Keeping
eyes on the prize
Photo
by Greg Smith
At 17 years old, Brown Eyez has been compared
to rap acts such as Eve.
Profiles:
An aspiring rapper from Long Beach is
trying to make her mark in the industry.
By
Paul DeCarlo
On-line Forty-Niner
Chauntrielle
Ruffin has a vision: take over the world
one album at a time. Her debut effort
"Watching You," out on Eleven
Records, in stores specializing in hip-hop
and R&B music, takes a look at other
females in the industry and spots a vacancy.
This
17-year-old may not have to wait long
for the day when her fans are falling
over each other just to get a glimpse
of those Brown Eyez, Ruffin's stage rap
name.
Ruffin
makes her presence felt throughout the
nine-song compilation album. "Caution"
warns doubters to recognize she's for
real, while "Chedda" calls out
to other female artists who flaunt weak
lyrics.
While
most Long Beach Polytechnic High School
students were out carousing with friends
or kicking it at the beach this past summer,
Ruffin laid down an album and hustled
back and forth between shows. Dedication
and perseverance so far, have paid off.
"You
have to win a crowd over," Ruffin
said. "If you get all the 'oohs and
ahhs,' you're doing it."
For
Ruffin, crowd control is the easy part.
Just two years prior, her performance
at a Long Beach Boys and Girls Club rap
battle turned enough heads to make her
the winner of the competition.
She
pummeled over one hundred other contestants
with decisive diction that caught the
ear of Gregory Smith, owner of Matrix
Productions. Recently, Ruffin became the
first artist signed to Eleven Records
and somehow continues to maintain a perfect
grade point average.
Support
is another commodity that this young artist
is lucky to be blessed with. Ruffin's
mother works a graveyard shift and still
manages to shuttle two kids back and forth
from school. A former emcee herself, the
strong willed woman has passed on virtues
of hard work and responsibility to her
adoring daughter.
"I
want to be like her so bad," Ruffin
said of her mother, beaming with gratification.
" She doesn't depend on anybody."
If
all goes according to plan, Brown Eyez
won't have to depend on anyone else either.
