Life is not easy, sometimes it’s sad, happy, joyful, and sometimes rough but it is supposed to be lived. Bad times prepare us to face life experiences, hence it is extremely important to respect and learn from them. Many life stories inspire and motivate us to do good things in life but very few stories show the reality and hard truths; LaPonne Burton’s life story is of the latter category.
Success is not a destination, but a journey. Sometimes life is too difficult and exhausting and makes you want to give up but at that key moment, one picks himself up and works hard, which in turn sets the example for others. That’s exactly what LaPonne Burton did.
LaPonne was born on May 29, 1974, in San Francisco, California. As a kid, he was very creative and loved to write, dance, and play drums. At the age of 12, he ran away from home and started living on the streets. At 15, LaPonne joined a gang named Fulton St. Mobb, famously known as Y.B.G. Young Black Gangstas which was notoriously revered for violence in the city. In the same year, LaPonne was shot through the 38
Geary Street bus by the Chinese mafia. The bullet missed him but numerous glass pieces pricked his chest and face.
LaPonne is a man of immense courage; he started looking at life from a different perspective and felt empathetic toward his people and culture. He was continuously getting threats from violent rival gangs. His friend, Ms. Regina Davenport, advised him to turn his life around, and at the age of 20, he left San Francisco and moved to Atlanta. He believed that this indication was from Yahweh.
Life was unfair for LaPonne in Atlanta as he was unemployed but he picked himself up. He began working on music projects as a volunteer and being around all kinds of celebrities some would later become icons. He used to assist the A/R coordinator (artists and repertoire), Regina Davenport. Davenport worked at LaFace Records, Stankonia, and Purple Ribbon Entertainment. While assisting Regina Davenport, LaPonne would give feedback about new artists and would evaluate them.
Continuing his passion for arts, LaPonne founded a company named Foundation Unit Entertainment Services LLC (FUENTS). The company is currently providing distinctive services like producer/artist management, talent scouting, video production, and content development. He founded another company to support independent artists but it dissolved after 3 years of its inception in 1994. For the past 10 years, FUENTS is providing breakthrough music. FUENTS provided music compositions to several iconic advertisements such as Cadillac Denali, AT&T, and Hyphy Juice energy drink-which has accumulated 6 million in sales.
The excellence of LaPonne is unstoppable; his company’s music was placed in the iconic commercial of Hyphy Juice in Northern California in 2006 with sales from the energy drink that outsold Red Bull. FUENTS was featured on numerous national and international television channels such as MTV, VH-1, ABC, NBC, and CBS, and award shows like the VH-1 hip hop producer’s Battle. Many legendary songs, for example, “Scratch Your Head, Make You Smile,” for iconic artist LL Cool J, in collaboration with Island Def Jam, G-Unit Records, Mr. Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cent imprint, and Violator Records by the late Mr. Chris Lighty (Peace upon his spirit), were produced by FUENTS.
Propagating the outstanding contribution to his love of music, LaPonne has collaborated with Mr. Aaron Reppert who is an international sound designer and founder of Travsonic Studios. Mr. Reppert is trained by Mr. Calvin Roberts who is a critically acclaimed D.I.T. (Digital Imaging Technician) and has worked in many blockbuster projects like Star Wars Return of the Sixth and Attack of the Clones.
As they say, the mother is the first institution, and Mr. LaPonne borrowed his love of music from his mother. His mother would throw red light basement parties at her apartment and place LaPonne crib by the speakers and his ears would become trained later in life to have the gift to arrange sounds. At 11, LaPonne would make his version of the R&B group, New Edition along with his cousins. He got inspired to become a break
dancer by watching Beat Street. LaPonne is a movie buff; he watched the movie Krush Groove and it empowered him to learn how could genuinely contribute to hip-hop music. He founded a group that was patterned after Run-DMC with middle school friends Cool Cat who was Run, Mitch was DMC (who later was replaced by Mario, and I was named Jam Master ‘Jay’ named after Jam Master ‘Jay’ (Peace Upon His Spirit).
Today, Mr. LaPonne is a respectable entity in the music industry. Many creative and innovative artists are under his wing and creating outstanding music. When he was 19 years of age he was featured in the prestigious, Home Turf local San Francisco Network show. It was hosted by radio activist Dominique DiPrima who interviewed many national and international celebrities. DiPrima did a famous interview with X-Clan where he addresses police brutality in the 90s. Mr. LaPonne also appeared in the LA RIVER PSA “Women in Film Los Angeles” for PSA National Networks and TSN/BELL Media Newstalk 1010 for commercial TSN Network/Bell Media. He has also hosted the Toronto International Music Summit.
LaPonne started his life as a violent gang member but is now one of the most prestigious entities in the music industry. With his intelligence, empathy, and hard work, LaPonne has shown the world that nothing is impossible. He bounced back in life when nothing was in his favor. With his contributions to music being nothing less than immaculate, his life is a lesson for everyone who wants to achieve big things in life
