By the time the RedCloud was in seventh grade, he was an active gang member, he had been arrested twice and he had participated in a drive-by shooting. Clearly, his life was going downhill fast and the Hawthorne, California-raised rapper knew he had to make a change. “I was so determined to live better and do this for my mom and my family,” RedCloud says today. “I knew I had to get out of the gang. I knew I was going to die or go to jail, like I already had.”

Read more about RedCloud on Last.fm.