The art of making music hit James Gage when he was only twelve years old when he started recording live commentary for his Nintendo Game “Tecmo Bowl.” Back then Swoop wasn’t even it a thought, it more or less was about his natural gift to gab but all that would change in a few years. Swoop was raised in the Bay Area, gang infested Salinas California to be exact where every day was a constant struggle, but young Gage was able to adapt and found peace and tranquility through music. When his Mother bought him Dr. Dre’s “Let Me Ride”, and DRS’s “Gangsta Lean” singles, Swoop was born. Each of those tapes had instrumentals and Swoop was eager to learn the music. Not long after Swoop moved to the Blue Grass state, and he quickly started to mingle with the locals and found out that Kentucky had a great passion for music also. In school he met his friend Jake Fogle and the two formed a group known as “Black Zombies.” The group never got to the point of recording anything but none the less; this was the beginning of what would lead Swoop down a 15+ year career. 1995 was the year that Cash Roll Records had begun. It was Swoop, KC, and once again Jake was added into the mix. KC and Swoop formed the group Cashroll Criminalz. Early recordings were basically done off of conference style tape recorders and car stereos, which is what created their first release “Playaz Pride” back in 1997. After figuring out how to record on a computer, the quality became much better which resulted in hundreds of songs being recorded. Eventually they found their way into a professional recording studio, Sunlite Music. Before too long Swoop was given a 16 track mixer from his parents and he was able to build his own studio. This is where Swoop recorded the album “Hard Times” in 1998 which spawned two singles that received local radio attention on 90.3 WKWC. Since then Swoop has recorded hundreds of songs, worked with many people in the music industry, and released several albums and projects with people like Wichita Kansas legend Mr. Bilisitc. Swoop has also become a huge part of the global rap alliance formed by Prezident Bejda of Murder Dog Magazine, known as Underground Society. Swoop even became part of the music panel on Prezident Bejda’s radio show, Murder Master Music Show, which he has interviewed rap legends such as Layzie Bone, JT Money, WC, Spice-1, and many others. Currently in 2016 Swoop has released Music on Mars With Long Time Rap partner Shawn P.. Swoop is set to release two more. One of those is the epic “Ride Til I Die” which is a 40 track double disc that features the likes of Jay Tee, X-Raided, San Quinn, and many other legends in the game. Be on the look out for Swoop in 2016 as this vet intends on proving his worth in this industry.