Tarek and Luss are American rappers, born and raised in Battle Creek, MI. They are brothers born only 15 months apart and have always been close. Their mother and father divorced in 1988 when they were very little, and they were raised mostly by their mother and grandparents. During the following years after that, Tarek and Luss, and their brother Joe and their sister Holly, frequently were moving due to another divorce and financial problems that their family were having.
During those troubled times, Tarek and his mother could not get along and Tarek was kicked out of the house on several occasions and lived on and off with his friends and other family members. Luss decided to stay at home and help take care of his other brother and his little sister. They both attended high school but skipped classes and got into fights and other problems at school. After they both barely graduated high school at the bottom percentile of their
classes, Tarek and Luss had hit a crossroad in life on what they were going to do with their futures.
In high school, Tarek was always known around parties for his ability to freestyle and to battle rap any rapper that would try to go against him. At the time, Tarek only did it for fun and to get a reaction out of people who were surprised by his lyrical ability and punchlines. The year after Tarek graduated high school, he and a friend recorded a five song EP to see how people would respond. It was far from a masterpiece, but it finally gave Tarek the answer to the question that he faced on what he was going to do with his future. Tarek knew at that moment that he wanted to create music for a living.
Luss would always come to the studio with Tarek and watch him battle other rappers at parties. With Tarek encouraging Luss to rap himself, Luss began battling people and generating a buzz of his own. It then only made sense for the two of them to form a group and to pursue their new dream together as a team. Tarek and Luss then recorded an EP together that they gave out for free which earned them a name in their city of Battle Creek. Misfortune struck due to an incident with a boyfriend their mother had at the time and an altercation took place. Tarek and Luss were both arrested and charged with felonious assaults. After a plea deal, Luss was charged with two misdemeanors for simple assault, and Tarek was charged with felony assault. They both avoided jail time due to the plea and both were placed on probation.
Knowing that they both made a wrong choice that could have potentially jeopardized their dreams of making it in the music industry, Tarek and Luss decided to put their all into their music. They then recorded a fifteen track album titled “The Masterpiece” that brought them major attention in West Michigan doing club shows and it helped generate their buzz online. This attracted a few independent labels to take notice, and when they were close to signing their first deal with one, the president of the label, who also found them, was charged with money laundering and their potential deal was officially dead. Tarek and Luss decided to keep recording and to make sure they kept their names hot. This caught the ear of one of Shady Records newest producers, Rikanatti.
Rikanatti was fresh off the success of the platinum selling album “Eminem Presents: The Re-Up” and currently working with Shady Records’ newest rising star Cashis. He saw the potential that Tarek and Luss had and began working with them to help develop the talent that he saw in them. Rikanatti then began to exclusively produce their demo album which was titled “The Book of Rhymes”.
While in the middle of recording their demo album with Rikanatti, Tarek and two friends were arrested and charged with felonious assault with intent to create great bodily harm less than murder. Due to court hearings and meetings with his lawyer, Tarek and Luss were forced to put recording of their demo album on hold. They both remained in constant contact with Rikanatti throughout all of the court proceedings. After Tarek learned that his charge carried a
fifteen year prison sentence due to the fact that he was already a convicted violent offender, his lawyer advised him to take the prosecutor’s plea deal of three months in the county jail, and a lesser felony, which was felonious assault with a deadly weapon. Tarek reluctantly took the plea deal and was then taken to jail.
During Tarek’s incarceration, Luss kept in contact with Rikanatti and they discussed what Tarek and Luss had to do to get their music back on track and to stay out of situations that could destroy what they had worked so hard to achieve. During this time, Tarek was writing songs and freestyling with other inmates to make sure he didn’t lose his touch and to prepared for his release from the county jail.
The night Tarek was released; he was picked up from jail by Luss, his other brother and grandfather. That next day Rikanatti, Tarek and Luss spoke about what their future plans were, and with a new resolve and dedication, they began writing and recording songs for their demo album again. The music that Tarek and Luss were recording had a darker and more personal feel, so they decided to scrap what they had for “The Book of Rhymes” and start over with a new album titled “The Suicide Note”. After two years of recording songs with Rikanatti, they were finally finished with their new demo album “The Suicide Note”.
After many up’s and down’s in life, Tarek and Luss are more focused and ready to take on yet another challenge; the music industry. They feel with all their life experiences, and with Rikanatti on their team doing all of their production work, their music is exactly what Hip Hop has been yearning for. With a massive fan base, and with an enormous buzz on internet radio shows and from DJ’s all over, Tarek and Luss feel that everything in their life good and bad, has brought them to this point in their lives. If you like good beats, creative concepts, crazy punchlines, and hard hitting
lyrics, you will love Tarek and Luss’ music.
