Cassidy

Barry Adrian Reese (born July 7, 1982), better known by his stage name Cassidy, is an American rapper. ^[1]

Early career

Early Life

Born & raised in West Oak Lane Projects, North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cassidy attended Central High School, Philadelphia.He started to rap when he was 13 years old and rose to prominence by appearing on a radio competition on 103.9 The Beat, (now 100.3 The Beat) named the Cypher. He was also a member of the crew Larsiny with his home-town-friends Cal Akbar & Shiz Lansky. Producer Swizz Beatz signed Cassidy to his Full Surface label distributed through J Records and featured him on his 2002 album Presents G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories. He was the champion on Philadelphia based radio show "The Cypher". Cassidy received some fame after he won a freestyle battle with Roc-A-Fella artist Freeway. In September 2004, Cassidy was nominated for "Lyricist of the Year" at the Source Awards.

First Album

Cassidy recorded his first album, Split Personality in 2003. The record is divided into three parts: The first is credited to Cassidy and reflects his pop side, the second, credited as "Tha Problem," aims at fans of his mixtapes and the third is credited to B. Reese from fans from his early days. Cassidy recorded the lead single "Hotel" in R. Kelly's Chicago studios with a vocal contribution by Kelly - there is also a remix featuring vocals by Trina. The song became a hit, reaching the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2004 and was nominated for a Vibe Award in the category Coolest Collabo that year. It also reached the top 5 of the UK chart and the top 40 of the Australian chart in May 2004. May 2004 was also the month Cassidy featured on the cover of The Source magazine, alongside Lil' Flip, Young Gunz and J-Kwon. Split Personality was released on March 16 2004 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 album charts and at #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop albums charts. The second single, "Get No Better", featured a contribution from labelmate Mashonda but did not do as well on the singles charts, reaching #82 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Second Album

Cassidy released his second album, I'm a Hustla on June 28 2005, through Swizz Beatz's label, Full Surface. It reached a chart position of #5 in the United States. The album's title track features a sample from Jay-Z's "Dirt off Your Shoulder" and the song was nominated for a Vibe Award in the category Street Anthem. A remix featuring Mary J. Blige followed soon after. In 2006, the ringtone version of his track I'm a Hustla was one of the first-ever ringtones to be certified platinum. The video for this single, features a dance step called "The Hustla Dance". Another track off the album, The Message was released as a charity single, promoting Cassidy's involvement with the Millions More Movement. Also the track "So Long", which features Mashonda and Raekwon, was released as promotional single.

Third Album

Cassidy's third album, B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story was released on November 7, 2007, and his lead single "My Drink N' My 2 Step," which had leaked to the radio and several internet sites. He also created a B.A.R.S. Competition Freestyle Battle on October 10, 2007 live on MTV's Sucke Free. He will be featured on the AND1 Mixtape Tour 2007. Cassidy appeared on several concerts by The Roots and Dipset. The second single will be "Cash Rules" featuring Bone Thugs-n-Harmony & Eve. Cassidy will also be the new face of Lot 29, which featured other artists such as Juelz Santana.

Commercial Career

Cassidy recorded his first album, Split Personality in 2003 and released it on March 16, 2004.

Cassidy released his second album, I'm a Hustla on June 28, 2005, through Swizz Beatz's label, Full Surface.

Cassidy's third album, B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story was released on November 6, 2007.

Cassidy also worked on group mixtapes with Larsiny Family, which consisted of Cassidy and several other Philadelphia rappers, most notably A.R.-Ab, Cal Akbar, and Shiz Lansky. However, Cassidy has since left the group on account of beef between him and Akbar.^[2][3]

Personal life

Family

Cassidy has a son whose name is Cassidy and a fiancee[28]. He has a stepfather named Tony and a brother named Terrence. He also considers R&B-Singer Tyrese his brother. . Cassidy has a brother-sister type relationship with Brittany "Bre" Scullark from America's Next Top Model, Cycle 5.He is also the cousin of fellow Philadelphia artist Peedi Peedi. He also has a close relationship with former drug dealer Kevin "kc" Vaughn.

Murder case

On April 15, 2005 three men, including Cassidy, armed with .45 and .40 caliber handguns, 9 mm pistols, and an AK-47 variant, fired on three other men during an argument that occurred in the rapper's West Oak Lane neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia just before 1 a.m. Desmond Hawkins and his friends drove to Cassidy's house in a van seeking retribution for a fight that had happened between one of Hawkins' friends and a member of Cassidy's crew outside of a nearby pharmacy only hours before. When Hawkins and his friends pulled into the alley in front of Cassidy's house, a gun fight immediately erupted, with Cassidy and 2 members of his crew firing at Desmond Hawkins and his friends in the van. Ballistic evidence confirmed that 30 shots were fired into the van and 12 shots were fired from the van, with 1 shot landing in Desmond Hawkins back, fatally wounding him. Desmond's 2 other friends were treated at hospitals for gunshot wounds and released. ^[4]

On June 8, a warrant was issued for Cassidy's arrest on charges of murder, attempted murder, reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, conspiracy and weapons possession. Cassidy surrendered to Philadelphia police early afternoon June, 17th.^[5] At his arraignment on Saturday, June 18th, he was denied bail, and sent to Philadelphia's Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison, where he would serve his time during the trial and after he was sentenced. ^[6]

Cassidy's murder case took a turn when the primary witness withdrew his confession, stating, "I only told the police what they wanted to hear, because they wouldn't let me leave, and I had a bullet in my leg." This resulted in the Judge stating that Cassidy would only have to stand trial for a 3rd degree murder. On August 16, 2005, Municipal Judge Marsha Neifield ruled that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to charge Cassidy with third-degree murder, attempted murder charges, and weapons offenses. This was later overturned to the original, first degree charge - negating the possibility of parole. On January 25, 2006 Cassidy was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault and possession of an instrument of crime for his involvement in the shooting. He was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in jail and was credited with the 7 months he had already served. ^{[7] [8]}

Cassidy was released from Pennsylvania's Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on March 2, 2006 after serving only eight months. ^[9]

Car accident

October 4th, 2007 Cassidy was seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident on the night of October 5, 2006 when a commercial truck collided with Cassidy's SUV while he was a passenger. He was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a fractured skull and several broken bones on the left side of his face. He still has visible scars from the accident.^[10][11][12]

Discography

• 2004: Split Personality
• 2005: I'm a Hustla
• 2007: B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story
• 2010: C.A.S.H. Cass A Straight Hustla

Filmography

• Next Day Air (Cameo Of A Drug Dealer)

References

External links

• Cassidy (rapper) at MySpace
• Cassidy's Youtube Page [1]

Interviews

• AHH.com Interview Part 1, Cassidy: Jail, Lessons & The State of Affairs Part 1 By Jigsaw
• AHH.com Interview Part 2, Cassidy: Jail, Lessons & The State of Affairs Part 2 By Jigsaw
• AHH.com Cassidy: Friend or Foe By Aqua
• September 2007 Interview