Yo, what’s good, its Magik a.k.a. Mr. ONE-9 holdin’ down 1913 RECORDS, I just want to tell you a little bit, so you understand my music and where I come from and why I am the man I am..

I was born on the South Side of Chicago where I was raised the oldest of two children. My interest in music began around the age of 8. When my Uncle Richy would boost CD’s, he would throw me a few and they happened to be rap. I think one of the first CD’s he ever threw me was Kool Mo Dee, but I really felt the gangsta rap because coming from Chicago it’s what you see right outside your door. Ice-T and Ice-Cube were especially strong influences. The movie “Colors is my shit.” I take the streets very seriously, so with that in mind my music is for everybody, regardless of what colors you wear.

I started off doing my music in basement studios throughout the South Side with local talent, gutta’ talent. I was in some of the most desolate, poor and crime infested ‘hoods in Chicago, it was real recognizin’ real. When you live in this type of environment, it’s easy to get caught up in the system, so like most people in that way of life, I eventually caught a case.

Between the city I live in and my own bad decisions, I’ve experienced all the punishments the system could give me, be it county or state. Whether you do a small bid or football numbers jail is real. I know what goes on there so I gotta make a point to let the people know I do this for those locked down in that man made hell.

In ‘02 I reached out to my friend and ex-codefendant MR.DRAMA, who had been out of state for a couple years. His pops gave me his number and I talked to him about the studios I was recording at and we decided it was time to get in the game and build our own studio. Drama was just the person I wanted to back me up and handle the bizness end. I used to work with him at his old man’s repair shop and once we fought a case with some real charges, side by side with this guy, so I knew I could trust and depend on him. Smokey (RIP), Drama’s grandfather and founder of the family business had a nice little clubhouse above the shop from back in his days of reign, this became ‘SMOKEY STUDIO’. We came together and set up shop in back, this time around the hustle is music.

Hence the story of Mr. ONE-9.

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