Nicole Martyn

Living Lyve

Before Billy Lyve was a single dad and aspiring rapper, he was Billy D. Williams, a delinquent teen who was kicked out of school and in trouble with the law. Wiliams credits music and his five-year-old son with inspiring him to turn his life around and avoid the fate of many of his friends, many of whom are dead or in jail.

With a school-age son (right), a full-time sales job, and a burgeoning music production and promotion business, Williams (center) has a lot on his plate. Here, he keeps an eye on his son while watching a singer's dance routine in his parent's driveway.
  
"A lot of people depend on me. Whether it's true or not that's how I feel," says Williams, who is pictured here with members of his crew, U-Wreck.
   
"I feel like my shoulders got like 5000 boulders on them at all times,” Williams says. He sits, overwhelmed, on a friend's couch while planning a show for his cd release tour.
     
  
"If my son wasn't here, I might not be as into the music scene as I am. Honestly, I would probably be either dead or in jail," Williams says. Here, he designs a flyer on the porch of his parent's home while his son plays in the foreground.
   
"The way I grew up, I was always wild, bad temper. Music calms me down and it gives me a a different way to filter," says Williams, pictured here as he jams in a makeshift recording studio.
   
"Dear God, please let us rock this show," was the prayer offered as Williams and his friends gathered backstage before a performance.
     
  
Several years ago, Williams moved back to his childhood home in the historically black town of Johnsville, Md. so that he could save money and have his mother help care for his son.
   
"My son is my motivation,"says Williams. "I want to position myself so that he's not going to need anything - so he's not going to be in the streets selling drugs."
   
"It's a release for me," Williams says of his music. Here, he performs onstage during a cd release party.
     
  
"I'm not really a religious person but I do believe in God. I feel like there are special people in the world and we're all put here for different reasons," says Williams. "I feel like I was put here to be one of those special people."