Ombre & The Beats: Introduction.

Everyone has a secret identity. Versions of ourselves that we create to be shared and liked and followed. Why else would instagram give everyone a wall? Because after you make your life look perfect, you need something to hide behind. Okay. Much better. So now you know my real secret identity. But with all the identities we have access to online, there's always been one question I haven't been quite able to answer.

Which one's the real you?

Now I know that sounds like something I got off a poster in my guidance counselor's office, but that doesn't change the fact that it's the truth. Which is what, I, Julian Daniels, am here to confess to you, my closest friend, the Internet. I just really never expected things to get so out of hand. Especially because less than one month ago, at the beginning of the summer, nobody even knew I existed. I was living the most unexceptional life in the least likely place imaginable... Sacramento, California. Okay. Here comes the truth.

So 10 years ago, when I was six, I moved here from Los Angeles with my little brother, Nick.

Now you know how some people go online and over share every tiny, little detail of their lives?

Well, Nick basically invented that. His life is just an open e-book for everyone to see, not that they want to or not. Since we live with our Uncle Jermaine, that means we also get to live with his two foster sons.

There's Shane, who is a fashionista who thinks way outside the box. And Ahmad, who's a part-time genius, full-time bad-ass.

Uncle Jermaine took us in 10 years ago, when Nick and I had nowhere else to go. And the five of us have been a family ever since. Now there's only one missing piece, and it's a big one. My dad, Emmett. He would call me his diamond in the rough, or his Ombre. All right, so what I'm trying to do right now is fix this circuit, which is giving me lots of problems.

But try and try again, so... He was an inventor, a dreamer, always working on his greatest creation. B-1-E-U. Or what he'd call "Bleu." Even though his philosophy was to always finish what you've started, um, he passed away before he got to complete this one. but for now, I keep it on my shelf so I still feel like he's with me.