Rapper carries values beyond Air Force career

  • Published
  • By Lee Ross
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Even though Staff Sgt. Luther Lewis had plenty of opportunities to go astray, he's always kept his head up and followed his dreams.

Lewis will finish out a nine-year career with the Air Force on Sept. 29. He served for a year at Kirtland as a non-commissioned officer in charge of customer service, but is now on terminal leave. Now that his stint in the Air Force is coming to a close, he is fully dedicated to pursuing a career a hip-hop artist, and he has a lot to say about his own life and the lives of those he's touched.

"I started rapping in seventh grade, doing music in the cafeteria. In high school I was a competitive MC," he said.

It was in the cafeteria at a high school in Hampton, Va. Going by the name "Piranha," he had rap battles with other students. That is, until he was told that too many students were coming to see him.

"I remember vividly, one of the principals told me I was causing a commotion," he said. "That, to me, was flattering."

His father, who lives in Texas, is an alcoholic and wasn't part of his life at that time. And Lewis' mother was arrested and ultimately deported to her home country of Panama for dealing drugs. As a child, he remembers visiting his mother in prison and hating having to leave without her.

"I would cry, just kind of out of nowhere. It was just the separation from her. My mom was led astray on so many levels," he said. "My little brother is in the same boat."

Lewis' grandmother, who could be very strict, raised Lewis and his brothers and sister. But Lewis had a plan for his life, and he stuck to it. He's never done drugs and never been arrested, he said. He joined Army ROTC in high school, and then went into the Air Force, planning to serve for nearly a decade before focusing on a career as a rapper. On that score, Lewis has no shortage of confidence.

"I'm just a lyrical poet who can make really, really good music," he said.

Lewis said he wants his younger brother -- who he describes as "brilliant and the bad apple" -- to be his hype man. The problem is that Lewis' younger brother has been in and out of prison and was recently up on charges that would have led to a third strike, Lewis said.

"What his file portrays is not who he is," Lewis said. "He is just easily influenced."

Lewis wrote a letter of leniency for the judge to consider, "knowing that (my brother) is a knucklehead."
In the letter he talked about something he was taught in the Air Force: resiliency.

"You can bounce back through situations," he said. "You get in trouble and bounce back. Your leaders believe in you, that you're not a lost cause."

Lewis goes by the rap name "L-Quote." To hear his music, go to www.soundcloud.com/lquotemusic.