Lil' Vypa

Jamal Jordan Emanuel Cambridge (Vince D. aka Lil' Vypa), was born on the infamous April 20 1992. He was born into the arms of Vince Garnel, the saxophonist for the Philadelphia Funk Band Breakwater. Two years later, with a second child on the way, the family relocated from outside of the city's limits to a suburban town on the outskits of Philly. Throughout his youth, Vypa was raised in a suburban neighborhood, in Christian home and attended private schools his entire life. Raised in the chur...

Jamal Jordan Emanuel Cambridge (Vince D. aka Lil' Vypa), was born on the infamous April 20 1992. He was born into the arms of Vince Garnel, the saxophonist for the Philadelphia Funk Band Breakwater. Two years later, with a second child on the way, the family relocated from outside of the city's limits to a suburban town on the outskits of Philly. Throughout his youth, Vypa was raised in a suburban neighborhood, in Christian home and attended private schools his entire life. Raised in the church, Vypa was constantly surrounded by Gospel music, memorizing full albums of Kurk Franklin and Yolanda Adams and thanks to his father, grew up listening to Jazz artist ike Duke Ellington and Miles Davis to Grover Washington Jr. and Dave Kox. At age 10, Vypa attended a concert at his church and his love for hip hop music was born. Listening to a duo performance from two of the members of the Cross Movement, Vypa began to have a deep passion for the musical form. At age 13, Vypa entered the game with his self produced album "Genesis of the Mind". The ultimate flop of this project set Lil' Vypa back, causing him not believe that his lyrical abilities or productions skills would ever get to a place that he could feel confident in his craft. Before letting out another project, Vypa promised himself that he would be a "student to the game", learning not only about Hip-Hop, but also the development of other musical forms and their greatest contributors. He discovered in every case, that these artists were not just trying to get discovered and signed, but were trying to change their genre and prove a point. Vypa realized that without a purpose, his music would never improve. Entering his high school years, he returned to Hip-Hop cautiously. He slowly began to develop a style that included his alliteration skills, pop references and the ability to rap as well or better than his peers without using profanity or lyrically explicit lyrics. Throughout his school and his neighborhood, he slowly gained the respect of his peers for his freestyle skill. "I'm happy at where I am right now with my music. But to as me if I'm satisfied, then I would have to say no. I don't think I will be satisfied with my music until I accomplish what I've set out to do. Every rapper I know is trying to get signed. They believe once they get signed, then everything is good after that. Understand me, getting signed is the direction I'm headed in, but I'm not signing for a couple thousand and end up on a label that won't push my music. I would much rather grind for the longest time and enter the dream at a better position to achieve my dream, which is change this game. I've never been, never am and never will be a gangster. I am who I am. My point is, I want kids under me to be able to look up at me and say I want to be like Lil' Vypa and their moms know exactly who Lil' Vypa is and are cool with that ambition. I want to be the rapper that is look upon by kids and adults as respectable and talented. I don't want a mother to turn on the TV and have to turn away because the music is not a good influence on their children. The music I made, I want to be respected by the people from the inner city, praised by families and have other labels trying to copy my style. That's my dream. I want to leave a mark on this game so fierce, that my style of music becomes the norm or the mainstream. So, with mic in one hand, Bible in the other and a notepad in my bag, I'm working, constantly, to reach my dream" - Lil' Vypa