Detroit rapper King Yadee buys and rehabs abandoned homes on Archdale where he grew up
DETROIT (FOX 2) - "It was a journey in the beginning for me, finding out what my purpose was, so right now I am good with it," said Alonzo Ramon Stallworth.
Stallworth, who is a Detroit contractor working to turn the city around one house at a time, started his journey on the east side. His dad helped build the projects where they lived near I-75 and Mack.
Detroit rapper’s home rehab project rebuilds the street where he grew up
Using his money from his music career and clothing line - in 2018 - he created Th3 Block Development and bought four abandoned houses through the Detroit Land Bank in the neighborhood on Archdale on Detroit's west side, where he grew up with his adopted parents.
Tragically, on his 5th birthday, his parents were murdered.
"I love to tell that story because from there you would think my life would have went downhill and I would have had a lot of turmoil going on," he said. "It didn't. It made me stronger, it actually made me stronger, taught me a lot of things, and motivated me."
As a teen, Stallworth would work with construction jobs with his adopted dad, but he eventually turned to music - becoming rapper King Yadee.
It was then when he decided to use his fame to give back, building music studios inviting kids in, to keep them out of trouble.
"That opened (my mind) up to like, I can make a change in the community with youth," he said. "It was more than me just making music or me being a rapper. I've got over 30 kids that come in and out of my studio weekly, and they really wait on me to say what are we doing, what can we do."
Using his money from his music career and clothing line - in 2018 - he created Th3 Block Development and bought four abandoned houses through the Detroit Land Bank in the neighborhood on Archdale on Detroit's west side, where he grew up with his adopted parents.
He got his building license and hired kids in the neighborhood to work. They started construction, on August 5, 2019 - his birthday and on the anniversary of his parents' death.
"It made me smile really genuinely happy, I am at peace with everything now," he said.
Stallworth is seeing the difference, by providing work to young people and safe homes for people to live is helping to transform his neighborhood that was often known for crime into a place where families can thrive.
"The people we are changing and touching out there, that is the beautiful thing out of all it," he said. "There is no violence at all even police stop by and compliment us now, they are helping us out a lot. Me seeing that change, Ii is just like, I know that this is what I want to do, for the rest of my life."
He said the Th3 Block Development uses its own money to develop these projects. He has big plans to renovate more vacant homes and build tiny homes.
If you would like to donate to the effort: