User talk:LegendAssn

Jamall Andrew Richards (born November 16, 1994) known as "JR" on stage is a West Indian American underground songwriter, singer, rap artist, and film producer. He is the son of Maxine Ann-Marie Richards and Anthony Gerald Richards. He currently lives in a suburban community in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania and is enrolled at Pocono Mountain West High. Richards is the owner of the growing YouTube channel, Chrome Network TV where music videos, product reviews and comedies are posted, he also have an independent label with CD5. As well the show and the label, Richards is also a member of the Urbane Gospel Choir, a district choir based out of Northeast, Pennsylvania. Richards started his journey on December 23, 2009 and as of today have came very far.

Early Life
Richards was born on November 16, 1994 in Brooklyn, New York. He was raised by his mother and father since birth mainly New York. At a very young age Richards lived with just his mother in a small studio apartment in the flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. He kept contact with his father, who also lived in Brooklyn just a half-mile away. In early 2002, after his younger sister's birth Richards moved in with his dad along with his mother and younger sister. During his childhood Richard mainly performed at many events in church such as Rally's and church concerts. His favorite sport was basketball, which he grew a fond interest of in elementary school. In 5th grade, attending Public School 6 in Brooklyn, Richards got into the local basketball team, F.Y.A. (Flatbush Youth Association), and attempted to pursue his basketball interests from there. A year later he dropped out due to transitioning to Junior High School which further from home. Richards taught himself how to play the drums and sing getting better at it overtime. At the age of 13, he recorded his first studio song "Poem About a girl" featuring other artists he friended with.

Early music experience
From the age of 4 Richards started gaining his first experiences with music by singing at Sunday morning church services. Growing up in church in a Christian family, he performed at many Christian rallies and crusades, and church concerts in and around the New York City area. Later at age 5, he taught himself how to play the drums in church, and later on kept practicing after Friday night youth services to get better. From a young age he was exposed to Oldies Dance-hall and Reggae music by his father, and R&B and Reggae Gospel by his mother, this gave him his first taste and interest in music. By the age of 6 Gospel was his favorite genre of music, and he was inspired by many artists such as Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, the Grace Thrillers (A Gospel group from Jamaica) and Sandra Brooks (also originating from Jamaica). At age 9, Richards became interested in Hip Hop, R&B, and Rock, and looked up to artists such as Biggie, Tupac, Jay-Z, and P-Diddy and by age 11, his ambition to sing had begun.

2008-2009: It all started
Shortly after attending high school at Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, Richards' singing talent became discovered by a couple students in class after a small birthday celebration for another student. He sang happy birthday for the young lady and soon was discovered by a couple known rappers around school and the neighborhood. From here, these students introduced him to the hip hop, and from this Richards became even more interested in the art of hip hop through his new friends, Tariq Washington, Troy Washington, Kurtis Taylor, and Dornel Kirby, all aspiring rappers from Brooklyn. He spent many evenings after school in the recording studio that was provided at the school with his friends experimenting with music, rapping and more while also improving his singing abilities and drum playing talents. Finally on the morning of March 28, 2009 he recorded his first studio single “Poem about a girl” featuring Tariq Washington as RDK, Kurtis Taylor as Nyquil (named after the cold relief medicine), and Troy Washington as Troy ya Boy. The popularity of the song grew very fast among both male and female and was usually described as the "Chill song" or "sweet flow". After becoming a hit around the school and neighborhood, Richards and his friends formed a group known as “G.H.G.”. In the group Richards was the "singer boy" of the group. Through his friends he met other underground singers and hip hop artists out of Brooklyn and would usually do a little duo with them for fun. due to his small, skinny size, he was usually underestimated as the weaker being, and he was nicknamed "Jr Deuce Deuce". Although he was judged for his small size, that usually got him out of situations easily and helped him out when it came to speed and energy. G.H.G. disbanded in late 2009 due to the departure of various members from the group including Richards who left in October, 2009. During these years Richards also became interested in dancing, influenced by the various dance battles after school in the streets and a lot of times on the Subways trains of the MTA.

