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Josh Colon has always had a passion for music. He wrote his first rap at age 8.
“It was about candy bars and girls,” he said.
The resident of Fourth and Wharton streets, who sings and plays the piano, performed with various local musicians growing up. In 2007, he joined the local band Whiskey Livin,’ but the group disbanded the following summer.
This left Colon’s options wide open. When a casting call was held last February at the Raven Lounge, 1718 Sansom St., for the MTV reality show “Real World,” he decided to try out.
“I went on a limb,” he said. “I saw [the audition] on cragslist and I guess the rest is history.”
His confidence snagged him a spot on the show’s 23rd season, which was filmed last summer in Washington D.C.
“Honestly, I was just looking for this experience,” Colon, who now travels back and forth between Philly and D.C., said. “I just thought my lifestyle should be documented — the way I dress, the way I look.”
Even though the line stretched for blocks, Colon believes his poise and style left MTV’s crew guessing. They were even unsure if he was gay or straight at one point, he said.
“I present myself in a way where I make a mystery and a question,” he said. “They just wanted to know more about me.”
Being one of two musicians in the house, Colon wanted to be the first to break out and establish himself. During the show, which debuted Dec. 30 and airs 10 p.m. each Wednesday on MTV, he met Will Whitney, who is now the drummer in the band Wicked Liquid that Colon fronts,
The group, which has its first LP on iTunes and is in the midst of planning an East Coast tour and making a music video, was rounded out with guitarist Fasil Girmay and bassist Ben Martinez. The band has a gig at D.C.’s Club Heaven and Hell tomorrow night.
“The whole band came together on the show,” he said. “It’s really going to play out exactly how it was, so I’m happy about that.”
Those shows have not aired thus far and Colon has not been too present in an episode until last night, but he couldn’t recall any regrets he had during filming in D.C.
“I still don’t know what they’re going to use,” he said. “I guess I’ll find that out later.”
Colon, 23, has been catching episodes via DVR, but may host viewing parties when he becomes more of a focal character. Either way, it has been surreal being on national television, he said.
“It’s definitely crazy seeing yourself on the tube,” he said. “It really feels good. It makes you feel like you accomplished something.”
Colon was raised by his mother near Eight Street and Oregon Avenue until he started acting up and was shipped to his father and grandmother’s home at Fifth and Sigel streets.
His uncle got him a job at Pat’s King of Steaks where he swept floors when he was 14. He moved up the ranks from cashier to head cashier and managing the grill, a position that he held until the summer when he left for D.C.
Then at age 17, he was locked up for possession.
“It was definitely a turning point in my life,” he said of the time he served. “That’s definitely not the way for me.”
He also experienced some rough times at Furness High, 1900 S. Third St., dropping out of school twice before entering a North Philadelphia based education program for troubled teens in ’04. He got his grades up and returned to Furness a few credits shy of graduating. Two years later, Colon received his diploma.
Once Colon started realizing his friends were heading down the wrong path, it helped get his life back on track.
“I basically saw myself on the same track selling drugs and not doing the right thing,” he said.
And with his mother having a second child, 8-year-old Dante, Colon said he wanted his younger sibling to have someone to look up to.
“I’m basically his father,” he said. “I stepped in. He didn’t have anyone to look up to and I knew that feeling.”
He then worked for Tony Luke’s at Citizen’s Bank Park from ’05 through last year as the personal product manager until heading to D.C. for the show. But prior to being cast, not wanting to make food service a career, Colon looked at the show as a way to chase his dreams, gaining publicity and an unforgettable experience along the way.
“Basically it was career decision time,” he said of his reasoning for auditioning. “Twenty-three years old — it was this or the military.”
Since he never had a college experience, Colon viewed his time in D.C. as just that — living with seven strangers from all walks of life and even though he missed his family and girlfriend, he would not trade it for the world, he said.
“Being in a city you’ve never been in before. Venture. Explore. It’s definitely an experience that changed my life,” he said.
And Colon has kept busy with his band and a slew of other projects including writing a short film “Vampire Ride in the Terror” with Tony Luke Jr. and his own short film, “Twist of Love,” but his life hasn’t drastically changed yet.
“Being noticed that’s pretty crazy,” he said. “It’s pretty much the same just a lot more exciting. I have a lot to look forward to.”
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