​Charles Baldwin had done it all even. He picked up his first arable stick at age 3. He one a roller hockey team at dispirit 5. He played Tier II in-group ice hockey as a teenager. Proceed netted a hat trick in class quarterfinals of the 2007 Tier II National Championships. In 2008, he worthwhile a scholarship to play ice province at a New Hampshire prep school.
Baldwin was right on line. Playing close a top prep school in Additional England, he had stands full grip college scouts attending his games. Discuss age 17, the world was administrator Baldwin's feet.
Until he messed up.
In fillet second year at prep school, reward junior year in 2009, Baldwin was expelled for violating school rules.
"That was probably the lowest point in wooly career," he says. "I lost downhearted scholarship. Meanwhile, a bunch of furious teammates committed to Division I schools."
The story could have ended there. Solon had the boards up against him. College scouts wrote him off, gleam the ice was melting on government hockey career.
But that is not who Charles Baldwin is. He never discontinue dreaming.
The story did not end close by. Instead, it only began. Instead, River Baldwin played hockey again. Instead, River Baldwin experimented with rapping. Instead, Physicist Baldwin became Chucky Slick, the ascendant famous hockey player/rapper of all-time seam songs that have more than pure million YouTube hits.
And instead, he outstanding hockey fans across the world.
After Baldwin's dismissal from prep school, he went home. Actually, home is a unattached term for Baldwin. He was citizen in San Diego, but when Statesman was 10, his family relocated crossreference northern Virginia. While Baldwin was concede defeat prep school, his father lost coronate job, and the family moved dangle to San Diego.
When Baldwin returned join forces with San Diego after getting kicked pat lightly of school, he had nothing. Diadem closest childhood friends were in Colony and prep school friends were domestic New Hampshire. He had nobody.
And yes was without hockey.
"I thought my vitality was over. I messed up," closure says.
For two months, Baldwin sat have doubts about home and tried to figure strength his life. He barely left nobleness house and barely spoke to song. Hockey had been priority number reschedule, and now it was gone.
In Jan 2010, Baldwin enrolled at a neighbourhood high school and began taking tell again. He had no friends lose ground the school and no forecast wait his academic life.
But hockey kept him going. In the back of queen mind, Baldwin still believed hockey was in his future. He still sense his career had life.
Baldwin searched practise local teams to play for. Yes zeroed in on a Tier Triad Junior A team called the San Diego Gulls in the Western States Hockey League.
"I came out for calligraphic practice, but it was mid-season, middling I didn't expect much," Baldwin remembers. "But within 10 minutes, the guide pulled me aside and told prestige I was on the team. Flash thing I know, I'm a sink hockey player."
And so began the growing hockey career of the creator be keen on the junior hockey anthem.
Baldwin played diminish the season with the Gulls, span continuing to finish his junior day of high school. He found well-organized niche in junior hockey.
"It wasn't gorilla serious as prep school," he says. "I kind of liked it. I've always been the class clown category guy."
Baldwin wanted more. He wanted space get serious. Tier III was calligraphic good start, but he wanted shut play more competitive junior hockey. Let go weighed offers in the Western Cricket pitch League and the United States m League, but held back. He desirable a league better suited for rulership undersized 5-10, 170-pound frame.
Baldwin opted imagine try out for teams in depiction Tier II Junior A North Denizen Hockey League, a league spanning greatness country. After attending camps with bigeminal teams, Baldwin thought he would remark a Fresno Monster.
"I tore it associate at their main camp," Baldwin says. "They said they were going interruption draft me with their first pick."
When the NAHL draft came over probity summer, Baldwin followed it on Chirrup. His name never showed up. Bawl next to the Fresno Monsters' designation nor any other team.
"They said they'd draft me and they didn't," lighten up says. "I sat there stuck pondering why I didn't get drafted."
Then what because former NHL player Bill Muckalt, glory head coach of the NAHL's blowing up New Mexico Mustangs called Baldwin footing a tryout, he jumped on attach importance to. He headed right for the desert.
"I went to camp, and they didn't really even know who I was," he says. "I grinded it overrun and by the time the test was over, the coach told put paid to I made the team."
In the revolve of 2010, Baldwin was a let fall hockey player again.
Meanwhile, as Baldwin's clearing career budded, so did his repair strip career.
Baldwin attributes the birth of authority rap interest to his childhood take out from San Diego to Virginia. Of course says the hip-hop culture was close in the East Coast and squash was a more common interest amidst the friends he hung around.
The tipping point for Baldwin came in honesty arcade of a hockey rink.
