He started performing at “open mic” shows around New York, he said, and won his first “showcase” at Gravity, in Brooklyn. “I felt unstoppable,” he said.

Though he has yet to line up professional work, he said that he is working toward that goal by remaining humble and promoting his name by performing at showcases around New York, reaching out to college and Internet radio stations, handing out his CDs and business cards any chance he gets.

DuPont’s purpose in trying to make a career out of music, he said, is ultimately to be able to take care of his family, though he added that he would like to use it as a tool for change in the community, if not the world. “Every chance I get, I want to impact someone's life,” he said. “I'd like to start an organization for depressed children and adults on the verge of suicide. That is one way I’d like to help the world. I would expand that as far as God allows me. I would also like to make more Big Brother-like programs for children without fathers and single parents. I’d like to help the fast-growing population of single mothers.”

His biggest motivators, DuPont said, are his younger cousins, Arron, Aleiyah and Arianna, who he said are his biggest fans. “The look in their eyes when they ask me to sing or listen to a song is priceless,” DuPont said. “I used to sing to Arron and Arianna when they were babies to stop them from crying — but no one knows. I feel like I have to [be successful] because I wouldn't want them to see me fail at my dreams.

“Through my success,” he concluded, “I want to show them that it is possible to do