Lay Dicaprio Bio Great artists are able to draw upon their life experiences to create. When an artist is able to connect with an audience by telling their story, relating on an emotional level, they become a performer. When a performer begins to actually change their world, they become an icon. Born in Mount Vernon, New York, a short drive north from where DJ Kool Herc created Hip Hop at that legendary Bronx birthday party, Lay Dicaprio began his life experience early. He almost died from a birth defect and doctors were barely able to save his life. It was the first of many brushes with death that would mark the young man’s early life. There would probably be no Lay Dicaprio story had his mother not taken an eight-year-old boy to a garage sale and gifted the child with a used MP3 player. It wasn’t just an ordinary electronic gadget, as it was loaded with music from the legendary Tupac Shakur. Lay immediately connected with the rawness of Tupac’s lyrics, drawn into storytelling that addressed contemporary social issues that plague inner cities. The themes of social resistance and activism struck close to home. Lay’s connection to rap music evolved into a personal mission four years later, when he attended one of his cousin’s music video shoots. Being part of the experience, seeing art coming to life in front of him, flipped a switch in his mind. Music was no longer just sound coming out of a tiny speaker. It was something that could be created, a form of personal expression. He went home from that shoot and told his mother that he wanted to be a rap artist. He started to write his own verses, but life intervened to make his teenage years difficult and dangerous ones. Drugs and crime become a habit, a pastime, his lifestyle. He began running with the notorious Sex Money Murder street gang, resigning himself to the life that would lead to an early death and the waste of his unlimited potential. When Lay was 18, his then-girlfriend became pregnant. Living a life destined to be cut short, while dreaming of providing for a child’s future, forced Lay to make a difficult choice. He would provide for his son, give that child everything he never had. It was time to become serious about his music, make it a career, and step up to the promise he’d be carrying around hidden for ten years. The serious writing began, and his lyrics became deeper and more focused. He started to perform at open mics and any local club that would give him the stage, building his audience, honing his craft and leveling up his game. He recorded three dozen low-fi tracks at the Soundview Housing Projects at a cousin’s home studio. It was raw, and more potential than polish, but his confidence was growing. The turning point happened in 2015, when Lay took a trip to South Carolina, and met with his cousin, the same one who did the video shoot that first inspired Lay to make how own music ten years earlier. A business partnership was formed, and Lay took that next big step towards a bright future, where he would make his own mark on the world. Lay Dicaprio is a multi-talented artist and performer. In addition to being a skilled lyricist and rapper, he can harmonize and sing, and has started earning acting work to expand his creative outlets. He dreams of living up to the standards set by Tupac and the other greats who inspire him, while becoming an icon on his own merits. He believes that “staying blessed brings success,” and showcases that example both in his art, and the way he lives his life.