Zii is a unique individual who is poised for success in the Art of Music. A Destiny for people who are somehow are born with the hunger, the drive and the talent required to rise above all others. To say that he started young may sound like a cliché but with Zii, music has not just been a part of his life, it has always been his life. Even before high school, he wrote his first lyrical verse to Lox’s “Money, Power and Respect” and rapped it over the instrumental after purchasing the released single cassette tape. A short time later, he recorded his first single CD, pressed up a hundred copies and gave them out. From that venture, he was encouraged by Little Rock’s Power 92 radio station to enter their weekly “Roll Call” contest in which callers battled against one another on the air. Listeners would then call in their votes. Zii won by a landslide from the onset and held the title of “Roll Call Champ” for 16-consecutive weeks. Zii was then selected from more than 500 acts to perform at the Robinson’s Center and headline the state’s Millennium Jamboree. The Mayor held a press conference and chauffeured Zii to a private party to introduce him to the city’s dignitaries including the Martin Luther King Foundation. To spread his wings even further, Zii performed shows in cities all over Arkansas and reaching as far north as Ohio. He opened shows for various known artists such as Chingy, Nappy Roots and female rapper Rasheeda. As the Internet began to integrate with music technology, Zii fell right into the flow. He ranked #2 out of 70,000 artists on Luducris’ co-owned website WeMix.com. Zii was, voted by fans out of 500 entries, to record on Island Def Jam’s One Block Radius’ “Stand Up” single. Zii was then voted by fans to record with the Grammy winning artist Mike Shonoda of Linkin Park in Dr Dre’s former Encore studios. Zii caught the attention of Jerry Boulding, a well-known entity in the radio industry, who personally took Zii to Warner Bros. Records to meet Kevin Black. Unfortunately, shortly after the meeting, Mr. Black left Warner Bros. Still determined, Zii kept moving forward and soon hooked up with Riggs Morales with Shady Records. Riggs had heard Zii’s song “I’m On My Grind” produced by Ferocious off Zii’s album “Zii Dimensional” also nominated for album of the year in the Arkansas Urban Music Awards. The CD also includes production by Big Makk (R Kelly, Chris Brown and Twista) and P Nut (Jill Scott and Ghost Face Killah). The CD is also accompanied by 2 mixtapes: The Mixed Mixed tape, hosted by Power 92’s King Akeem and the Mixed 2. Both were featured on the front page of the largest social mixtape site in the country, DatPiff.com. In addition, Zii’s version of “Just Breathe” on the Mixed Mixed tape (Zii recorded a verse and performed a video in his room, flowing over the Angela McCluskey /Telepopmusic beat and advertising it on the WorldStarHipHop.com). 11,000 hits later on YouTube, the video caught the attention of Ms Angela McCluskey herself, where she quoted as saying “I think this is totally awesome….and I never EVER never use that word.” These are the origins of Zii as he continues his quest towards legendary success……………………his Destiny is to be continued…
