Serving the Youth

A metaphor for Sona’s ambitions, he began to carry others, starting with the children of his community who were struggling or getting involved in crime. Teaching through his favorite medium, Sona helped other children write lyrics and engage their minds.

“If I sit with this kid and have his mind in focus on something like art, it’s going to take away [his] mind from crime,” Sona says.

This community service, according to Sona, helped him appreciate art, and hip-hop specifically, for rewards beyond record contracts and bling. Succeeding in the industry is less about the fame and fortune and more about using a position of influence to inspire others to overcome struggles, he explains.

“You find yourself being happy even though you wasn’t getting paid or even though you didn’t have a million dollars in the bank. Just that accomplishment of it left you feeling satisfied,” he says.

Upon coming to the United States in 2003, Sona participated in Reality Tours with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee friend Kiera Castle to reach out to the youth in Milwaukee. The Reality Tours, sponsored by Castle’s company Kay Productions, aim to foster both community and self-awareness through discussion, interactivity and performance.

According to Castle, Sona served as a mentor, presenter and performer in three Reality Tours, and he excelled at connecting with the audience.

“He had a truly awesome stage presence and presentation,” Castle says. “When Sona is on stage, he’s on stage. He’s totally there, and everyone can feel it.”

Although Sona thrived on performing musically and helping younger kids, what actually brought him to the United States in June 2003, however, was his education. Sona earned his degree in biochemistry and chemistry but did not pursue medical school as he had once dreamed. Instead, he used money he earned from published research papers to help fund his own record label – Imperial Records – and his first album, “Man in the Mirror.”

“That’s kind of how my funds came in to help finance my projects,” Sona says. “If I would not have graduated, I don’t think I would have ever released the album.”

Ever-conscious of his image and impression on people, especially youths, Sona cannot emphasize the value of his degree enough.

“I wanted first to graduate before I released the album,” he says. “I’m not trying to tell kids to drop out of school, I’m trying to set an example by telling them to go to school, get your degree, then do what you want to do.”

Making music

“Man in the Mirror” brought Sona’s first taste of success in the music industry with the single “Dreams,” which became the second-most-added record by radio stations in the United States two weeks after its release.

“Dreams,” like much of Sona’s music, offers a positive message that ambitions are attainable through struggle and sacrifice. The music video, which Sona also directed, begins with a clip of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and interweaves clips of other people, like Nelson Mandela, whose dreams were actualized through perseverance and action.

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