Editing Skiz Fernando (section)

==Early life==
Sarath H. Fernando Jr. was born in 1968<ref>{{cite interview|last=Fernando|first= Sarath|interviewer-last= Butts|interviewer-first=Brandon Rashad|title=Between Two Succulents with guest S.H. Fernando JR|date= 2021|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFoge9ba2uc|quote=I'm pretty much the same age as [[Wu-Tang Clan|these guys]]. I'm 1968, so I'm the same age as [[Ol' Dirty Bastard|ODB]]|access-date=4 August 2023}}</ref> in [[Texas]].<ref name="bourdain">{{Cite episode|title=Sri Lanka|series=Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations|series-link=Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations|last=Bourdain|first=Anthony|network=[[Discovery Travel & Living]]|date=March 2, 2009|season=5|number=9|minutes=3}}</ref> His parents are [[Sri Lanka|Sri Lankan]] immigrants,<ref>{{cite web|title=Learning 'Sri Lankan Home Cooking' A Family Affair|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/12/29/144442096/learning-sri-lankan-home-cooking-a-family-affair|website=[[NPR]]|date=December 29, 2011|access-date=4 August 2023}}</ref> and he is the only person in his family to be born in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|title=Learning 'Sri Lankan Home Cooking' A Family Affair|type=transcript|url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/144442096|website=[[NPR]]|date=December 29, 2011|access-date=4 August 2023}}</ref> Fernando was raised in [[Pikesville, Maryland|Pikesville]], [[Baltimore County, Maryland]] and attended [[St. Paul's School for Boys (Maryland)|St. Paul's School for Boys]].<ref name="bsun">{{cite web|last1=Gonzales|first1=Michael A.|title=Pikesville native, Prince Paul collaborator drops crazy new album|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/citypaper/bcp-cms-1-1385471-migrated-story-cp-20121010-music-20121010-story.html|website=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=5 August 2023|date=10 October 2012}}</ref>

Throughout childhood, he was listening to music records his brother and sister would bring home. His siblings were "much older" than him and were listening to [[Parliament-Funkadelic]], [[Bob Marley]], and [[David Bowie]]. In 1979, when he was around 11 years old, he heard the song "[[Rapper's Delight]]" on the radio. "For me, that was it. I had no idea what hip-hop even was, but I was mesmerized. A few years later, when [[Soulsonic Force|Soul Sonic Force]] released '[[Planet Rock (song)|Planet Rock]],' I knew I wanted to be a part of that music", recalls Fernando. He became friends with "the only three black guys" in his school and started listening to their favorite music, which included [[LL Cool J]] and [[Run-DMC]], while continuing listening to rock bands like [[the Smiths]]. In the following years, Fernando would dedicate time to exploring record stores in search of new artists and genres.<ref name="bsun" />

After graduating from [[Harvard College]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ali|first1=Lorraine|title=Dread, Beat, and Brooklyn|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/dread-beat-and-brooklyn/|website=[[The Village Voice]]|access-date=5 August 2023|date=September 21, 1999}}</ref> Fernando moved to [[Greece]], where he worked as a school teacher. At that time, he was unsure about his future plans. Since he loved hip hop, a year later he decided to move to New York City, which he viewed as the central place for hip hop. To justify the decision to his parents, he enrolled in the [[Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism]],<ref name="housepodcast">{{cite interview|last=Fernando|first=Sarath|interviewer-last=Agoston|interviewer-first=Peter|title=Ep. 8 - S.H. Fernando Jr (aka Spectre)|date=2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=achTLXX7nSc|access-date=6 August 2023}}</ref> which he later graduated from.<ref name="bio">{{cite web|title=Skiz Bio|url=http://www.wordsound.com/skza.html|publisher=Wordsound}}</ref>