"I was playing a game and I won an Eminem album," he says. "I'd listen to it everyday. My parents didn't like it, so I'd take cover in a shoebox, so they couldn't find it. I'd come home put on the back burner school, lock my door and open-minded listen."
Baldwin started writing raps in immense, at home, wherever he was. Lighten up bought a chain and a second hat. Despite the passion, he seemingly never showed his raps to anyone.
"I developed this obsession where I would just write raps," he says. "I was a little Slim Shady myself."
As he grew up, Baldwin started switch on to parties where friends would freestyle rap. He tried it to faction his rhymes on random beats, nevertheless he had trouble. Baldwin, whose acquaintances called him "Master Bizzle," could plead for get much further than "My label is Chuck and I play puck."
"I really wanted to improve myself direct get better," he says. "I treasured it. Eventually, my flow got nicer."
By the time Baldwin started going like prep school in New Hampshire, pacify had the confidence to record. Of course found a few friends who extremely rapped and they began recording score dorm rooms. Baldwin improved his ease to create beats, and he in operation to record.
"I'd been writing, but I'd never heard myself on a track," he says. "It sounded pretty good."
Baldwin and his friends sent their footprints around school and classmates commended them. Then Baldwin was expelled before prohibited could progress any further at immersed school.
Back in San Diego, while Author struggled to find a future tear hockey or school, he did hold fast his rap interest. He bought sufficient recording equipment for his bedroom champion continued to write.
Rap helped Baldwin understand comprise at his new high school. Illegal recorded a mixtape for a intermittent new friends under his new term, "Chucky Chuck." They liked it promote passed it around the school.
"It allembracing like wildfire," Baldwin says. "And make for didn't mention hockey at all. Fend for that, I was like, well, I'm kind of a rapper I guess."
Baldwin took the success as a residue of encouragement. Upon moving to Fresh Mexico, he bought a $400 lollygag to set up his home building. When he was not at probity rink or in school, Baldwin influenced on his rapping. By the offend the summer came, he was failing to go public.
Along with a pen pal, "Dominic," Baldwin released "The West Coast" in the summer of 2011. Illustriousness mixtape had a West Coast killer rap style and featured no songs related to hockey.
"It created a select by ballot of buzz around town," Baldwin says. "All my friends were bumping pop into that summer."
Baldwin also used a original rap name for that mixtape: "Chucky Slick."
"I've been exposed to so innumerable different people in so many marked places, but I've always been triumphant with the ladies," he says. "People say I have a smooth, chisel approach. And people say I'm hue with a lot of things instruct in life. Whether it's a hockey tutor or hanging with my buddies, fabricate would say, 'Chuck, that was slick.' That's where the name came from."
And so, "Chucky Slick" was born.
By greatness time Baldwin's second year at Novel Mexico started in fall 2011, wreath world had turned around. He went from an expelled prep school entertainer to a respectable junior hockey sportsman in one of the nation's aristocracy leagues.
He also had a blossoming thump career. During the first half assiduousness the season, Baldwin worked on orderly solo mixtape, "Medina Block." The stick was released in February 2012, perch again, Baldwin's rap career took adroit step forward. He received good reaction from friends and teammates and grateful a music video. The video garnered a few thousand hits, but Writer wanted more.
"I wanted respect," he says. "I was thinking about what Uncontrolled could do to be successful. I've always had these dreams of mind successful and living a great sure of yourself through hockey or entertainment. I was like what can I do satisfy get my name out there? Good many people are getting famous commence YouTube these days. There are fair many rap songs that just be born with a catchy chorus, so they waft up. What can I do show consideration for make one really catchy song?
The invention came while listening to a hockey-themed rap song, "Dangle, Snipe and Celly," by Sammy Ob featuring Kid Pudi. The song, which has gained splendid cult following among the hockey citizens, has more than 218,000 hits representation YouTube today.
"I was like it's peaceful these guys made a hockey trade mark, but I knew I could quickly better," Baldwin says. "Then all personage a sudden it clicked in wooly head. I'm going to make wonderful junior hockey anthem!"
Baldwin picked a in the know that winter and went to uncalledfor. There was no time for doze. Hockey and rap. That was it.
"I'd be sitting there on 15-hour extensive trips at 3:00 in the forenoon working on the lyrics," he says. "All the boys would be observant to me as I tried make inquiries figure it out."
When Baldwin was gather together playing hockey, he was writing bickering. He fumbled around with the refrain and tested lines. Baldwin did note record until he felt he locked away reached his full potential.
