At the age of 17 a young Gerald Auguste realized that writing, creating a real sound, and making music people can relate to on a big stage was his passion. Five years later, and countless hours of hard work, Auguste is on the brink of his dream becoming a reality.
This past Saturday Auguste, also known as JBonzie in the music world, filmed his first major promotional music video for his single "like me" filmed by Forty8Three films and Smokehouse Media. One of the scenes was filmed in Chelsea at the Chelsea Boys and Girls club, a scene he says is a tribute to the the hard working city he was raised in. Born in Brighton and raised in Chelsea until he was fourteen Gerald believes his work ethic and passion was formulated in the rich culture of the city. " Chelsea is hard work, everyone from Chelsea is hard working. To me, it’s that way here because everyone here is working to get to the better things in life". " Growing up with a single parent the Boys and Girls club is where i went as a place to be with friends and free my mind, i had to have a scene filmed here" he said
Upon reaching the goal he’s strived for for the past five years, JBonzie took a minute to look back on his journey from writing and making music at home to making his first video, and having had the chance to work with some big names in the music industry including Little Scrappy, Wyclef, and Mr. Cheeks of the Lost Boys.
At the age of 17 Auguste put together his first mixtape labled the youngest of them all volume one, his music career was propelled to higher heights when he was moved up to New York to work with established musicians. " In New York I went to to work. I went to acting schools and worked at various studious from the Bronx to Brooklyn, my nights didn’t end till about 3 am" he said. " I was fortunate at a young age, people helped me a lot because they saw that I was only 17, but more importantly they saw that I was not going to stop".
In 2007 JBonzie had one of his most productive and beneficial years to date. In order to gain success he had to work for it, traveling through streets of the Bronx and Brooklyn passing out flyers for big names, and upcoming shows got Auguste his break. In the spring of 2007 he was part of the Roots and Culture festival at little Haiti in Miami where he was the opening act for Mr. Cheeks. He then had the pleasure of performing with Internationaly acclaimed musician Wyclef Jean at SOB’s nightclub in Manhatten the summer of that same year. Wyclefs advice to him, " You have to do it now, you have to make it happen now before u make it big..you have 30 seconds" a word of encouragement from a superstar, one Auguste says he used as motivation. In the winter of that same year he opened up for rapper Lil Scrappy at a Lawrence nightclub.
"I’m the people’s rapper, I rap about real life in general. Not many people, especially now, can relate to what rappers portray on TV. I want to be a music maker that makes fun music you can hear in the club, but it’s real life. Not everyone has the money to throw in the air at a club like videos show" said JBonzie.
With his first major video filmed, and his music career well underway Auguste tributes his success thus far to his mother, " She worked hard for me always, she’s my motivation, one day I want to make it so she never has to work again" he said.
The promotional video was sent to MTV,BET, and WorldStarHipHop.com, where Auguste hopes to have the video go mainstream. JBonzie’s music can be heard at Myspace/JBonzie or on Facebook searcn Jerry Auguste. On January 28 "The youngin is back mixtape vol.3" will be released, eight months later his debut album titled "Mr. Auguste" could be found in stores.