My name is Ghanadi. I was born originally in Ukraine. I mean, I grew up really in a loving home.

There were parents who loved me, who, you know, took me to the park, played ball with me.

My dad was always constantly trying to teach me how to read. Everything was just like a normal family,

you know, until one day when my mom and I and my sister, who was younger than me,

we went to the park. And I remember this day vividly, coming back from the park and walking

into the courtyard where our house was, our apartment was, and just looking up into the windows

of the second story, the windows of our bedroom in our living room,

and there was just flames coming through them.

And it was very scary.

And then I realized that my dad was inside that house that was on fire.

And that is the day that I lost my dad.

You know, he died in the fire that was set to our house.

And from that day on, I was seven years old and everything changed.

You know, a few years after that, as my mom struggled, we immigrated to LA, to California, to America.

And the neighborhood we really moved into, was a neighborhood that had a lot of gang activity in it. and as I started going down to the park and kind of just hanging out with the other kids over there

I began to look up to some of the older guys and I noticed that you know they had a lot of respect you know they had a lot of money They were living this type of lifestyle that was being

glamorized through the music that we listened to.

And it really influenced me.

It influenced me in a way to where I wanted what I saw these guys had.

I wanted the respect, I wanted the money,

I just wanted, you know, the approval, the acceptance.

I wanted to be that guy in the block.

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