MY BIO I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. My parents are both Russian immigrants who fled to this country in search of a better life. They met in the U.S.A and got married when my mom was 17 and my dad was 19. A year later I was born and we resided in the area of Brooklyn known as Brighton Beach, a.k.a Little Odessa. Unfortunately the struggles of everyday life hit my family hard, and my father became addicted to drugs and the street life. My parents got divorced when I was 5 and my mother and I moved to Coney Island. Even-though things were hard to cope with I found a freedom in writing poetry. At the age of 6, I remember locking myself up in my room and just writing. As the years passed my love for poetry grew as well as my love for music. My father being a drummer, mother being a pianist, and stepfather being a guitar player, different sounds flourished thru my ears such as The Beatles, The Doors, Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, and so on so forth. I got introduced to Hip Hop during my junior high years and instantly fell in-love with the music and the culture. I began writing rhymes to different instrumentals and knew this was what i wanted to do as far as my writing was concerned, especially when I first heard Lauryn Hill and saw how much I had in common with her lyrically, musically, and spiritually. I attended Lincoln High School in Coney Island in 96' and thats when things took a turn for the worse, or I could look at it in terms of "everything happens for a reason". I began hanging out with the "wrong crowd", doing drugs, going clubbing, cutting every class, and of course dating much older men. My mother didn't really take notice to my faults because she was too concerned with her own life, so when I became bolemic at the age 15 I had no one to turn to. Peer pressure had me stuck in a world that did not revolve around my writing or music. I was depressed and hated life. It wasn't until my best friend, Mark, died of an overdose that I realized this was not the road for me. I quickly got on my A game and doubled up on classes, going to night school and summer school, and graduated a year earlier. I attended college right away at the age of 17 and began exploring writing classes. I found myself sitting in the back of the class writing rhymes rather than taking notes, and that's when i realized what meant more to me. I dropped out of college, got kicked out of my house (since my mom did not support a college dropout pursuing a career in music, especially Rap Music), got a job waiting tables, got my own apartment in Harlem, and set out to become a superstar. From then on it was open mics all over NYC, corner freestyle battles, BET's 106&Park: Freestyle Friday, and so on so forth. I got discovered by Somar Ramos, with Sogets Management and he took my material over to Sha Boogie Supreme whose expertise was in artist development. Being locked down for 6 months in a basement studio in Flatbush, Brooklyn I picked up the essentials I needed to cut a hit record and obtain a unique image. Now at 26 years old, I can say I have developed my own unique eclectic style mixed with intelligent lyrics, funky grooves, and jazzy rhythms. I have been blessed to work with producers such as Marley Marl, DJ Premier, and a few up and come ups. I was featured on the Mario Remix "Let me love you" with Jadakiss, and T.I. as well as the JZ's "99 problems" remix which got crazy radio buzz. Currently, I am featured on a Wu-tang compilation album called Dreddy Kruger presents: "Wu-Tang Meets The Indie Culture" which hit stores October 18th of 2005. I have collaborated with females such as Dina Rae (Eminem's track 13 girl), Steph Lova (New York's Radio Personality for Hot 97 FM and 105.1 FM) and Chocolate Thai (Showtime's "The Next Episode"). Now with the chips stacked in my favor, I'm about to blow and be the next female to cause serious commotion in this music industry... You just wait and see!!! Peace and Love, Byata