“I’m not saying I’m a legend,” said Lgnd, comedian and Instagram star. “I’m just saying that when I die I wish to have made an impact in this world.” His name stands for “leaving greatness never dying,” and in the past year of creating funny videos on Vine and Instagram he has developed a powerful fan base.
Lgnd grew up in Van Nuys, California, which is in the heart of the valley (San Fernando Valley). “My childhood was rough. As a kid, I grew up in a very domestic violent household.” The harshness of his reality, poverty and family strife, was numbed by the music of Tupac. “I started feeling a stronger passion for everything when I started listening to Tupac. All that helped me get through my childhood.” He continued, “ I wanted to have that same kind of passion. I want to be remembered just like him.” Lgnd always desired to entertain and uplift the lives of others.
When he had his son, Lgnd took initiative to become great despite a lack of support from others. “I’m not gonna name drop or anything. Coming into this, nobody believed in me. Nobody did.” He chose to better himself to create a better life for his son. “When I came into this, my back was really up against the wall. People were telling me ‘get a real job’[and] ‘be a real man.’ As real man you take control of your own life and make things happen like that.” That was when he put his own spin on popular videos that went viral. Next, he created original material and built a buzz.
“We’re not getting any younger. We’re getting older, so it was time for me to start somewhere. Social media was the perfect place for me to start because a video can go viral. I know because I’m a testimony to that. A lot of my videos have gone viral. I have videos that Snoop posted, that Mike Epps posted. I had a video on World Star, so you know that’s motivation. It gives me fuel to my fire to keep doing what I do. I wake up and I gotta make it happen.”
The streetwear brand Popular reached out to Lgnd and gave him a position at their store on the block, an area populated with various streetwear fronts in West Los Angeles (the block is located on Fairfax near The Grove). “Popular actually reached out to me because they saw my videos. They saw the growth. I used to come here on the block and shop around. My face was familiar to them.” He has continued to grow and expand on multiple opportunities. “I’m managed by Being Latino, which is this really big Facebook page. They reached out to me.” He described changing his material to accommodate a wider audience. “Because of my management I have to keep my stuff clean now. At that time, I would curse; it would be dirty and about sex and s***. It was funny.”
Currently, Lgnd’s material has been focused on relationship issues. “Relationship problems is everybody problems. It doesn’t matter what age your are or whether your married or single. We all been through that type of stuff. Whatever situation it is man, just make it into comedy.” Being where he is today still surprises him. “I didn’t even see myself at this point right now. This s*** is surreal for me. I’m just this dude from this small a** city where nobody makes it out. I was surrounded by violence; I was surrounded by gangs.”
“I was actually recently talking to my barber and I showed him a email I received from somebody. It wasn’t a fan. It was somebody I know, and they were like ‘you ain’t s***. You never gonna be s***. You haven’t gotten far in what you’re doing and you won’t get far.’ When I read it to him, he was like ‘man, that would’ve killed me,’ and it does kill you. It kills your inspiration. It kills your aspirations. It just kills your dreams completely…Every time I was about to give up God just sent these signs like don’t give up, so I’d get this DM [direct message] or this comment or message where people are like ‘yo, I’m going through depression. I’m going through this. I’m going through that. And your videos make me feel better.’ To me that’s one of the best things in the world. We all need to find that thing that brings us back to inspiration. For somebody to say that to me was enough for me to keep on going.”
Lgnd had the following words of encouragement for striving entertainers. “If you’re going through a hard time, soak it in. If people are doubting you, even better. If people are hating, love it. When you encounter things, you gotta embrace it because that’s what makes it.” His life is an example of his philosophy. “Whatever we go through in this life we have to go through. It gives us purpose.” In his final remarks, Lgnd shared some advice regarding dream chasing. “We were given this life to be somebody and make other people’s lives better somehow. You’re somebody’s angel; you’re somebody’s hope. You’re somebody’s reason to be like ‘yo, it’s because of you I didn’t give up.’ I completely believe that we’re in this world to fulfill a dream, and mine is being an entertainer.”
Follow him on Instagram, @lgndfrvr Facebook, LGNDFRVR, Vine, LGND
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Original post appeared at Dreamer Loop. Reprinted with permission.
Photo credit: Dreamer Loop