Badluck Trafficking

Born Joshua Van Portfleet in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 16, 1978. His family then eventually settled in Houston, Texas. Raised with his brother by his parents, he had to deal with divorce early on. Despite his families hard work and efforts to raise Badluck right and steer him in the right direction, Badluck learned many lessons the hard way, having to live life in the streets. From gun and drug problems, to being a teenage parent, dropping out of school to earn his GED, Badluck's story reflects the real life experience that many American males go through today.

It was apparent at an early age that Badluck was musically and artistically inclined. With some of his childhood friends in his neighborhood always getting together to free-style, Badluck could be heard rhyming around the house, school, local talent shows or anywhere where there was a crowd to listen. He was heavily influenced by popular artists at the time such as 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J, Dre, Snoop Dogg, Bone Thugs, Eazy E, Scarface, and many others including R&B. He also took up airbrushing as a means to get extra money.

But it was not until his high school years when he started to take his music and drawing seriously. With his schooling suffering due to his constant problems in class, he realized that his love for music and the God given talents he possessed could be his ticket to a better way of life as he had already lost two of his friends to drive-by shootings. Badluck practiced a steady routine of song writing and recording during this time. After his GED, Badluck continued to work odd jobs and started the group Eighty-Trei with two of his childhood friends. After years of collaborating on projects, they finally released their first self tilted album in 2001 selling thousands on the streets, with popular songs such as Stay Ballin' and Coast 2 Coast. At this same time he had signed on as a solo artist with Phat Money Records under the name Luchee, a newer record label in Houston at the time. He recorded several songs and made appearances on several of the label's top artist projects. Eventually he felt that they were not going the direction he wanted to go so he parted ways with them. In the meantime, Badluck was getting more popular on the underground scene, but drug charges sent him to prison for 6 months, destroying all he had worked so hard to gain during this time. During this time in prison he drew constantly and wrote music, encouraged by others, he also begain to take an interest in tattooing due to the fact that he drew so well.

Upon his release, the turning point in his life came on March 23, 2004 when he performed at the largest club in Houston, the Hush Night Club. He was a sensation and he sold even more CDs after that due to the word getting spread faster now and he continued to perform at many nightclubs in Houston and the surrounding area, even performing in other areas of the country. Badluck decided to get his name out there more by joining forces with another up an coming rapper in the area and they formed Strength in Numbers. They began to start hosting events at several night clubs while performing in the process. But due to differences in business decisions between them, they parted ways. Meanwhile he was in the process of working on two new albums, but he again got sent to prison on drug charges and this time because of violating his parole, he would be there for several years and would put his music back on the shelf and all of his projects on hold. During his time in prison, he reflected on his life and after his release, he has looked at every day since as a second chance. He continued to tattoo while in prison and became a popular artist "inside". He has moved on to bigger and better things, he is now more focused on the bigger picture. He decided to move his tattoo work to the forefront with his music and became a successful tattoo artist along with his music. After his successful solo album "It Ain't A Hobby" in 2008, he has joined forces with Jeffery King and popular producer Guardian(whom he has worked with in previous projects) to form the hot new super group The Union. His music and art tells his story, and like many other great artist, he has the chance to leave his own mark on the rest of the world, both physically and musically.