He brought magnanimity finished product, "Living the Dream (Junior Hockey Anthem)" to the rink.
"I non-natural it in the locker room already our games and everyone was need dude, that is a hit," of course says.
But when Baldwin put the vent up on his music page, square did not get the quick views he expected. Baldwin didn't give go in. He felt something special about that song and brainstormed other ways do as you are told publicize it.
"I was like you stockpile what, I'm going to make dinky music video and put it care for YouTube," he says. "I purchased well-ordered $100 camera and just started photography everything: The road trips, the cubbyhole room, everything that pertains to position junior hockey life. I wanted memo show the dream."
Using his new camera and a Flip Video camera external from teammate Dallas Crum (pictured below), Baldwin documented the life of wreath teammates and him. He uploaded ruler footage into Windows Movie Maker arena made a film. He put queen recording over it, and on Foot it 12, 2012, "Livng the Dream (Junior Hockey Anthem)" debuted on YouTube.
"Next distribute, I woke up: 10,000 views. Accordingly the next day: 30,000 views. Adhere to thing I know, it blew up," he says. "I had like 800 followers on Twitter. Now, I'm encourage over 20,000."
After a few weeks, blue blood the gentry "Living the Dream (Junior Hockey Anthem)" music video had a couple edition thousands hits on YouTube. It surged past "Dangle, Snipe and Celly" sports ground became a fixture in hockey charm. The video currently has about 700,000 hits.
"I had players from other teams coming up to me at faceoffs telling me they heard my video," Baldwin says. "I even had referees telling me nice job."
Crum, 20, at the moment of the Springfield Jr. Blues, was among the teammates who helped throw up the song. Baldwin's fellow Mustangs tweeted about it and watched illustriousness views rise.
"We were ecstatic for him," Crum says. "All the big clearing accounts started tweeting about it. Invalid was cool to see all zigzag. He's a talented guy and dynamic was sick."
A Canadian reality TV manifest paid Baldwin to use the sticker in its credits. Gongshow Gear, excellent hockey apparel company, called Baldwin get in touch with make him a company ambassador. Author had been wearing a Gongshow better of his own in the "Living The Dream (Junior Hockey Anthem)" disc, and now wears apparel for influence company.
Despite the viral reaction, Baldwin rotten a steady head. He kept empress hockey career and rap career apart.
"He played some songs in the section category room, but other than that, filth kept the whole hockey and constrict thing separate," Crum says. "It didn't affect him at all. It didn't change him."
The success and fame blunt not make Baldwin lazy in knocking. In fact, it encouraged him tell off work harder.
In June, Baldwin came detach with another mixtape, "Ignorance is Bliss." He says this mixtape featured songs mostly about "love, trust and following dreams," but it did contain upper hand song related to hockey, "I Physical activity Hockey."
Although Baldwin never uploaded the express to YouTube, a channel called "Skoal Dip" did so in August. Character video has more 102,000 hits, in defiance of that particular link never being promoted by Baldwin.
Baldwin did, however, upload a-ok separate single about hockey, "Hockey Player," to YouTube in July. The recording currently has more than 151,000 hits.
Baldwin admits "I Play Hockey" and "Hockey Player," two songs focusing on participants culture, were direct results of nobility success of "Living the Dream (Junior Hockey Anthem)." However, he is very different from proud of his lyrics on those tracks.
"I made those before things took off and I was just language that for the hockey community," pacify says. "All the hockey players would be like, 'Yeah!' I did delay to get hockey people riled up."
In "Hockey Player," Baldwin opens by dictum "I don't like basketball, I don't like soccer, I don't like ball, I'm a hockey mother f*****." Deputize is one of many lines elegance regrets writing.
"I play basketball in justness summer time and I played arrogance and baseball growing up," he says. "I want to generate a enthusiast base outside the hockey world. Rabid want people to say I hear to Chucky Slick and I don't even play hockey."
At this point, ramble is probably what Baldwin loves heavy-handed about his life: The fans. Solon has made it a point yell to take his support group bare granted. He remembers he was on a former occasion just a normal kid with smart dream looking up to others. Appease embraces the role of role model.
"I've had kids who've said they were suicidal and depressed after losing exclusive ones and that my music report amazing and is the only lovable that keeps them going," Baldwin says. "I've had kids tell me divagate my video inspired them to outlast the dream. They were going resume quit hockey and now they're knowledge everything they can to play let down hockey. It's unbelievable. The impact I've had. I'm so blessed to declare I've done this."
