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Born in London as a Turkish boy named Niyazi Sonmez, DiGi began rapping at the age of 15. During this time his main influences were Tupac and Biggie Smalls and thus his raps were nothing but about performing drive-by shootings and being a gangsta. Needless to say but his friends laughed at this and DiGi didn't really feel connected to what he was rapping about. It didn't take long for DiGi to realize that this was certainly not the correct aproach for him so he took it upon himself to try and be himself within the whole rap community.
He practiced rapping with his younger cousin Sami Sonay Sonmez (Fue Fuestars) as they were growing up and would spend every weekend together during the late 90's and early 00's. Both his parents and Fue's parents were divorced so weekends were spent at their father's houses, which is where they listened to instrumentals and developed their individual styles over time. After a while, their own personalities began to emerge and DiGi had found his own groove. The result was a rapper named DiGi Valentine. The name 'DiGi' was shortened from the word 'digital' which came from the nickname 'digital pimp', that was given to him by one of his cousins. The name shortened to just 'digi' after a while and became his set rap name. The second half of his rap name originates from a bunny-type alter-ego character named Valentine who represents DiGi's inner subconscious self. It may not appeal to everybody but it's his own thing and he's happy with it.
DiGi's style of rap is a bit more on the jokey side at times and it is most probably the 'bunny man' side of him seeping through the lyrics. He can and will get serious on a song if need be but he tries to keep things original and fun. Original to the point that he's currently created two fan-made albums for a fanbase of the computer game 'NiGHTS into Dreams', to which he has received much positive feedback for and a third and final album is on the way. As a computer gamer he tends to try and throw a few game references into his raps too. The people that like his songs tend to vary so if his current style has got him this much attention then perhaps it's a case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. He still raps just for the fun of it as it's more of a hobby to him and he's not really out to persue a career.
He moved up to Edinburgh in 2006 to live with his fiance, TRiPPY, whom he met through the NiGHTS into Dreams fanbase. They co-run a fansite dedicated to the game. The pair of them have also begun to release their comic book series 'Engelbaum', which DiGi co-writes and plans. They plan to see this comic book through to hopefully being published on a large scale and it is with this job that DiGi puts all his energy towards. Music is something special to DiGi but will remain a hobby when compared to the amount of love he has for comics and telling stories.
At the end of 2008, DiGi and TRiPPY decided to move back down to London.
~ DiGi Valentine - the bunny man.
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