This is the biography of Josiah Bruny, aka 'V' for villain a synonym standing for; Very Intelligent Legend Living As Inspiration Nationally . Josiah was born on January 4, 1980, in Los Angeles, California. He is the eldest of four children on his mother's side and the fifth of twelve children on his father's side. He and his brothers and sister grew up in Altadena, California, raised by a single mother. At the age of 13, he went to live with his grandparents because his mother felt he needed the guidance of a strong male role model. During the two years Josiah lived with his grandparents he learned a great deal about discipline and respect for those in authority over him. As a result of such tender loving care, his grades and behavior began to improve in school. In the summer of 1993, he was given the opportunity to participate in an accelerated educational program offered at Cal-Poly Pomona, where he received certificates of excellence in each of his subjects studied. On October 31, 1996, a tragic event occurred that changed the course of Josiah's life. His first cousin, Reginald Crawford (Reggie) was gunned down in the streets of Pasadena on Halloween night by a group of gang members, seeking retaliation for the murder of one of their members who was killed the night before. It was a case of mistaken identity, and a senseless act that devastated the lives of three other families as well. This ordeal left Josiah bitter and full of hatred, with a desire to find and bring the perpetrators to justice. Reggie was only 16 years old when he died. Josiah admired and looked up to Reggie as the big brother, he taught him how to talk to a young lady with confidence and defend himself. Josiah began to hang out with gangs in order to release the anger and pain he was feeling over the death of his cousin. The situation became so bad that no one knew what to do to help Josiah through his struggle, so his mother decided to send him to live with his father in Moreno Valley, California. He began to hang out with his half-brother Won-G, who spent the majority of their time writing raps and producing beats to become the next greatest MC in the rap world. Starting over at a new school in the middle of the school year with no friends was not easy for Josiah. He began to get involved in fights within the first six months, so he was sent back to live with his mother, who was living in Fontana, California. While in the 9th-10th grade he was expelled from school and was sent to several alternative schools. In order to be reinstated to the school district. When Josiah realized he would not be able to graduate with his friends, he decided to change his behavior. Once reinstated to Fontana High School he was told by his counselor it was impossible for him to make up these credits in time to graduate, being he was in the 11th grade now with 9th grade credits. But he was determined to be reinstated and march down the aisle to receive his diploma like everyone else. Josiah scheduled a conference with the counselor to find out exactly how many units he had to complete in order to return to graduate. He vigilantly focused all of his energy and attention on pursuing his goal. In September of 1997, Josiah was reinstated to Fontana High School through hard work and perseverance. During his junior year, Josiah met a gentleman by the name of Martin Blackshir, who was a security guard at Fontana High. Mr. Blackshir was instrumental in building up Josiah's self-esteem by educating him about his heritage. This created a hunger and thirst in Josiah for more knowledge regarding his African ancestors. This was a major turning point in Josiah's life for the better. Because of the actions of one man, who looked beyond the baggy pants and obnoxious attitude, and saw a young black child traveling down a road headed for destruction, and reached out a helping hand, Josiah has turned his life around for the better. When Josiah discovered that he descended from kings and queens of Africa, his whole countenance and outlook on life changed. He began to understand what his parents meant when they said "you have promising future and can accomplish whatever you set your mind to do. Within a matter of two years Josiah completed all the courses required for him to graduate on time and was awarded a certificate for Student Most Improved. His peers were impressed, and wished they would have listened when he advised them they would be able to make such a drastic turn around in such a short period of time as well if they would apply themselves. He credits the "intervention of a loving and supportive family and all the community leaders that gave me advice to push on Thank you". After graduation in the summer of 1998, Josiah went back to live with his father and his family. By now his brother Won-G had recorded a CD entitled "Do It Do It." Josiah was recruited as part of their street team to promote the CD. This was a great learning experience for Josiah. By the summer of 2001, Josiah began to realize that a career as a rap artist was what he wanted to achieve, from the advice of his father Mac Neil Bruny. After five years of promoting for his brother Won-G, Josiah began writing lyrics and performing at local clubs and community events. In January of 2004 he felt that he was ready to allow the public to judge his rap skills as a solo artist which led to him recording his own CD, "Verbal Biography." This single has sold over 10,000 units on the streets within the first five months of its release. Josiah has just released his sophomore album entitled "V Part II" on his own independent label, Higher Ground Records. It is Josiah's desire to give back to the community by becoming actively involved in making a difference. He has established a non-profit organization called Music Changing Lives that will teach at-risk youth how to become entrepreneurs. It is Josiah's vision to build a new-age boys and girls club where youth can come to learn what it takes to compete in the entertainment industry and how to produce, market, and distribute their own product. He plans to give hope to the youth of today to become the leaders of tomorrow. So to make a long story short, be on the lookout for a great artist with a twist of an activist in him to hit a store near you. Higher Ground Record's rising success has allowed Mr. Bruny to follow through on his private vow to give back to the communities that have supported him in his youth and career. Knowing the positive impact the consistent and careful guidance of his family, teachers and mentors had on his own life, he established Music Changing Lives, in 2003 to create educational programs and initiatives for inner-city youth. Guided by Mr. Bruny with the intent to create and fund innovative youth programs, including: The Ignorance Stops Here, which focuses on improving the high school graduation rates in California. The purpose of the project is to integrate existing research and carry out new research about the dropout problem in California, and to use that research to generate a set of policy recommendations to address the problem nationally. While inspiring each child that they can live and extend themselves beyond their current reality! The project is premised on three propositions: • 1. Improving the high school graduation rate in California will require improving educational practice. • 2. Improving educational practice will require effective state policy. • 3. Producing effective state policy will benefit from timely and focused research. Dare To Care, which provides free tickets to disadvantaged families and boarding homes, to watch the La Avenger play arena football at the Staples Center we currently giveaway fifty tickets every time they play at home, thanks to their Turf Dreams program donating over 150 tickets to date. No More Excuses, is are building fund where we plan on having a facility to training the youth how to become entrepreneurs in the entertainment business, theater and arts, music recording, film production and film production and editing. Project Rebirth, will focus on three major topics in our communities to put a stop to: 1. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Prevention Education Programs 2. Teen Pregnancy & Lack of Health Seminars 3. Homelessness In 2008, Mr. Bruny and many other participants will tour 36 cities reaching out to a minimum of 180 High Schools in five months. The center of attention will be promoting the benefits of staying in school and inspiring At-Risk Youth to continue on with their education, while endorsing several other prevention models to put a stop to: drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and violence amongst our communities. After which these models will be promoted annually by Music changing Lives. Music Changing Lives and The Car Club Rollers Only have partnered to start hosting benefit car show concerts to raise money to help build a permanent location for the program. Mr. Bruny has also begun discussions to align with other notable charities including: A Drop in the Bucket, MADD, I Have a Dream Foundation, Unity One and many other grass root organizations. For the past several holiday seasons, Mr. Bruny has donated Christmas trees to more than 200 children throughout the Inland Empire and Pasadena. This was also Mr. Bruny's first year being active in educating youths about HIV and AIDS hosting AIDS awareness day with Malinda Williams's star actress of Soul Food The Serious featured on BET at Chatsworth High, he is now currently fighting to get more STD clinics on high school grounds. To be continued…inued