Bio
BIOGRAPHY OF ProTéGé A.K.A. Mr. I Luv Haterz--- It’s funny sometimes
how life can make us wake up and realize that our time here is limited and
that we aren’t here to stay forever. ProTéGé--, born Rodney Lee Banks
on June 23rd, 1984 in Las Vegas, Nevada had his wake up call on the day of
July 24th 2002. Prior to this life changing date, ProTéGé-- was always
into music heavily, rhyming along side his brother (Rob a.k.a. Kid Finesse)
at the tender age of four, he always wanted to make a career out of it, but
never took his gift serious until he was presented with the chance to do so
through the words of a long-time friend Jeffery back in November 2001.
Jeffery suggested that ProTéGé-- take his rhyming to the next level and
get into an actual studio to record material with hip-hop producer Moe-Deal
of ThirdLeGGg Productions. ProTéGé-- took this advice and began going to
the studio to record material weekly and began to really enjoy his new
path. Although he was into his music, many outside things such as (money
problems, drama with enemies, stress, police, death, and the need to
succeed) began to side track ProTéGé-- from his path. While still
recording, ProTéGé-- began to slip off to the point where he would only
get a chance to go to the studio once a week, and sometimes not at all due
to his aforementioned trials and tribulations. Things changed however on
July 24th, 2002 when ProTéGé-- awoke from his bed leaned over in pain.
Hardly unable to walk, he thought nothing of this, and wrote it off as a
minor issue of indigestion. Proceeding through his day, the pain in his
stomach became worse, which eventually had him slowing his walk pace, and
becoming weaker by the minute. Eventually he suggested to his brother, Rob,
that he needed to go to a UMC Quick Care to receive treatment. Taking heed
to his younger brother’s advice Rob took ProTéGé-- to UMC. Once at the
UMC offices, ProTéGé-- sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes before
receiving a call-back to go visit the doctor. Happy to be in the dr.’s
office once his chance came, ProTéGé--, explained to the doctor what was
going on, and how much the pain made him weak. The doctor (whose name we
won’t mention but needs to be stripped of his medical license) wrote the
extreme pain off as nothing more than constipation, and suggested medicine
to correct the problem. Rob took ProTéGé-- to the store, got the
medication, came home, and administered the treatment…….to no avail.
The medicine the “doctor” prescribed didn’t help at all, in fact it
made the pain worse, because shortly after ProTéGé-- took it, his already
hurt stomach went through more excruciating pain as the medicine found
it’s way out of his stomach, and back out through his mouth. Hovering
over a toilet, ProTéGé-- began to vomit numerous times, to the point the
could barely stand. ProTéGé-- suggested to his family, that he just
wanted to lay down and rest to see if the pain would pass……this was
short-lived. Respecting his wishes, ProTeGe family let him rest but
returned back to his room when they discovered him laying on the floor
not-responding. Five minutes after his worried family left him to be alone,
ProTéGé-- staggered from his bed, leaned over the sink, and vomited so
hard that he blacked out and hit the floor. The impact from his body
bouncing off of the cold tile floor was so loud that his family thought the
house was crumbling and came rushing to his room to find him laying there
motionless. Screaming his name out, and trying to help ProTéGé-- stand
up, he eventually came around but was so weak he could hardly talk, but had
enough energy to tell his family to take him to the hospital. Not thinking
twice, his family piled into their vehicle, and rushed to the nearest
hospital they could find. Once there, they demanded to see a doctor
immediately in hopes to get their loved one corrected. Nurses rushed into
the emergency room, put ProTéGé-- on a stretcher, and wheeled him into
the observation room for a series of tests to find out the exact cause of
the problem. After the last test had been ran, and ProTéGé-- was asleep
from the medication the nurses gave him, the surgeon came into the waiting
room to let ProTéGé-- family know that if they would’ve waited another
30 minutes to get him to the hospital……….he would’ve passed on
tragically; but fortunately since that wasn’t the case, ProTéGé-- life
could be saved, but emergency surgery had to be performed. Apparently that
so-called case of indigestion the previous “doctor” suggested the pain
stemmed from, turned out to be much more severe. One of ProTéGé--
intestines broke away from the rest of his stomach, and began to
strangulate his smaller intestines to the point his body could get blood to
the proper region of his body. The cause for this came from all of the
previous things ProTéGé-- was experiencing, and eventually got the better
of him, and nearly cost him his life. Once ProTéGé-- awoke from his
drug-induced sleep state, his family gave him the news of how he was only
minutes away from death, and what actions needed to be taken from that
point on. This news hit ProTéGé-- so hard, that once the surgery had been
performed, and the index finger sized scar from multiple scalpel incisions
had been stitched up, ProTéGé-- sat in his hospital bed alone, and began
to reflect on how quickly he could’ve not only lost everything he had
been working for, but how he could’ve died in the blink of an eye with no
hesitations what so ever. This was the dawning of his wake up call to take
life by the reigns, and chase his dreams to the best of his ability. Having
stayed in the hospital for 5 days, ProTéGé-- was released, and put on 2
months bed rest to fully recuperate from his surgery. Discouraged at first,
ProTéGé-- felt like things were getting worse, but then a ray of sunshine
hit him in least expecting moment. Fresh from the hospital the same day of
his release ProTéGé-- sat on the edge of his bed, picked up a fresh
notepad his brother Rob had bought him, and wrote his very first song
post-surgery. Though he couldn’t use his voice, (due to the hospital
tubes being placed in his nose
