800 Words or Less #6: Antavio “T.O.” Johnson

Antavio “T.O.” Johnson with the late Cee-Lock at the Glow in the Dark Stage Dive Party June 3, 2012.

The following is an excerpt from my 2012 book The Manual: A Guide to Achievement & Enlightenment in the Urban Community. The book is available at https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Guide-Achievement-Enlightment-Community-ebook/dp/B009MNEQ0G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1472456458&sr=8-2&keywords=james+bennett+the+manual

Two streets down from me is an underground rap star in every sense of the word.

Antavio Johnson has been a popular rapper around Lakeland since 2004, but he became

infamous when he was arrested for a song that legally threatened two Lakeland

police officers. Since his release, T.O. has been all over the map, doing shows and

grooming his local artists. In this section, I give a transcription of my interview

with Antavio, and he talks about his past, present, and future.

Me: Let’s start with the beginning of your rap career. What motivated you

to get into rap?

T.O.: Well for me, growing up, music was one of those things I always

found myself escaping to. Regardless of what was going on, whether I was

happy, mad, sad, whatever, music was my escape. I had a friend of mine

named John Cedeno who lived next door to me start rapping. When I saw

someone I knew personally doing this, I decided to take my shot at it. After

that, I wrote my first rhyme. That was in middle school.

Me: In 2004, you performed at Kathleen High School. That was my freshman

year in high school. And you came out during a pep rally before our

first game of the season, and you brought down the house. I’ve never seen

anything like that before. How did that happen?

T.O.: What happened was this: I heard about all these schools making

songs for their sports teams, so I decided to make one for Kathleen. So I

made it, and it wound up being bigger than I expected. I didn’t think that

many people were going to like it. They wound up loving it and it was

either the coach or the dean that invited me to perform it at the pep rally.

So I performed it and it went well. That was like, my first time getting

hometown love in my city.

Me: Yeah, that was big. A few years after that you got caught up in a situation.

Unwrap that for us?

T.O: February 22nd, 2009. I was charged with corruption by threat of a

public servant. Basically what that means is that they found my words

threatening to the officers I named in the song. The funny thing is, the

song wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. It’s the same type of stuff that you

sit around and joke with your friends in the living room. Only difference

is, I was venting and I didn’t feel that the law, specifically in Lakeland and

Polk County, was doing their job the right way. So I made the song and

referenced two officers at that time who I thought were doing a few shady

things in the city and that’s basically it. I made the song, and never released

it and while I was in jail for violation of probation, my friend released the

song, not thinking that I would end up catching a charge for it. No one

really thinks that.

If I would’ve said “I’m gonna kill me a nigga one day, it would’ve been

fine.” But the fact that I was talking about a cop was a problem. That’s

where all of that came from. In reality the song was never meant to be released.

At all.

Me: So how much time did you end up doing as a result of that?

T.O.: Two years. The way they got me was like this. I was already on probation

for drug charges I got during 2007. I’m not saying what I was doing

was right, but that’s what happened. I was going through a few things, I

needed money, and I felt like that was the best way at that time, because

I couldn’t find a job. After being caught on a violation, my friend put the

song out. And the rest was history.

A 2009 Orlando Sentinel Article….

Written by Bianca Prieto

Hardly anyone had heard Antavio Johnson’s lyrics until they landed him in prison.

Now his words are getting the attention of free-speech advocates across the nation.

Johnson’s friends and family say he was frustrated with the Lakeland police a few years ago when he recorded a violent rap song that called officers by name and threatened to shoot them.

Those words, they say, were meant only as a creative outlet and not intended to be made public or acted out.

“We don’t punish for bad thoughts in America,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Our Constitution forces us to make a distinction between ugly and hostile thoughts and words, and credible threats of violence.”

……”Wanting to kill cops is not a prosecutable offense,” Walters said, adding that the lyrics made conditional threats and were not made directly to the officers named. “Even if this would cross the line, this is a song. We live in a free country.”

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-08-01/news/rapper_1_johnson-rap-song-lyrics

Me: What was the date of your release?

T.O.: February 1, 2011.

Me: From that day forward, what have you been doing in music?

T.O.: As far as music, I’ve been coaching my label, Skee Bwoi Entertainment,

promoting, engineering in a few different studios, and DJing. Earlier this

year we were working in Stankonia Studios in Atlanta, which is home to

hip-hop’s supergroup Outkast. Basically what we’ve been doing is expanding;

reaching out to different people in Orlando, and Tampa.

Me: When people listen to your music, what’s one thing you want them

to feel?

Antavio “T.O.” Johnson and the late Sean “All Star” Williamson in June of 2012 at the Warehouse. On December 9 of the same year Williamson was killed near his home

T.O.: Passion. Whether they hear a song and it makes them laugh, whether

it makes them cry, whether it makes them think, I just want them to feel

what I felt when I wrote that song. Because you might hear a song from me,

and I’m being silly, joking about things you and your friends would talk

about in the living room, and hopefully it makes you laugh and brightens

your day. Then you may hear a song where I address a song from a hypothetical

situation, and sometimes I may be talking about something from

my life personally.

What I want people to do more than anything is think. Because so many

times when you turn on the radio and hear songs about flossing, and shining,

and females and putting money over hoes, and I find that so funny.

Because many times the same people are hustling all week just to go to the

club and throw their money on the floor. But really I just want people to

feel what I feel when I wrote that.

It’s been almost five years since the Manual was published. If you’d like to hear more from Antavio, share or comment on this post!