The Anguish Of J Rugged

The inner struggle of J Rugged is a story that needs to be told. Those lucky enough to have been born outside of the increasingly dangerous and threatening suburbs of Santa Cruz don't have an inkling of the literal battle for survival that faces the youth of that area. J Rugged, the 19-year-old son of an investment banker was afraid to even leave the safety of his own backyard growing up in the multi-million dollar neighborhood of Whispering Crevasse. With gang members running turf just fifty miles away set the young man on edge and made a normal upbringing virtually impossible. Tired of being victimized, J Rugged lost his sleeves, as well as his hair, and tattooed his well known nickname across his forearm. "They called me J Rugged because my first name is Jason and my back was always covered with zits. You know... rugged?" J Rugged explained in recent telephone interview. "My dad was pretty angry but he didn't take away my car or anything. He did point out that by swinging around the second 'R' on rugged made it look like 'RUGPED,' which clearly makes no sense. Thing is, he saw how things were in our neighborhood. Mexicans were clearly taking over! Everywhere we looked we saw Mexicans raking lawns, sweeping sidewalks, collecting garbage, etc. It was only a matter of time before they actually bought houses and started gangland turf wars. I knew the time to prepare was at hand and with the tattoo I really became 'down.' I bought a shotgun, you can see it in the lower right corner of the photo I provided to the reporter. It's a 'sawed-off' gun that shoots a wide spray of buckshot at my enemies. I haven't needed it for any 'wet work' but that's just a matter of time. In the photo I'm seen praying to God to guide me through the difficult years ahead. I'm going to have to go to community college or get a job now but that doesn't really fit in with my gang mentality. Thing is, how can I expect to adapt to anything like a normal society after what I've seen and lived through? I figured I might become a business man like most of the rappers talk about so I started making my own jerseys, they say J Rugged, I'm wearing one in the photo. I couldn't get anything cool at the silk screen shop but they had a bunch of these mesh tank tops so I got those. I'm going to sell them for like $300 a piece and by some gold."