Biography

Who is JODY BANKS

Born in East Oakland to an Italian mother who was partially deaf and an African American father with a knack for cooking good food, Jody Banks learned early on about the meaning of life, struggle, hustling and hard love.

At the of age six in Los Angeles, CA she endured many nights of panhandling with her mother when food was scarce. She stood in the spotlight of dimmed lights at gas stations waiting to ask people to wash their cars and pump their gas for small change.

After many financial hardships and mental and physical abuse she found music as a therapeutic source to alleviate her misery. At age eleven she met Automatic through a relative and auditioned for a kids rap group. She immediately realized this was the life she wanted to pursue and spent many opportunities learning about the entertainment industry.

Her biggest inspiration in not only her life but in her music was her mother, JODY, who left when she was about 8 years old. Her mother was homeless on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles for several years and Jody Banks' goal was to relinquish her mom from the midnight crack corners that she would eventually call home. At the age of eighteen Jody Banks, while searching for an emotional reunion with her mom, discovered she was brutally murdered.

Jody spent countless nights pondering what her mission in life was now that her sole purpose, energy and best friend had suddenly been taken away. Jody Banks realized that she could still make her mother proud and give back to her by doing what she was meant to do.........spit emotional content. With this in mind and taking on her mother's name, Jody Banks is setting out to not only succeed in becoming one of the best MC's out in the industry to date, she's out to achieve something much more dear to her heart...THE JODY ETZLER FOUNDATION which will help homeless and battered women and children in need. This is, for Jody Banks, the biggest debt she could ever repay her mother. There is no doubt that this is not just your everyday dame, but a women on a mission with one thing on her mind. SHE WILL NOT LOSE.