User:Aubreyus

Andre Davis, also known as Aubreyus, was born in Detroit Michigan, on April 23rd 1983. Andre was raised on the east- side of Detroit by his mother and father Gregory and Elaine Edwards. At the young age of seven, Andre started to show early signs of interest in music. While his father practiced with his band in his spare time in the basement of their home, Andre would sneak down quietly to listen. Then one day, An- dre’s father decided to teach him and his older brother a song to sing. This later led to the formation of a singing group with his cousins that were around the same age. After years of practicing to compete on a show called ‘Star Search’, a popular variety talent show which aired in the eighty’s, Andre decided that singing was not what he wanted to do any longer. By the early nine- ties, Andre became fascinated by a new genre of music called hip-hop. Although not really knowing how to rap, Andre wanted to be a part of this new move- ment. The way he began to do this, was by playing the beats for his brother’s friends in their neighborhood that his father made by using a keyboard, a beat machine, and a sequencer, and letting them rap to the beats. Then one day Andre decided to try out his skills in rapping, along with a few of his cousins from the earlier formed singing group, who then, also had their sights set on being rappers too. Together, they started a rap group called, ‘The Davis Boys’, which lasted a short time. Later on, Andre met a friend of his older brother named Will, who was, at that time, in a rap group of his own called ‘Infinity’. Once ‘The Davis Boys’ called it quits, Andre met the rest of Will’s crew and went on to join the group ‘Infinity’. After going from group to group over the years, by his sophomore year in high school, Andre decided that he wanted to go solo. Due to a lot of skipping classes and poor grades, Andre was forced to attend summer school in order to pass to the eleventh grade on time. In the year of 2000, while Andre attended summer school, he exchanged a demo he had written and recorded with his class mate, Nelson Lanier, who also was a rapper. After learning that Andre had his own studio where he wrote, and produced his music, the two exchanged numbers. Later on, after recording a few records, Nelson introduced Andre to his childhood friend, Gary Foutner, and younger cousin Demetrius Lanier. The four of them later went on to record a few records together. Shortly after, Nelson, Gary, Demetrius and one more person named Thomas, formed a rap group named ‘A.P.M.’, which stood for “About Pimping and Money”. Andre stayed solo and worked on releasing his self titled album ‘King Pin’, which was the name he went by at that time. In the summer of 2001, a new rap group hit the Detroit scene, and spread through the city like a wild fire. The group was called the EASTSIDE CHEDDA BOYZ. Meanwhile, for reasons unknown to me, Thomas decided to quit the group A.P.M., while, on the other side of town, as Andre was putting the finishing touches on his ‘King Pin’ album, he got a call from Gary about a stranger he met through a family member of his. This stranger’s nick name was Faygo, and he was affiliated with a part of ‘The Eastside CHEDDA Boys’. In some way, Faygo could help A.P.M. take their music to the next level, but the only catch was that A.P.M. wanted Andre to join them because he had a studio plus the necessary equipment to help them become an independent group. Andre decided to join the group and change his rap name from king pin to Dreco. Being under the guidance of Faygo, he suggested that the group change their name to ‘Aphilliated Wit Money’, which would still carry the same initials A.P.M. After working on a few songs in the studio, produced under the supervision of Faygo, a new A.P.M was born. Thanks to similar slang and the eastside street content in A.P.M.’s music, when ‘Wipe Out’, the leader of ‘The Eastside Cheddar Boys’ heard it, he instantly took a liking to the group. From this, A.P.M. was allowed to tag along with ‘The Chedda Boys’ to several events until fago got arrested due to some old charges and was sentenced to several years in jail. A couple of months passed with A.P.M at a standstill until Faygo placed a call from jail asking for a favor from ‘Wipe Out’. He wanted him to take the group under his wing while he was gone. After several encounters with ‘Wipe Out’, and releasing a CD entitled ‘Andrew Jacksons’, which featured a song with ‘Big Pooh’, a teenager that he looked after since a little boy, he decided to include A.P.M. in ‘The Chedda