User:Levi Branson

Levi Opukiri
Artist name LEVi, founder of Keep Your Cool and Branson Records.

Biography
Born Chibueze Emannuel Levi Onyuku-Opukiri in Haringey North London in 1982. Raised with four sisters by a Christian minister mother. Nicknamed Chib by his family. He left school at 16 with very little qualifications.

Levi

'...I guess I was kinda naive as a kid, mum used to keep me in the house alot we didn't have a TV back then but my sisters radios were on constantly, they have a good taste in music. To my mums fraustration school was more like playtime for me and I guess done alotta playing...'

'...The only thing mum and me had in common was our love of music''...'

Levi often got into trouble at school, teachers said he was a very bright boy but he hung around with the wrong crowd. This cycle continued beyond school leading to what was a near fatal stabbing a week after his 17th birthday.

Levis mother 'I remember him banging on the front door of the house and when I opened the door he said ...I've been stabbed mum I've been stabbed... Its every mothers worst nightmare you have to understand this is my only boy, who would want to take my son away from me like that?...' Trouble followed Levi well into his early twenties with many incidents along the way coulpled with frequent arguments with his family.

Levi '...I kinda reached a crossroads in my life where I could see what was coming it was either death or jail, it's bleak I know... it's a bit of a cliche but it was either sports or music for me...' Levi walked into the BBC building in Whitecity where he met David Akinsanya, who became his mentor and father figure.

David Akinsanya 'When I first saw Levi in the building my immediate thoughts were uhoh here comes trouble. I remember the first thing I told him was 'you can't walk and talk like that around here bruv.' This chance meeting eventually lead to Levi changing the way he thought about life

Levi '...I guess I felt heartbroken at the time, all anybody could say was that I was bad. The thing is a dude needed money but just wasn't educated in the right ways in how to get it...' Levi left home after an argument. In early 2003 Levi enrolled at a private college to study Audio Engineering. For the first time Levi applied himself to his studies and passed with the highest of Grades but more than this Levi left with a desire to be more than he had been.

'...I realised life in the Hood's limited, everybody thinks they're different but they aint. Being at college around different people kinda showed me that we're all cliches in the Hood, no matter how different we think we are... don't get it twisted I aint ever ashamed of where I come from what I've done the way I walk or talk when it's all said and done it's my experiences that make me who I am...'