Boonie Baby, born Willie Charles Holmes on April 8, 1988, is an American hip-hop recording artist, disc jockey, songwriter, and producer born and raised in Foley, Alabama; a small city on the Gulf Coast. He is the son of Willie Pettibone and Gloria Keil. Unfortunately, Boonie’s father was a drug dealer who eventually became addicted to his own product forcing his mother to raise him and his siblings alone as a single mother. Without his father present, Gloria maintained up to two or three jobs at a time working as a part-time teacher and housekeeper to support her children. As Boonie got older, he used his mother’s hard work ethic as fuel to start a career in music. Of course, his mother and siblings supported his dreams. Boonie just needed to figure out what to do next. In high school, Boonie would attract attention during lunch creating beats on tables while free styling. Eventually, his best friend, Derrick, would introduce Boonie to a local producer that would help the eager rapper jump start his career. He met Dontae in 2006 at his in-home studio. Dontae was impressed with his skills and immediately started recording music with him. Once Boonie made some improvements to his craft, Dontae introduced him to his favorite local rap group, 5A. Leon Shoots (UT), Henry Prim , and Benjamin Jones (Luck) collaborated with Boonie on a few songs on their album including a popular favorite among the local DJs, “Walking In The Club.” With the support of Dontae,5A, and his family and friends, the 16 year old rapper got in the studio to record his first mixtape, “Game Time.” He credits Dontae, 5A, Andre 3000, Jay Z, and Lil Wayne for inspiring his passion for hip-hop. Boonie released more mixtapes slowly perfecting his craft over the next few years. When he didn’t get the attention of any local or major record label, his mother urged him to enroll into college. Equipped with a 3.3 GPA , the Alabama native attended Alabama A&M University majoring in business management. The work was not difficult for him, but the tuition became overwhelming so he dropped out of college and returned home. Short on money and without any form of transportation, Boonie threw himself into his music. He started his own independent record label Mechanic Entertainment and in 2011; he sold his beats for extra cash to fund his still-to-date unreleased project, “Studio Trappin”. His most prestigious client was DJ Nick at Night of 93BLX, a popular radio DJ who used three of Boonie’s beats on his nightly radio program. Although he had some success selling his beats, it just wasn’t enough to help elevate his career. At age 24, the starving artist’s longtime girlfriend gave birth to a baby girl. Hungry for more for his growing family, the young father ventured out to solicit a business partner to help fund his latest project,”Alaboonie.” He turned to a good friend, Cartez Johnson (Tez), who majored in audio production at the Art Institute of Atlanta, GA and is the founder of the independent label, Money World Entertainment. Johnson listened to the record and took Boonie up on his offer the next day forming Money World Mechanic Entertainment, a combination of both labels. They jokingly call themselves the Baby and Lil Wayne of Alabama. Shortly after linking up, Johnson reached out to some of his associates in Atlanta to help push singles for “Alaboonie.” After some time, they got the attention of a few promoters in Atlanta. In 2014, Boonie and Tez were introduced to Lady Shack, the promoter of a very important event in Atlanta, Salute the DJs. He performed his single “I Do This” at her birthday party unknowing that he was automatically entered into the Break Your Records Tuesday competition. To his surprise, he got a call the next day informing him that he won the competition and his single would be put in rotation at a radio station in the Bahamas and featured on the next HoodRich DJs mixtape. Shortly after that, the up and coming rapper was scouted at one of his performances by a woman affiliated with Ultimate Mic Night in Atlanta. She encouraged him to join the competition to perform his single “I Do This,” a crowd favorite in the clubs. He is currently in the last stage of that competition aiming for the final prize of a record deal with a major record label. Needless to say, Boonie Baby and Cartez Johnson are a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry. Ultimately, everyone will be playing his records within the next year because things are happening quickly, but Boonie was born a star and he’s always been ready to shine. Download his latest mixtape Just Cuz, or Elephant in the Room, featuring the smash hit "Emoji" Biography was written by Jasmine Knight.