Congratulations to Greg Reese from Cincinnati -2008 PMA Videographer of the Year

He Makes a Mother so Proud

When Gregory Reese was fifteen years old, he didn't sleep at night. Long after everyone else in the house had dozed off, he sat up banging out rhymes on an electric typewriter. After writing all night, making it to school the next day was a struggle, a knock-down, drag-out battle really; which often meant rushing him out of the house barefoot, shoes in hand. Greg would dress in the back seat of my car and I'd drop him off at the school's front entrance.

Greg wanted to be a Rap Star, or whatever they called it back then. At seventeen, he created a Hip Hop promotional video for the local power company. He used his youthful eneregy to stage talent shows, perform at local events and help to promote other local young Rappers.

As he grew older, he kept in touch with his Hip Hop roots by publishing a regional Hip Hop newsletter, including photos and interviews with national stars who passed through town.

He grew up, of course, and he got a job because that's what men do. He sold insurance. He marketed credit cards, which had him criss-crossing the country several times over. In Las Vegas he worked for a production company owned by Don King and his son, Carl; there he got a chance to hob-nob with stars.

Eventually Greg found his way back to Cincinnati. He got married, had a son and through a twist of circumstance, he became a stay at home dad with daylong access to the internet. He began marketing products online and took the opportunity to do his Hip Hop thing again, putting his work on websites. After a long delay, he began to do what he'd done as a teenager, write Hip Hop songs and share his work with the world.

In 2007 City Beat, a Cincinnati alternative weekly newspaper named Greg as one of the local "Hip Hop Pioneers." CNN has interviewed him live and televised his Political Hip Hop series; but only Associated Content offered Greg a chance to, as he says in his AC Rap, "Associated Content Dot Com" get get paid to write."

So I say congratulations to Greg Reese From Ciincinnati for your PMA 2008 Videographer of The Year Award My Son. You Deserve it.