10 Things to Know about New Boyz

Back to Live @ Veishea

By Patty Clark
Ames247 Staff Writer

New Boyz is the duo formed by rappers Earl Benjamin (Ben J) and Dominic Thomas (Legacy). New Boyz will be performing Friday during Live @Veishea.

10 Things to Know about New Boyz

1. Originally, Dominic Thomas started rapping when he was 8 after he had seen a music video by Bow Wow. Thomas was dedicated to reading, drawing and writing poems and once he became more interested in rap, he started to write and make beats on his computer. His abilities for writing and reading made it easier for him to accomplish his dream of music.

2. Thomas’ role model when he was younger was his grandfather, who instilled in him a good quality of leadership along with the love for music.

3. Earl Benjamin was at first aspiring to become a football player for San Diego State University.

4. As a little kid, Benjamin’s mother introduced him to rap. Whenever Benjamin would get into trouble, his mother would send him to his room and have him write a rap about his feelings.

5. Thomas and Benjamin met their freshman year of high school and they didn’t automatically take a liking to one another until one day when they had started an argument.

6. After the argument, the two had talked out their differences and learned that they both shared a love and passion for music and soon worked together to form “Swagger Boyz,” the original name before “New Boyz.” The two became best friends, and in 2008 started performing in high school together.

7. To promote themselves, they created a MySpace page to introduce others to their music. Their first song was titled “Colorz” and soon they changed their name to “New Boyz.”

8. Benjamin has three younger siblings and a daughter. Thomas has two younger siblings.

9. Thomas has a recording booth in his room.

10. New Boyz has a hype man know as Ayee Tevin. He is sometimes mistaken for being Thomas.