Boyz’ camp which was called P.B.I. This stood for ‘Please Believe It’. A.P.M continued to tag along with their camp, performing as the opening act in which Wipeout nicknamed them the ‘Baby Chedda Boyz’. The group started to work on their album in 2003 which was to be released on P.B.I records but after several years of recording and doing shows, plus releasing a mix tape called ‘The Crack CD’, A.P.M was ready to release an album. After a meeting with wipe out in 2004, the group and ‘Wipe Out’ decided to part ways. This gave the group independence and the freedom to release their own album. The group continued to work until one day they received a call from someone who had one of their mix tapes. This conversation later led to the group being introduced to Curtis Walker, also known by his stage name as Curtis Blow. Because of this, the group packed up and later moved to Rutherford New Jersey to pursue their dream of a rap music career. A.P.M. helped Curtis promote his events, and in return, they were permitted to perform at his showcases which also featured celebrity guest like swizz beatz, Old dirty bastard and many others. Through several attempts of shopping their demo C.D. by visiting record label after record label, the group began to get home sick. After just Three months the group decided to head back home to Detroit. After their first day back, Andre was awakened by a call from nelson saying that ‘Wipe Out’ had been murdered at a club the night before. The group decided to continue their pursuit of a rap music career by hooking back up with a manager they knew named Darrell whom they had met threw ‘Wipe Out’. Darrell was managing a rap artist by the name of Mc Breed at the time. Darrell decided to take the group on and arranged for them to be the opening act for a show in Minnesota for the rapper, Bizzy Bone of the rap group ‘Bone, Thugs and Harmony’. The show went so well that the group was invited to continue on with the tour for two more shows! Shortly after returning home, the group shared the stage at the Toledo arena with Houston rapper ‘Lil Flip’ and the New Orleans ‘hot boy’ Juvenile. Two years later, in 2006, A.P.M. decided to put their current album release on hold and instead, released a compilation C.D. entitled, ‘Show No Mercy Compilation Volume One’. The group continued to perform around Detroit and started to generate a buzz of their own. The group released a second mixtape entitled ‘ Aphilliated wit Money Street Mix vol. 1’. Then In late 2007, after releasing their video entitled ‘Ride’ to the local TV networks, later followed the release of their first album in 2008, which was self-entitled, ‘ Aphilliated Wit Money’. Not even a full year after the album was released, A.P.M. had some issues that caused the members to separate for the first time in 6 years, and pursue their own separate careers in music outside of the group. This parting of ways led Andre to begin working on his debut solo album, which later led to his meeting concert promot- er Mr. Quinton Perry through his son Gilbert ward. Quinton made it possible for Andre to meet Cheryl Ann Norton also known by her stage name as Cherrelle, who, after hearing Andre’s remake of Chaka Khan’s song ‘Whatcha Gonna Do For Me?’, decided to perform with him as the opening act at the Fox Theater in Detroit for Kringle Jingle on December 29 2009. The headliner for the show was rap artist ‘Solider Boy’, fol- lowed by Roscoe Dash, Waka Flocka Flame, OJ The Juice Man, LaLa, and G.S. Boyz. After performing at the show, Andre felt the need to alter the lyrics of his music. It was due to the years of growing and maturing in his craft, as well as learning from his life experiences that he also made the decision to again change his rap name from Dreco to Aubreyus. Shortly after this life change was made, on January 26, 2010 Andre received a call that changed his life forever. Andre was told by his older brother Tony, that his lifelong friend and group member of A.P.M., Demetrius Lanier, also known as Young Meech, was murdered! After receiving the shocking news, Andre took a break from music for a while. He later decided to return to school for radio, television and film at Specs Howard School of Media Arts. He attended in June of 2010, and graduated in April of 2011. Shortly after graduating, Andre received an internship position at WDZH 98.7AMP radio, and was later hired as a promotions coordinator. It wasn’t until a small brush with death, after being in a car accident on February 9 2012, that Andre’s desire to even want to do music again was rekindled. ￼￼