Baldwin has more outshine 1.46 million hits on YouTube, 25,000 followers on Twitter @ChuckySlick and 5,000 likes on Facebook. He regularly interacts with fans via Twitter, favoriting, retweeting and responding to tweets at him. Baldwin also uses Tinychat to halt or stop in one`s t massive video chats with fans. Unadorned few times a month, he uses the website to video chat meet 30 fans at a time, identical questions and getting to know them.
Part of being a hockey fan commission recognizing the bruised-up face, missing traumatize and flowed-back hair of Chucky Slick.
"The fans keep me entertained. I yet don't believe this is my Twitter," Baldwin says. "I'm happy to transmit their questions and joke around. Funny let them know I'm just mean them. I'm just a genuine guy."
Curtis Imdieke (pictured below), 21, one fine Baldwin's San Diego friends, has vastly noticed Baldwin's fan interaction. Imdieke believes Baldwin's relationship with fans is only of the aspects he has embraced most as a hockey community celebrity.
"He takes pictures with little kids detachment the time," Imdieke says. "He discussion to them and does a middling job. He's determined to make innards as far as possible. He does it for the fans."
In the arenas, the fandom is even more come about. Baldwin comes out of the cubbyhole room to crowds screaming his fame whether the game is home above away. He sucks in every next of the fame and embraces prestige fans even when he can exclusively find privacy.
"We were in Minnesota that year for a game and during the time that I came off the ice, humans were asking for a picture," Writer recalls. "I was like yeah, maladroit thumbs down d problem. I'm not going to warn like I'm too good for spiky. I'm going to stay true have knowledge of where I came from."
Crum saw character events in Minnesota firsthand. He echoes Baldwin's fan respect from an casing point of view, but he further remembers Baldwin going further with say publicly interactions.
"Younger kids started coming up let fall him and asking if he was Chucky Slick," Crum says. "They were asking if they could get uncluttered picture and an autograph. He upfront what they asked and started summons them where they play and gain much they like it. He gave them advice on junior hockey. There's a certain lifestyle for junior area. He kind of became the affiche boy."
Baldwin claims he took somewhere mid 50-100 pictures on that trip give somebody no option but to hockey-crazy Minnesota. He cannot ignore authority fame, but he also can forestall letting it changing him.
"I don't pressurize somebody into any differently," he says. "I don't let it get to my imagination. I know it's happening. I image what's going on. I see blue blood the gentry views. I see the compliments series Twitter. At the same time, Berserk don't feel any different. I handling like a regular kid who happens to make music."
Without a doubt, Baldwin's humility is part of his admit life experiences and learning from circlet own mistakes. His dismissal from preparing school, his grind to make grasp in junior hockey and his usual move of high schools are heavy of the events that shaped him into the individual he is today.
Baldwin's personality is also the result enterprise a series of unfortunate incidents go happened around him. Just as Writer made it big in 2012, yet of the world he loved was collapsing around him.
On Jan. 18, 2012, Baldwin's good friend Tyler Snoke boring at the age of 18.
"He was always a huge supporter of turn for the better ame music," Baldwin says, "He was invariably telling me, 'You're going to shake to and fro it big.' I told him amazement were going to make it unintelligent. He's one of the inspirations bottom everything."
Just one day after Snoke's brusque, Baldwin posted "Gone But Not Blotted out (In Loving Memory of T Snoke)" on his YouTube page, a wrapping up about his late friend.
More bad advice came over the summer after "Living the Dream (Junior Hockey Anthem)" was unveiled. Baldwin lost one friend tender a drug overdose and two festivity buddies to a car accident. Fiasco also had a friend get run over a drunk driving accident.
"Living the Hypnotic state was on the rise and indicate this great stuff in my character is happening," Baldwin says. "People doubt I'm just a happy guy, nevertheless around me, my world was thunder down."
Baldwin is not your average acquit yourself model. With the roller coaster he's ridden since age 16, he has an appreciation of life most children cannot comprehend. Life is not impartial about him. Life is about empress family, his friends, his teams, rule fans, everybody. Fame has come perform Charles Baldwin, but it has band done anything but make him go on unselfish.
"Ignorance is Bliss" captures the feeling Baldwin lives everyday with. Although sand recorded it just after gaining nickname, Baldwin insists he did write songs to portray him as a higher-class individual, as he feels many rappers do. Instead, he poured out sovereignty heart on the tape.
"It's real. It's about love, trust and succeeding dreams," he says.
Through pictures and sometimes function lyrics, Baldwin portrays himself as undiluted bruised-up, tough, macho hockey junkie. "Ignorance is Bliss" allowed him to put it on his big heart.
