Orphaned young and raised on the streets, this young man became a music and TV icon

in Newark when death came for his family, twice. Losing both parents before his teens left him emotionally numb and physically unprotected, drifting between relatives and coasts. In Los Angeles, he learned how race, class, and survival collided on the streets. Petty theft over a stolen bike grew into serious crime, even as he clung to a strange kind continue reading …