2009-2010: new heights
In October of 2009, Richards and his family moved away from the congested city of New York to a suburban community in Northeast, Pennsylvania to pursue a new life. He continued High School at Pocono Mountain West High and less than a month later he became part of the Urbane Gospel Choir, a district choir under the direction of Meredith Lamm. Here Richards got even more exposure to gospel music. With Urbane he traveled and performed at various events. Urbane broadened his on stage experiences and at the same time moved him and the many audiences that he performed for. He started his own online show via YouTube on December 23, 2009, which has grown over 22,000 views in its first year on the web. It was inspired by one of Richards' close friends Jazze-Rae Francis from back in New York after having a show of his own JazzeRae360. It was named Chrome Network, and he has been doing product reviews mainly around electronics, promos, comedies, and recently music content. In mid 2010, Richard contacted Dave Esterine, a guy he performed at a gospel concert in Brooklyn with, and together they started hosting shows at small venues, mainly in the New York City region. He also had his first radio appearance on 93.5 Radio in New Rochelle, New York. In August, 2010 Richards took part in the Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival, singing and acting in Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, with the Virginia Opera Company under the famous choreographer and award winning director Greg Ganakas and Peter Mark an Artistic director with the Virginia Opera Company. He worked with professional opera artists such as Lawrence Craig who has appeared in various opera musicals such as The Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly and Falstaff, Darius Crenshaw, a performer who worked with the Cincinatti Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, and New York City Ballet, Aundi Marie Moore a Soprano who have sung with L’Opera de Monte Carlo, and Sarasota Opera just to name a few, April Nixon, a performer who’s appeared in various Broadway shows such as Cats, and Tommy. She also had television credits on Law & Order, The Wire, and Dave Chapelle, and Michael Redding, a Baritone who had performed with Opera Carolina, the Virginia Opera, and Evansville Philharmonic naming a few. Later that month, he made his first TV appearance on ABC. Although brief Richards describe it as "just a phenomenal experience".

Bullying
In past years, and even recently Richards have faced many levels of bullying in school. In Junior High School he had rumors spread about school of him stalking a female individual. This led to a serious situation and almost got him in trouble with the law, fortunately it turned out that he innocent and the rumors were false. He also experienced physical harm from bullies, in many of these cases suffered minor concussions or bruises. He faced verbal abuse and was usually put down by his bullies. Because of his history with bullies Richards fights the circle of bullying and is against it full force. He believes in standing up for those who are victims of bullying

enough is enough!
One spring evening after school on the B8 Bus line in Brooklyn, an altercation broke out between Richards and a bully. Things eventually escalated to a hand to hand combat and suddenly when the bus stopped and the rear door opened, Richards was kicked in the chest off of the bus before the bus moved off. He was rushed to the emergency room at Kings County Hospital with minor bruises. No charges were pressed against the attacker.

Millz
Currently Richards is currently attempting to promote his friend Shamar Dozier as known "Millz" on stage. They met on a bad note back in October, 2009 but currently all problems have been resolved and Richards is now helping Dozier out by promoting his music on Chrome Network.

On board
Recently Richards got signed an independent record label to CD5, a new, small label. He has also been discovered by The Islanders Team, also a small group that focuses mainly on 3D animated short films and special effects. Richards stated via LiveStream that his contract with CD5 is not permanent and is just temporary until December, 2011.

The Apollo
On February 20, 2011 Jamall Richards performed on stage at the world famous Apollo theater in Harlem, New York as a part of the Urbane Gospel Choir in the annual Pathmark Gospel Choir Competition. Here Urbane Gospel Choir won second place in the competition.

Music Comeback
Richards recently announced his comeback in the music business. He has started the comeback, and by suprise not only brought singing and instrumentals to the table but is also started to introduce rap. "I just want to start back in the game", he stated. With this, and the success of his webTV Chrome Network he is expected to make a remarkable comeback. Via BlogTV he stated "I'm just doing this to pave a way for those kids who were told they would never live up to their dreams, and those kids that have been bullied or are being bullied, that there's no need to mope around like it's the end of the world; just brush the hate off and keep moving".

New Season
There are rumors that Chrome Network, his show was going to stop producing new segments, but according to Richards the show isn't going anywhere, he states "I have been busy with school and life that I never really had time to do much on the show lately, but Chrome Network is going to be back this April with bigger and better things". There is a new "season" in the works on the show and as of recently the "comeback segment" was set for April 2, 2011.