E-Mail This Article to a Friend Sullee forth (continued)

But, says Sullee, "I wanna bring what’s going on in the suburbs to the forefront. I want people to look at where I’m from and not go, ‘Oh, those people have the best lives in the world.’ Because I’ll give you 20 people right now who have the worst lives. What about the suburbs, where the kids are just as poor, have just as much problems? If I make it big, I’m gonna go where kids can connect with me. The kids in the inner city aren’t gonna relate to me. The kids in the suburbs will, because that’s what I’m gonna talk about. And they’ll see that my life is a lot like theirs."

Still, it has to be asked: what if all this doesn’t work out? What if, after all this effort and all this money, it just doesn’t end up happening? For a nanosecond, Sullee looks vexed. "If all this ends up not working out? I have to say that ..." — then he breaks again into a huge, open smile — "I got some problems on my hands, and do you need an assistant?" He laughs. "If this doesn’t work out now, I’ll probably go back to school. If any of my old teachers heard me say this, they’d slap me, but I really have always wanted to be a history teacher."

There’s a decent chance that won’t have to happen. Angela Thomas, founder of PRANA Marketing, the New Jersey firm that’s helping get out the word about Sullee, has worked with everyone from Public Enemy to LL Cool J to Cypress Hill — and she likes what she hears in this white kid with the Boston accent. "My take on Sullee is that you can be clean-cut," she says. "You don’t have to go the Eminem route. He is who is. He is true to who he is, and that’s what I like. He knows he’s from the suburbs. He may not curse in his records, but he’s not trying to compete with the hardcore rappers. I think he’s just a fun performer. He is a product of his environment. Why can’t a kid from Hingham, Massachusetts, do a Hingham record? Hip-hop is open to everybody. You don’t have to be from the streets to do it. Bobby knows where he’s from. He is who he is, and he’s comfortable in his own shoes. That’s what I respect." Better, she says, other people are agreeing with her. "Already we’re having some play. We have him plugged in. He’s getting into the mix of things. I think he has a great shot."

Beyonder thinks so, too. "I think a lot of kids in America can identify," he says. "Everyone listens to hip-hop now. It’s not just kids in the city, or black kids. It’s everyone across the board, wherever they come from. Eminem blew up so much because of kids in the Midwest, who grew up on a farm, who can identify with Eminem more than 50 Cent. I think on that level there’s a chance for an artist like Sullee to actually make it." He echoes Thomas’s assessment of Sullee’s honesty. "The music industry has made a lot of rappers scared to be themselves. A lot of so-called gangsta rappers, thugged-out rappers, are so scared to be themselves. They say the most crazy things on records that you know are just not true. But artists like Kanye [West], just showing a smidge of realism, insecurities, and things like that in life, him blowing up opened a lot of doors for hip-hop artists." Sullee, he thinks, could be one of them.

Riley agrees. "I think what’s going to happen for him is if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s going to get the great music. He’s going to get Dr. Dre, which I’m actually going to be plugging for him. He’s going to get the great producers. I’m going to pull a lot of those favors in for him. The best way I can help is to plug him with the right people. He deserves it."

More than his skills, more than his high-profile help, more than a no-bullshit father ready to go to the mat for him, it’s Sullee’s honesty and integrity that are his greatest attributes. If success comes knocking, he won’t even know how to let it go to his head. Even if he’s a millionaire, he says, he’s sticking close to home. "I would never go to New York, because they’re all Yankees fans. I can’t even speak with them. I’d rather live right on Beacon Hill. That’d be nice."

In the meantime, Bobby Sullivan will keep writing lyrics, keep telling his life’s stories. "Even the toughest guys in the world are sad about something. I have no problem showing me. And I’ve always said, this is how I live. Without Bobby Sullivan, there is no Sullee. But without a Sullee, there is a Bobby Sullivan. I’m always gonna be Bobby Sullivan, no matter what happens with my career, whether I’m sweeping the streets or whether I’m triple platinum. I’m still gonna be Bobby Sullivan after the check gets written out. Bobby Sullivan is the one behind everything, so that’s who I have to be real with. I have to be myself, because then I’ll turn into something I’m not. And then I can’t eat dinner with my family because they won’t let me in my house."

Information on Sullee can be found at www.sullee.com. Mike Miliard can be reached at mmiliard[a]phx.com