Jayrock
USA 🇺🇸 “Out of everyone I could have met, I met Jayrock. Like many people on Instagram, he was making music. But there was something special about him. I messaged him and asked if he wanted to be a part of the documentary I was filming at the time. This was December 12, 2016. He lived in Baltimore and I told him that I’d love to come by sometime. He practically asked me 30 times: “you coming next week?” “When you coming up here?”I couldn’t say no. He was that type of dude, ambitious and excited. I decided to go and meet him along with my friend Sebastian. We both met Jayrock for the first time at his aunt Charnita’s house in February 2017. Charnita welcomed all the kids in the neighborhood to her home, she even bought extra food for them. Jayrock was 16 years old at the time and immediately introduced his self-proclaimed little brother, Travon, who was 14. He made sure we kept our eye on him, “Travon is a star, we’re going to make it out of Park Heights together.” Jayrock was always quick to lift his friends up.
He took us around Park Heights, over there they call it the “one five.” He’s the only person who would welcome two corny white boys into his neighborhood with open arms. He was a real sweetheart. Everyone around the way calls him an angel. Park heights is one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Baltimore but whenever we were there, we would always feel safe with Jayrock. We became fast friends. For three years I went to visit him as much as I could. I would go back to Baltimore to photograph Jayrock and was always met with his familiar smile. Although these kids are from some of the toughest neighborhoods, if you approach them with an open heart and remember to just shut up and listen, you’ll encounter some of the most genuine people you’ll ever meet. They get judged every single day of their life. When you release them from that judgement, and just be present with them, they become your family. I truly love these kids. They have this beauty to them, they are living in the moment more than a lot of people I know, their life is not guaranteed where they are from. Jayrock was an incredibly talented rapper and songwriter. I never saw Jayrock with a gun, he never even touched guns. He had no problems with anybody - that’s why it’s so crazy that anything would happen to him."
Photos by Joey Lipps