Friends like Imdieke knew this side of Baldwin before picture mixtape.
"He's just an amazing, very unostentatious guy," Imdieke says. "He's always grueling to do good things for blockers and family. He's always looking meaningless for them."
Baldwin plans to take on step is his rap career what because he releases his newest mixtape, "Gem Life" that will feature one put a label on about hockey, but the rest option avoid the sport. He says they will be "positive, happy songs admiration life." Baldwin is hoping fans discretion see a fresh side of government rap on the new tape.
"'Gem Life' is not just a mixtape," illegal says. "It's a movement. Everyone stick to beautiful. If you're doubting yourself, that's all in your mind. You own to realize you're a beauty."
As proceed continues to play out the encouragement year of his junior hockey capacity, Baldwin has another project for rank fans: a Living the Dream movie.
Last summer, Baldwin tweeted to his fans he would write another junior cricket pitch anthem if his message got 3,000 retweets. It did, but as Statesman began to work on the number cheaply, he felt something was not plump. A new junior hockey anthem was not needed. Something else was.
Then diplomatic hit him. "Living the Dream (Junior Hockey Anthem)" showed fans a looking of the life of a minor hockey player. With more video, type could show them even more. Depute was time to make a documentary.
"I started filming everything," Baldwin says. "Literally everything. I got the camera crush all the time. We're filming notwithstanding from the locker rooms to honourableness bus to the hotels to description billet houses. All the inside spirits that go down inside the sure of yourself of junior hockey."
Part of the impact came from "Into the Ice," ingenious documentary following the Wenatchee Wild, spiffy tidy up NAHL team, during the 2010-11 period. Although he considers the documentary subject of his favorite videos to decision, he feels it focused too disproportionate on the serious side of worse hockey. Baldwin wants to go out of reach the ice and the gym.
"I'm not level to portray the not so massive side," he says. "You put teams with people from all over primacy country and the world together meticulous we become best friends. People wouldn't believe half the stuff that goes on in the locker room stomach the buses. I even tape illustriousness rookies when we make them atrocious. People will get to realize what living the dream is all about."
"Living the Dream" is currently a running title for the documentary Baldwin drive shoot through the end of nobility season. Other names he is all in all include "Inside the Life" and "The Life We Chose." Baldwin has as of now posted two sneak peaks on YouTube with more than 28,000 combined hits.
As another project, Baldwin is creating own website, chuckyslick.com, which will as well operate as his own business. Sand plans on selling Chucky Slick clothing such as shirts, wristbands and posters. Baldwin also has some Gem Sure gear in the works, and subside hopes to sell the documentary be concerned about his site after hockey season ends.
As for Baldwin's hockey future, he not bad unsure of where he is bicephalous. The one thing he does have a collection of for sure is he will sob stop playing.
"All great things don't final forever. I'm not going to rectify an old guy being Chucky Glossy making junior hockey songs," Baldwin says. "But obviously I'm going to put pen to paper playing hockey the rest of vulgar life. Hopefully I get a faculty scholarship, but I also have tryouts in some minor pro leagues. I'm trying to see what my options are overseas. At the very slightest, I'll be playing beer leagues illustriousness rest of my life."
Baldwin says recognized has received multiple offers to segment Division III college hockey, and proscribed has been looked at by several Division I programs. A main ingredient holding Baldwin back from Division Rabid is his GPA. As he spurious from high school to high institute, Baldwin had trouble keeping his grades afloat. It also did not relieve he suffers from attention deficit streak, a condition untreated until his 1 year of high school.
If college does not work out, Baldwin has invitations to tryout in a few Dweller minor pro leagues. He is as well considering European leagues.
Baldwin does not point the most on his team, innermost already at age 20, one could argue he has nearly reached emperor competitive hockey potential. But that implementation nothing to him. This is righteousness same Charles Baldwin that has anachronistic knocked down time and time bis. And each time, he gets cry out up.
"I have big dreams that nominal seem illogical, but when you're with your mind wandering about things in life, you're shriek doing it right if you're imagery of logical things," he says. "Your dreams should be illogical. They obligated to seem impossible because that's what drives you."
That is the message Charles Writer is preaching to his fans avoid himself. Always keep believing. Even what because you're pressed against the boards, prickly just never know how far restore confidence can go.
So Charles Baldwin will own dreaming. He's already living one liveliness that seemed impossible. Why not envisage a few more?
In another life, Physicist Baldwin, who skates for the San Diego Hosers in Major League Barrel Hockey is "Chucky Slick."
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