Kai Beech /Tri-City Weekly

Rapping for redemption

Bouncing from one dysfunctional household to another, William L. Nicholson's childhood was filled with trouble and drug abuse.

At 15 years of age, he found himself in Humboldt County Juvenile Hall. Now 30 and recently released from jail after serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for drug trafficking, Nicholson is seeking a second chance at life through hip hop.

”Music is my salvation,” said Nicholson, who now goes by his stage name 'OverDose'. “It's my dream and it helps me release all the stress.”

The longtime Eureka resident has had to deal with plenty of stress throughout his life. Raised without a father and with his mother absent due to battles with drug addiction, OverDose spent a majority of his youth with his grandmother, a recovering drug addict herself. Growing up, OverDose was often distressed and always uncomfortable.

"I remember feeling like nobody liked me; an outcast all the time,” he said. “My major thing growing up was I couldn't stay out of trouble. Because I grew up everywhere, I didn't have any good influences to grow up with."

As time passed, the issue of his father and mother tormented OverDose, saying he felt "like they just threw (me) in the trash."

As the loneliness began to wear on him, OverDose retreated into writing love songs and poetry. But more than anything for OverDose, music was an escape from his harsh reality. His goal was to be one of the only rap artists representing Humboldt County completely uncut; having something raw and uncensored, yet real to say.

"The reason why I wanted to get into the local rap/hip-hop scene was because it takes nothing to show who I am and to tell things how they really are.

”Everything I rap about is real,” he said. “The ins and outs of trouble with the law, the messing with substances and mind-altering chemicals, the violence as a youngster and the Humboldt County drug scene. It's real. It's reality. It's my experiences. I hope it opens the eyes of people that have never witnessed the sadness and sorrow of drug abuse.”

Although OverDose said it can be pretty tough growing up without parents while searching for salvation on the streets of Eureka, he takes full responsibility for his mistakes.

”These are self-inflicted obstacles. I've created them,” the convicted felon said. “I've been my worst enemy.”

In 2007, OverDose was without a job. In an attempt to make ends meet, he turned to what he knew best: the drug game.

He began transporting methamphetamine from Southern California to Humboldt County and said it was a “fairly lucrative” business as he made fast cash and recieved a lot of stolen goods such as computers, gaming consoles and anything else an addict felt was worthy of trade.

But on a December afternoon in 2007, his black-market meth-trafficking business came to a crashing halt when Eureka police discovered four ounces of meth in his car. His girlfriend at the time bailed him out of jail, and two weeks later he was caught again with a smaller amount of the drug.

This time, bail was not posted and he received a five-year prison sentence.

”I felt like my life was over,” he recalled. “Jail sucked. It was like walking on eggshells 24 hours a day. But it gave me determination and it put more drive in me.”

During his stint in the slammer, OverDose wrote more than 100 songs. When he was released from the High Desert State Prison in Susanville four months ago, he quickly reunited with his music-producing and media publicist cousin John Duff. Since then, OverDose and Duff have created OverDose Productions, LLC on which they released an album entitled “Humboldt County's Most Wanted”, which has garnered acclaim from critics and musicians.

So far, the family business has been good for the cousins.

”It's great working with him. He's like my little brother,” Duff said. “We're getting a lot of national attention. We hope to go all the way.”