Pep Love is a rapper and producer originally from Jackson, MS. He arrived in the SF Bay Area to Berkeley, CA as an early teen when his mother moved their family there to become a PHd student in the University of California at Berkeley’s Anthropology department. Pep immediately engaged in a deepened interest in hip hop and rap music with an exponential access to the artform from living in proximity to Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, Ca. Leopold and Rasputin records were local staples for new hip hop records that all of the sudden granted Pep a new found freedom to explore this youthful interest. Early into his time as a new arrival to this urban area where violent crime was rampant and guidance from both of his parents had become marginal Pep got into serious trouble and caught a felony assault charge that saw him narrowly escape a commitment to a year long sentence in the California Youth Authority juvenile prison system. It was during his probation and limited ability to be in the streets that Pep began writing rhymes of his own. He started spending more time with his closest friend Jaybiz who later became his DJ and first producer and they formed a Deejay and Emcee tandem called The Shamen. Being an avid fan of hip hop Pep attended as many hip hop shows that he possibly could. It was at a Boogie Down Productions concert at Berkeley High School’s little theatre where he first met Souls of Mischief’s A Plus and was later introduced to the rest of Hieroglyphics.
