Square Bizzy

When Square Bizzy, aka David Shepherd, was 7 years old, his parents had a hard time finding a babysitter. It wasn’t that he was a bad kid, or even particularly rowdy — he just wouldn’t quit rapping and singing.

Shepherd grew up in Freeport hearing hip-hop on the radio and watching artists work their magic on television. The music called to him and the talent inspired him. He didn’t consider himself a serious artist until 16, and when he started making hip-hop as a teenager, he thought he was hot stuff.

Of course, he said, he was wrong.

“There were people on the scene that were doing it, and I just picked it up,” he said. “I found out (later) I was good. When I thought I was good, I wasn’t.”

In 1998, he was signed to Houston’s Rap-a-lot Records. He didn’t release any music there, but he learned a great deal watching the professionals around him. A year later, he signed to King B Music of Angleton. He released an album with the group Phenomenon in 2001, then went on a long hiatus. In that time, he got married and explored his life outside music before returning to his calling.
“I still recorded; I just wasn’t ready for it to come out,” he said. “It’s ready now.”

Now, years later, that first boyish enthusiasm has given way to skill and finesse. His love of the genre hasn’t faded, but Shepherd said practice and experience have given him an edge that makes his music truly good. He has discovered a reason behind his music, instead of just working for fame as he did in his younger years.
It’s that mix of edge and reason he wants people to hear in his first solo album, “The Cure,” to be released July 19.

“I don’t know how I know how to do it and how I don’t. I can just do it,” he said. “The difference between now and when I first started, now it’s got a lot more purpose to it. It’s more socially aware now.”
Shepherd said much of today’s music is obscure and repetitive, vague odes to pointless topics. “The Cure” is pointed at the social issues of today, like racial profiling, absent fathers and the nation’s leaders. Songs such as “Pray 4 U,” “Time Flies” and “Never Broke” urge people to take an interest and a hand in solving society’s problems.

“As I got mature, the message got mature,” Shepherd said. “In the beginning it was about me. Then I started looking around me. That’s the purpose now.”

Shepherd said “The Cure” celebrates the pure art form of hip-hop, without going “too urban” or “not urban enough.” He wants the music to take people back to when they first experienced hip-hop. For him, it’s not about a certain style or a certain attitude, it’s about the pure love of music.

“I am so proud of the work we have accomplished together, and I hope that all of the fans enjoy the album as much as we enjoyed creating it,” said Geoffrey Domingues, Shepherd’s manager. “Bizzy Boy forever.”

Fans can follow that journey with “Road 2 the Cure,” released Friday, an EP that follows Square Bizzy’s life and rise to professional musician as well as the process that led him to release “The Cure.”

“The Cure” will be released July 19 and will be available on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify and other online retailers. - Mary Newport (The Facts)

Texas-based MC David Shepherd got his start in the late '90s as a part of Houston's vibrant rap scene. Originally going under the moniker D-Square, Shepherd signed on with the Scarface-curated Rap-A-Lot Records offshoot Interface Records, but never released any music with the label. Through the 2000s, Shepherd collaborated with David Peoples in a duo named Phenomenon, who had moderate success in 2001 with the Billboard-charting hit "Rodeo." Though semi-active for the next decade, Phenomenon eventually disbanded, and in 2014 Shepherd rebranded himself as Square Bizzy and set about working on a solo debut, while already rich with experience in the rap world. After a few years of challenges dealing with outside partners, Shepherd made the decision to work completely on his own, forming Bizzy Boy Entertainment and releasing a mixtape, an EP, and a DVD (all to great success) before offering up his proper solo full-length debut, The Cure, in July of 2016. - Fred Thomas (Allmusic.com)