BUFFALO, N.Y. — James Melendez better known as Balistic Man is a Buffalo hip-hop artist from the west side.
He will tell you that he is "just a regular dude at the end of the day, who just happened to do movies, music."
He has collaborated with big names in the industry with ties to Buffalo and beyond.
"I just recently collaborated with DJ Khaled and Fat Joe," Balistic Man said during an interview on commUNITY on WGRZ-TV.
He will tell you that fame does not happen overnight. In fact he has a song called Worked Hard For This featuring Benny The Butcher.
"It's just a song about just staying persistent and how things don't happen overnight. You got to work hard for it," Balsitic Man said.
Music is what Balistic Man does because he's passionate about it, he likes it and he hopes others like his music.
Life has not been easy. "I have been through it all. You know, from the streets to prison to working jobs."
You can see him in a movie called The Puppet Man.
Balistic Man believes in his community and takes pride in cultural festivities with his family.
"My father, he was part of the Grease Pole Festival. He still is part of it. He still greases the pole. Shout out to the Olivencia family," he said with a big smile.
His Buffalo based merch line is called, Neighbor Herd.
"It is a brand. It's more like a family, you know, it's more like a culture or family. So, the Neighbor Herd I created because Buffalo, we are from the city of neighbors and I wanted to bring that worldwide," he said.
"'I'm thankful for waking up every day. I'm thankful for my health. I'm thankful for another day of freedom. I'm thankful for the smallest things in life, like I'm really simple. I wake up with a smile on my face. Sometimes people will catch me walking around smiling and they're like why are you always smiling."