Minority & Small Business Week
Page 6
October 2, 2013
MID-K Beauty Supply
&
Cut Above Salon
Supports Minority Business
“Two Locations"
3311 NE MLK, Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97212
503-206-3911
Monday-Saturday, 9am to 7pm
Closed Sunday
photo by
Jonathan Norman is on the cutting edge o f Portland’s rap scene.
Life is 2Real
5408 NE MLK Jr. Blvd.
Portland, Oregon 97211
503-335-0271
Monday-Saturday • 9am-7pm
Open Sundays • llam-5pm
Promoter on
cutting edge of
rap scene
Cut Above Salon
(Located above Mid-K)
3311 NE MLK Jr. Blvd
Portland, Oregon 97212
503-477-5418
^ 3
BROOKS STAFFING
A Division of S. Brooks & Associates, Inc.
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Staffing Company
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Commitment to Diversity
S. Brooks & Associates is an Oregon-based,
minority-owned staffing agency with deep
roots in the Portland community.
It is our mission to provide ongoing employment
solutions to employers and applicants that
enhance and diversify the workforce. We hope
to always provide the highest level of service to
our employer clients and job seeking associates.
We pride ourselves in being a vital part of the
Portland, Oregon community, supporting local
businesses, along with minority entrepreneurial
endeavors.
Think Jobs, Think Brooks.
U A /n t
BROOKS
R E S P O N S IV E ,
D onovan M . S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
S T A F F IN G
IN N O V A T IV E ,
D IV E R S E
1130 NE Alberta Street • Portland, OR 97211
sbrooks.com • jobs@brooks.com • 800.540.7930
503.284.7930 [o] • 503.284.7977 [f]
SERVING THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOR 30 YEARS
by D onovan M . S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
U nfortunately not m any can claim
a successful transition from the harsh
realities o f a notorious gangbanging
p a s t to tru e e n tr e p r e n e u r s h ip .
Jonathan N orm an, also know n as Big
Smurf, a.k.a. Sm urf Lucciano, is one
o f the exceptions.
A n ath letic an d so ciab le kid,
N orm an was well liked and know n by
his classm ates at W hitaker M iddle
School and Lincoln H igh School
w here he lettered in four sports. If he
w asn’t throw ing the party, he was
getting dow n on the dance floor,
poppin’ and lockin'. It was the 1980s
o f course. But there was another part
o f N orm an ’ s life that began to engulf
him completely.
A round this tim e, gangs began to
becom e a part o f his every-day life in
north and northeast Portland w here
he and m any other m inorities called
home. By the tim e he was 17, he had
already been shot ju st blocks from
his hom e in front o f H um boldt E l
em entary. T he gunfire was one o f the
e a r lie s t
d o c u m e n te d
school
shootings in the n atio n ’s history.
N early a year later N orm an, then
know n as ‘Big S m u rf to folks in the
neighborhood and an ever-vigilant
police squad, w ould be jailed on
charges he w ould later be acquitted.
“T hat kind o f set the m ark for me,
those tw o incidents, for m e to try to
do the right things,” he says. Even so
he w ould end up behind bars again
ju st tw o years later. It was here w here
Johnson w ould decide to becom e the
catalyst for his ow n destiny. He drew
up a plan for his ow n record com pany
w hile still in a prison cell.
O nce out, he began to put his bid
into the budding Portland rap scene.
H e put together a group called G ang
sters on the M ove and released tw o
records.
But the flow tow ards business
was dam ned again as he w as brought
up on racketeering charges due to his
gang m em bership. He was facing 30-
years-to life. H e w ould then m eet
what w ould becom e his flagship art
ist, M ark M iles, now know n as
“M eezilini” w ho signed him to his
label “2 Real R ecords.”
N orm an and M eezilini w ere both
released from prison during the tail-
end o f the 1990s. Johnson released
M eezilini’s first album “V oice o f the
Streets” gaining him local radio-play
and fanfare. Since then, the im print
has released several other records
that have afforded him the opportu
nity to travel across the country for
stage shows and do w ork with hip-
h o p h e av y w e ig h ts in c lu d in g , J-
Stalin, E-40, Snoop D ogg, and 50
Cent. Currently the tw o are booking
tours throughout the states prom ot
ing M eezilini’s latest m ixtape “Inked
U p Iced O ut” w hile gearing fans up
for a jo in t album with Bay A rea re
cording artist R ydah J Klyde, entitled
“R at Poison.”
N ow 41, the ow ner o f a prom otion
label called R oseville M oneyB ag
B oyz and a m ultim edia brand called
PirateSide, N orm an hopes that he can
parlay the tells o f the tragedies and
successes o f P ortland’s often ob
scured urban realities across differ
ent platform s.
“W e’ve kind o f been able to speak
for our experiences being part of the
three percent black in Oregon and what
it’s like coming out o f our neighbor
hoods,” he says. “Just letting the world
to see where we come from and how we
got the same pains and struggles that
the big cities are going through.”
W hen it com es to his past, N orm an
does not shy aw ay from the realities
that m ade him. He does, how ever,
have this to say, “A s far as a color, as
far as a red or a blue, or anything that
got to do with a gang, I’m so far past
that, with just maturity that it all comes
dow n to unity and it com es dow n to
everyone looking out for everyone.”