Background
Petty was born Jason Emmanuel Petty on May 27, 1979 in Los Angeles, California.
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Jason Emmanuel Petty
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In his very early childhood, his family moved into a violent, ethnically Mexican neighborhood. As the only black child in the area, he was often teased due to his skin color. Later, his family moved again, this time to the suburbs, where his family was known as the "poor black family." He learned to rap, and also took up dance, graffiti, and formal drawing and painting.
Discovered by underground hip hop collective Tunnel Rats, he made his debut in 2002 on Speak Life by Sev Statik.
In 2003, Petty joined the Tunnel Rats, and on April 8, 2003, released his solo debut album with UpRok Records, entitled Out of Knowhere. In 2006 he released the I Am Not Them European Parliament with Tunnel Rat Music and recorded Live This as part of Tunnel Rats-affiliated group Footsoldiers.
Footsoldiers also collaborated with KRS-One on his album Life, with Petty appearing on the song "I Ain"t Leaving". Petty released a second solo European Parliament, The Sketchbook: A Small Collection of Unreleased Material, independently in 2008, and his second album, Listen Watch Focus, also came out in 2008 through End of Earth Records.
Petty then released three albums through the Portland-based Humble Beast Records.
The first, entitled Art Ambidextrous, was recorded as a dual-album with Odd Thomas, and came out on February 1, 2011. Petty"s next album, Excellent, came out in 2012, and charted at Number. 7 on the Billboard Top Gospel chart.
Petty"s fourth solo album, Crimson Cord, came out on April 29, 2014, and also charted successfully.
In addition to his hip hop career, Jason Petty has worked as a youth pastor, led a poetry team called Selah, and helped his sister"s dance ministry called "Live." In 2013, he partnered with I Am Second in hosting a poetry contest, Spoken Word Challenge.
Membership
He has released four albums as an independent artist and one collaborative album with the rapper Odd Thomas, and has performed and recorded as a member of the underground hip hop group Tunnel Rats and associated act Footsoldiers.
