El Campo native records new album
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EL CAMPO - The turning point for Jac Norman's career as a rapper came in 2005 when his wife, Nikia Norman, refused to let their daughter listen to his music.
"My daughter wanted to listen to my music, but she couldn't because it had explicit lyrics. So I would have to give her the edited version," Jac, a 1998 graduate of El Campo High School, said. "Then, her mom would call me and say, 'What are you letting her listen to?' And I would say, 'Oh, that's me.' And she would say, 'No. No. No. No. No.'"
The 28-year-old artist was in El Campo last week recording for his new album, "Stand Up," a stark contrast to his previous releases.
"I realized what I was saying to these kids mattered more than what I was saying to the adults," Jac said.
Jac started recording in 1997, a year before he graduated from El Campo High School. He played in night clubs and eventually moved to Houston in 2001 looking to gain popularity in a larger market.
In 2003, he began working with the Houston-based Be A Champion Inc., a community service organization providing afterschool enrichment program since 2001, according to its Web site, BAChamp.org.
"I was there working with these kids, and then I go home and live a whole other life."
Off and on for eight years, he had been working to become a full-time mainstream artist, where he could provide for his family with his income from being a rapper.
But in 2005, when his music was receiving the most attention, his growing family and work with teenagers convinced him to start his career over.
"I realized the market was way too saturated," Jac said. "I needed to create a market for myself."
The result: about three years later, Jac is excited about his first release with the goal of encouraging children and teenagers.
"I found that older kids, if they don't have the positive in them, it's hard to bring them this way," Jac said.
The upcoming release, expected to go on sale in late spring, will venture into new territory, an attempt to combine the popular with the positive.
Jac has already seen some of his new music's affect with his daughter and her friends.
"I knew her friends were listening to her iPod and liking the music so that really inspired me," Jac said. "Wow! I'm influencing my kid."
