’80s Rapper Turned Activist, Glenn “Sweety G” Toby, Pens Children’s Book

Lil’ G Faces The Brooklyn Bully Beginning his career rhyming with the likes of Doug E. Fresh, Biz Markie, Stetsasonic, Kurtis Blow, and Run DMC, Glenn “Sweety G” Toby had a couple of modest hits in the early ’80s with the singles, “At the Place to Be” and “We Want to Get Down”. “My first […]

Lil’ G Faces The Brooklyn Bully

Beginning his career rhyming with the likes of Doug E. Fresh, Biz Markie, Stetsasonic, Kurtis Blow, and Run DMC, Glenn “Sweety G” Toby had a couple of modest hits in the early ’80s with the singles, “At the Place to Be” and “We Want to Get Down”.

“My first love was always music,” says Toby. “Just to feel, see, and connect with people on another level was incredible in itself.” But, eventually the rapper became an entrepreneur, specializing in marketing, management, and strategic business development. A former member of the LL Cool J management team, Toby also helps to provide the proper guidance and support for aspiring and active MCs including Saigon, Tru Life, and Q Da Kid.

Toby has also worked with over 50 NFL players. He and his business partner Alonzo Shavers provide a full scale of client services, including contract negotiations, publicity, marketing, and legal assistance. But ask Glenn Toby what he is most proud of, and it will likely be his work with The Book Bank Foundation (BBF).

In 1997, Toby founded The BBF, a non-profit organization aimed at promoting and advocating for literacy. With this mission in mind, Toby and the BBF have logged almost half a million hours of community service, helping to decrease the illiteracy rate by providing innovative ways of promoting learning, social awareness, and individual prosperity.

And, of course, a person who is focused at eradicating illiteracy would have to write a book. “We hope to inspire and develop a child’s mind to better understand the reality and challenges of the world they are living and growing in, through learning, critical thinking, and understanding life’s natural progression through a child’s view,” Toby says of his new children’s book.

With Lil’ G Faces the Brooklyn Bully, Toby tells the story of a boy, “Lil’ G,” who is homeless but possesses the ability to rap, which gets him up close to Sweety G. Sweety G then tells him about the BBF and helps “Lil’ G” and his mom get back on track to finding a home.

“Lil’ G is evidence,” says Toby, “that every child must have the right and opportunity to grow into a world that is greater than it was before they were born.”

Toby, who faced homelessness at one point in his own life, had a good perspective from which to write. Having to live on the streets, on subways, or find warmth on hotel hallway floors, he found solace in reading, as it allowed him to travel to foreign and distant places beyond his reality. “It was a frightening time for me and my siblings,” says Toby, “but it was also an enormous lesson in real character development and personal integrity.”

For more information on Glenn “Mr. Sweety G” Toby, visit www.glenntoby.com. Purchase a copy of Lil G Faces the Brooklyn Bully for a little one in your life at www.meetLilG.com.