Infinity The Ghetto Child

by Alex Henderson South Carolina native Infinity tha Ghetto Child is among the many hardcore rappers who has come out of hip-hop's Dirty South school, and many of his rhymes -- although not really gangsta rap in the conventional sense -- angrily describe the harsh realities of ghetto life and inner-city thug life. His rapping style is not subtle, understated, or laid-back; he has a rough, abrasive, jagged delivery to go with his sobering lyrics (which is quite a contrast to someone like West Coast gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, who combines sobering lyrics with a relaxed, lazy rapping style). Ghetto life is something that Infinity tha Ghetto Child has first-hand knowledge of; born Antwon Buie in Charleston, SC, in 1980, he grew up in that southern city's infamous Johnson Street Housing Projects where he was surrounded by poverty, black-on-black crime, high unemployment, and drugs. In fact, Infinity's mother was addicted to crack cocaine; his father, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found. Infinity's single mother was not the only crack addict in his life; in the '90s, a teenage Infinity was romantically involved with a female crack addict from his neighborhood. Infinity impregnated that teenage girl, and she had a son by him. Because of the girl's drug problem, the Department of Human Services took their son away from them and placed the child in foster care. But eventually, the courts decided that Infinity could be a responsible parent and awarded him full custody -- the girl, meanwhile, entered a drug rehab program and, according to Infinity's publicist, was recovering from her addiction in 2001. Despite all the misery and dysfunction that surrounded Infinity in the poorest, most depressed, and crime-ridden area of Charleston, he aggressively pursued a career as a rapper. In the late '90s, Infinity recorded various singles and EPs and put them out himself. One of those singles was "Carolina Love," which became a small regional hit and sold more than 20,000 units in that part of the U.S. It was around 1997 that Infinity started working with D.J. Bless, a South Carolina hip-hop producer who should not be confused with the alternative rocker Bless. One of the singles that D.J. Bless produced for Infinity was "Throw Ya Fingaz Up," which, like "Carolina Love," was a regional hit in parts of the Deep South. In the early 2000s, Infinity's work with D.J. Bless caught the attention of MCA, which signed the Charleston rapper. Pain, Infinity's first full-length album for Never So Deep/MCA, was produced by D.J. Bless in 2001 and came out in March 2002; the hard-hitting "In tha Ghetto" was released as the CD's lead single.