I'm going to try and keep this bio short. It's just going to be about my interest in rap and where I got my rapping name.
I was first introduced to rap by David Mitchell (my best friend Philip Mitchell's brother) and that was furthered indirectly by Jeremiah Ashcraft (my friend) way back in the day. They both liked Bone Thugs N' Harmony and would always play their songs. So whenever I went over to Phil's, I always heard Eazy E and Bone. So I was exposed to rap at a very early age, but I didn't really start to appreciate it until Jeremiah starting coming over with his Bone CD. The one Bone cd in particular that had an effect on me was " East 1999, Eternal." That's the one that Jeremiah would always bring over, and we'd put it in the cd player and bump it while we played Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for the Nintendo 64. A few times, Jeremiah forgot to take his cd home (he always forgot something) so eventually, in essence, the cd became mine. So when Turok got stale and wasn't fun anymore, I would put in East 1999 and actually LISTEN to the lyrics. Once I did that, I was hooked. Not just to them, but to rap as an art form. The way words flow, the beats; everything was just so cool. But I didn't really consider being a rapper until I stated listening to the Insane Clown Posse. It was my junior year in high school. I had to meet some of my friends at this park to discuss ideas for this project we were doing. When I got there, my friend Phil Stevens was leaned against his truck, just waiting for everyone and blasting some music. I'm like, " What up Phil, who's this you're listening to?" and he was like, " This is ICP, this guys are hilarious!" (It was the "Great Milenko" LP to be exact). I listened to a couple songs and dug it, and thought they were pretty funny. Then one time I was at a music store looking for something to buy. And I said to myself, " Those ICP dudes were pretty cool, I'll give them a try." So I bought the "Greeat Milenko" LP and I was hooked from them on. It was just so different from the rap that I was used to, which was mostly Gangsta Rap. And I came to realize that they're not just funny, but very talented rappers. So when the idea of being a rapper crossed my mind, I was like, " Hell yeah, I should do it! ICP was a couple of white guys that made it. I wanna be like them!" Well, something like that anyway. But pretty much, if it wasn't for Bone or ICP, I probably wouldn't be typing this right now. And now, there are mainly two places I look to for inspiration. I mean, ICP and Biggie and peeps like that inspire me, and there are a lot of lesser known, underground dudes that are good and they inspire me. But when I wanna listen to some bad ass flows, I turn to Krayzie Bone and Eminem. Krayzie is just pure badass. His voice is sweet and his lyrics ever so smooth. Everything he says comes off as being cool. And Eminem, well, frankly, I believe Eminem is one of, if not THE, best lyricist in rap right now. They way he rhymes words, and the words he chooses and the things he says...it's all just so cool. When you listen to his good stuff, you're like "Oh shit, he said that? That was sweet!" I guess it's personal opinion in the long run. Oh, and I know it's weird that I like both Em and ICP even though they hate each other. Anyway, from there I went on to try a wide variety of rappers, and here are my favorites (in no particular order): Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, Bone Thugs N' Harmony, Notorious B.I.G., Kid Rock, Eminem, Outkast, and DMX. And that pretty much sums up how I got into rap.
Now on to the ever-present question: Does El Bobo Rey mean anything and where did you come up with it?
Now, I was told awhile ago that it actually DID mean something. Someone told me that it was Spanish for " The King of Fools," or " The Foolish King," or something like that. Now, I didn't know this until a LONG time after I started using it. But it doesn't matter what it means, I still love it. And as far as coming up with it, I will honestly admit that I didn't think of this name. I took it from a magazine and a wrestler. Confused? Here, let me explain the whole story in detail.
It all starts with comic books, video games and wrestling, which (along with music and rapping) make up my entire life. I have been a faithful reader of Wizard: The Guide to Comics for the last few years. I have also followed wrestling for the last several years. I was literally RAISED with video games, and me and my brother have the following systems: an Atari, a Nintendo, a Super Nintendo, a Game Boy Advance, a Nintendo 64, a Sega Genesis, a Sega Dreamcast, a Sony Playstation, a Sony Playstation 2, a Nintendo GameCube, amd we will hopefully be getting an X-box. Some of my favorite video games have been the THQ-produced wrestling games that started with WCW vs. nWo: World Tour. I don't have that one, but I do have it's sequel, which plays a large part in this story, WCW vs. nWo: Revenge.
When that game first came out, I played it constantly and so did the guys at Wizard. At the end of every Wizard, they always have a few quick paragraphs about the going-ons in their headquarters. They had actually made a Revenge league, with office people holding the belts and actually defending them. Anyway, they wrote a quick blurb about it once (I still have the issue) and they told which staff member had which belt and what character he was using. There was a staff member whose characters were the tag team champions, and those characters were Rey Mysterio Jr. and I-can't-remember-who. Sorry. Anyway, in the article, the staff member was quoted as calling Mysterio, " El Bobo Rey." I thought that was a cool and funny name, so I started calling Mysterio El Bobo Rey. Whenever my friends and I would watch WCW Nitro together, I'd always yell out " El Bobo Rey" when Mysterio appeared on t.v. Here's how the name made the transition to myself.
Whenever I needed a nickname of some sorts, I used El Bobo Rey. I don't know why, I guess I figured it was unique. When I needed an Internet username, I used El Bobo Rey. When I needed a name for backyard wrestling, I used El Bobo Rey. It was a slow process at first, but gradually I began to use the name for everything. So when I needed a rap name, I kind of automatically chose El Bobo Rey. And that's the whole story.
There you have it, the truth about the name!! I no longer consider Rey Mysterio Jr. to be El Bobo Rey, and have given the name fully to myself. Hopefully, Wizard will not try to sue me or anything if I become famous using this name!!
