(Memphis) A South Memphis teen is hitting the big time this year.
He’s headed to New York City soon to star in a Hollywood film.
The 15-year-old landed the gig after speaking out against bullying.
His skin color once made him a target but is now making him a role model.
“I use it, not as a curse, but a power,” said Rob Darius Brown.
Brown says he found his power in music after years of torment because of the way he looks.
“Albinos, we have no pigmentation in the skin, eyes, hair,” said Brown. “They would call me ‘white boy,’ they would call me ‘Casper.’”
Instead of surrendering to bullying, he turned his suffering into lyrics.
“I overcame bullying, fought with the hooligans,” he says in his rap song called “Heartless.”
He’s appeared on national talk shows, his own music videos, and next year he’s starring in a movie directed by Spike Lee’s brother.
“Yeah, Cingue Lee’s movie,” said Brown. “He contacted me personally.”
Rob went to school at Sherwood Middle School in Orange Mound where most of the students were African-American, but very few looked like him.
“And music was kind of like me escaping because we all have our own personal heroes. Mine used to be Spider-Man so when I wrote music I would picture ‘Roben X,’ which is my alter ego.”
Roben X is now his stage name, an alter ego that he says not only rescued him but fights to save others.
“I would have to say ‘stay strong’ because whatever you are going through, it doesn’t break you, it makes you.”
The South Memphis teen says knows he’s different but being different is what makes all of us special.
“We all have our own unique talent. We just have to find it.”
Roben X will take his anti-bullying campaign to the West Memphis Civic Center this Saturday.
That’s January 4 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Admission is $5 for students and $10 for adults. Call (870) 732-7595.
West Memphis Civic Center is located at 228 Polk Avenue.
