Battling back through the adversity of almost losing his leg and ability to walk in a near fatal 2014 shooting Bay Area rapper, well-known pimp and hustler Ricky Styles has been resurrected with a new set of singles and visuals to be released in the coming months.

While his 2017 “Facetime” record gained traction with the blog sites and DJ’s in the Bay Area, Ricky Styles’ new record “Shake That” has been picking up on the East Coast after DJ Self and DJ Enuff began spinning the record on Sirius/XM.

Having lost his brother at a young age to street violence, Ricky Styles was inspired by his brother’s motivational words to pursue his musical career.

“My brother got killed in Upland after he ended up getting shot in the back with a .32. He wanted me to rap for real, but it was crazy because he didn’t like anyone but Lil Wayne,” Ricky Styles explained. “He was really particular when it came to his music, but he said I ‘had the voice.’ He said once I perfected it, I was gonna be hard out here, so I just focused on that and I’ve been pushing ever since.”

A street veteran Ricky Styles was 11 years old when he hit the block hustling with his brother and friends in the neighborhood trying to make money in various ways.

“We was trying to get that money man, I was 11 when I hit the streets and I had eventually bought a studio in my early teens, so I had no choice but to start recording and developing myself as an artist.”

But the streets would catch up to him and while Ricky Styles’ brother faced the unfortunate outcome of losing his life to gun violence. Ricky would also fight that same battle as his leg was amputated and reattached after taking multiple shots to the legs, stomach and chest in 2014. At one point the doctors said Ricky would never walk again but believing in the power of the mind, Ricky never quit.

Unwilling to give up Ricky Styles rehabbed his body and now he’s going full steam ahead with a handful of songs and videos to accompany his buzzing single, “Shake That.”

[embed]https://soundcloud.com/ricky-tyles/ricky-styles-shake-that[/embed]

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Jake Crates
Jake Crates, Music journalist and industry consultant focused on talent discovery, artist development, and cultural storytelling.

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