I GRADUATED high school with over 30 unexcused absences from classes — each red mark an indictment on a day that I physically couldn't bring myself to get out of bed.

LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO his eyes, I smiled and greeted him as warmly as I could. "Hi, Isaac!" No response. He was fixated on something else, his eyes gazing into a world unknown.

IT’S HARD TO TALK about Justin, my little second cousin, without feeling conflicting emotions. Justin was born out of wedlock to my cousin when she was 19. He was the mistake, the thing that she was trying to hide for several months before her parents found out. He was the accidental life born from two teenagers who had no reason to be together, much less stay together.

Starting a reord label or, in our scenario, rebranding and releasing a record label, is not an easy process. Becoming Good Fruit Co. meant operating more like an actual business, not just as artists releasing periodic projects.

Convicted of my calling, I started rap ministry as a solo artist in 2009. I began writing, creating mixtapes and an album, and performing — I knew this was where the Lord wanted me to be because the responses and feedback I had received were so encouraging.

My parents emigrated from South Korea in 1977 to Frederick, Maryland. It was a rural country town where one of my first memories was seeing older guys smoke cigars in the mall as they waited for their wives to finish shopping.

SOCHEAT DOESN'T HAVE TO IMAGINE what it’s like to grow up in the streets.