An honest introduction by a father, musician, entrepreneur and recovering addict.

Hey Everyone!

Why would anyone want to know about me? Why would I talk about myself online?
I'm going to go ahead and use this as a way to get my thoughts in line about my own life, and if you take anything out of it, then that sounds like a bonus to me.
I would like to share the stories that made me, from being a fat kid at school with skin problems who once made a little prayer, had that prayer come true and didn't know what to do with it, to being a co-owner of recording studios with two branches, and all the stuff in-between. (More about all of that later...) I joined some cool bands, did a degree in music, I got on drugs, I had a kid at a young age, I got off drugs, I gained 20 kilograms, I started a business, I nearly failed at everything, but I managed to turn it around....oh and I lost that damn 20kilograms.

This is me at peek condition after losing that weight :P lol.

This is an honest look at myself, but lets start somewhere in the middle.

Meet "Hog Hoggidy Hog"

Being in this group was instrumental to me becoming the person I am in many ways. They were the reason I fell in love with studio work, they may have also had something to do with making it easier for me to accelerate my burgeoning drug problem. They were family. We loved each other like brothers. It was indeed, especially for someone who joined a band like this so young, a great honour to be involved in a group that affected the lives of so many fans and contributed so much to the South African music scene in its own "cultish" way.

The band met a bit of a tragic end, but I won't go into that now.

Meet "The Rudimentals"

Joining this group in 2002 gave me a love for reggae infused music that will never die. Again, we became family almost instantly. Many years on and we're still going although we have changed SO much. For interest check out this old video we did long ago when we still played Ska music.

Yes that's me with the dread locks. :P Forgive me! I blame reggae music!

Interestingly enough there was a photo of me on the internet 10 years ago that went to no 1 on google if you searched the word "stoner". Here's that photo:

Even Facebook had a "How much of a stoner are you?" app which used that photo. Still to this day its quite "high" on google uf you search the word "stoners".

I'll tell you more about what I experienced cutting my dreadlocks off and my motivation for doing it another time.

Dad from afar

When I was 23, at the height of my drug problem, I met a girl, and after coming back from a long European tour, I got her pregnant. This was the best thing that ever happened to me and possibly saved my life (more on that another time...).
As I'm sure you can tell from the heading, things didn't work out with his mom.
I can obviously only blame myshelf.

Stop looking at me Sean!

All jokes aside, I would like to talk about how taking responsibility for my actions managed to slowly change a broken relationship with someone who rightfully hated me, to a close friendship with the woman who bore my little boy, Rocco.
Taking responsibility doesn't always mean things work out the way you would like them to though, but it can certainly lead to the best, most positive result out of all possible situations.
He now lives with his mom and her boyfriend and (brand new) little brother in New York, which is obviously amazing for them, but not so much for me, and makes visiting a bit on the pricey side. No small violins for me please, New York is an amazing place, and I would never want to take that experience away from him. Every time I visit I'm like: "OMG my boy look we're in the movies!!!" Haha.

Meet Hey Papa Legend Studios

http://www.heypapalegend.com

Somewhere shortly after getting out of rehab (Haha yes ANOTHER "more about that later"...) I started a business with my brother and my dad - a recording studios doing music and sound for adverts and television. The kinds of ups and downs that we have been through, well lets just say for now that they were extreme. I remember when we opened our first studio, we didn't have enough money to buy a couch for clients to sit on. I had a little South Park blow-up couch. No kidding. It was bad.

With a lot of hard work, people that believed in us, and a will to not give up, we kept going and now have beautiful studios in two cities. We keep managing to work with awesome people and we keep managing to win great awards. Its never easy, but it is certainly easier than it was. God, I remember the feeling of walking down the street with my personal documents, going to the bank to ask for a loan because I had ZERO money or food and was desperate. Its a very humbling experience when you have nothing. Oh yeah I got the loan by the way :bowtie: Its been a few years since then.

Here's a look at the studios.

Cape Town

Johannesburg

So that's some of my story in a nutshell. Nice to meet you.

Follow me @heypapalegend
Say "Hi" in the comments please :)