because I wasn’t satisfied with the stock instruments. I told him about this and he introduced me to soundfonts (basically a collection of better quality instruments that you could use inside the Fruity Loops program). He gave me some and I fell in love with making music on the computer. I put away my keyboard for good and made beats strictly on the computer. The quality of instruments seemed realistic although today they wouldn’t stand a chance compared to what’s offered. Two years later, one of the very beats I produced after getting the soundfonts made it to a national recording artist’s album. Please don’t ask for the artist or the song. Not really trying to have that part of my resume anymore, haha. But if you can find out, I’ll give you a reward. A cookie maybe.


But back to all seriousness, it was tragic news hearing that my bud was killed in late 2010. He was shot right at his house. We talked about a possible collab years ago but it never happened. I wonder how he felt after he found out I was succeeding in my music and his career hadn’t come too far off the ground. This also makes me think of the people in my past that helped me get to where I am today and how I surpassed their level. Its not like I never attempted to pull them up with me. If you know me, you know that I’m a giver, a servant, a helper. I know that they’re currently where they are because that’s the way God wanted it to be. No matter how much I tried to bring people with me, no matter how hard I wanted to push them, God was the one who made the final decision if they were to go with me.


Some friends are like barricades. Some friends are like building blocks. Some friends are like stepping stones. But my bud here was a stepping stone in an even more positive way. Not only did I learn from him, he was the stone I put my foot on to get me higher. A stone that was like solid ground: a foundation. The foundation that put me on a newer level in my career as a music producer. Without him being in my life, my story could’ve taken an alternate course. God used him to ultimately get me to where I am today. And I’m still going…

 

NORTH ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) — A plea for justice from the family of a young man gunned down behind his father's home. Mourners attended a candlelight vigil Monday night for the victim. There are no answers and no leads. Agassi Swisher, 21, was shot and killed at the edge of his father's driveway. Those who loved him stood by candlelight chanting his name to the heavens. Nearly 100 people attended the vigil at the very spot where he was murdered last Monday.

His father says he heard three shots that night and instantly knew his son was in trouble. Harvey Swisher found his Agassi dead on the concrete behind his home near the intersection of Page and Union.

Agassi Swisher was getting ready to release a hip hop album. He was also getting ready to be a father. His baby girl is coming on the very day Agassi was laid to rest. 

His mom Dina Howard said," He was so excited, he talked about it all the time. He couldn't wait to hold her finger and hold her. This wasn't supposed to happen." His uncle, Charles Howard, said, "If you did this and you see me turn yourself in that is the best thing you can do because god is going to hunt you for days."

The Swisher family believes Agassi was targeted but don't know why anyone would try to harm him.