TulgaT

On a sunny day in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia, a middle class family was welcoming their third child. It was July 13th of 1989, the year of the snake. It was the third and final day of the Mongolian national celebration called the “Naadamâ€. Garamtsoo Tsetsegmaa gave birth to Tulgat Vandandorj at approximately 1:30pm in the afternoon. The father of the new born child, Gotov Vandandorj gave his son a name that linked his children with a "tripod of rock", which would hold everything together. At the age of 8, he participated in a talent show of his school with his first hip hop dance performance. Ever since that day, the feeling of the adrenaline rush never left his system. An year later, Tulgat was asked to join a dance group called "Super Stars". The young Tulgat fell in love with the expression of one's feelings with body movement, and rhythm. While the needle of time was ticking non-stop, Super Stars was right behind it. Appearing in talent shows, contesting in tournaments. By the age of 12, Tulgat had a silver medal, a bronze medal and other trophies that are in display in his elementary school in Mongolia. In December of 2001, Tulgat finally got his chance to take steps in the land of opportunities. Tulgat landed in the US on January 8th, 2002. As a foreigner from the far east, he had a hard time speaking and understanding English. As years pass by, his urge to learn and cope with the English language and the American life, grew stronger. Unfortunately, at the age of fifteen, Tulgat was diagnosed with a brain tumor, ependymoma. With the loss of his left peripherals, it shocked him and his family. He was scheduled for a brain surgery on October 15th of 2004. A point of realization came to him at the last moment, before the doctors put him to sleep. After 3 hours of battling for his life, he survived cancer. Following the operation, 6 weeks of radiation gave him permanent hair-loss. From that time period, Tulgat looked at life differently. At times, he was depressed in his mind, opening doors for suicidal thoughts, but he found the resiliency to pull through. Then, Tulgat began to express himself with words and poetry, which became the only escape from the sleepless nights. That’s when Tulgat found his purpose in life. It was changing minds with words...positively. He started getting into rapping and emceeing an year after his operation. With a heart full of passion and ambition, Tulgat wrote daily to do nothing but improve. 2 years after his brain tumor removal, cancer struck back. The devastating news flooded his mind 24/7 with his life on the line, again. With so little accomplished Tulgat was not ready to leave yet. After successful operation on September 21, 2007, Tulgat knew that he needed to make all the effort necessary to make an impact with the true essence of hip hop music. His drive to influence somebody positively is in his daily schedule. Whether it's having a conversation with someone, or performing at shows, would do everything or anything to send his powerful message. Tulgat now is a student in Santa Monica College majoring in Music, and a full-time hip hop artist striving to bring real hip hop back into the game.

I'll keep everybody posted on my twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TulgaT

Cancer!