Putting the pieces back together

The rapper Omega Red is talking about his fall and rise.

‘‘I was given a second start to do it all over again right,’’ he says. Born Robert Grant, the Dorchester-bred artist is up for four awards at the second annual New England Urban Music Awards tomorrow night, including ‘‘favorite rap male’’ and ‘‘favorite producer/company’’ for the Jugganautz, a collaborative effort with his manager, Francis Phan. He won both those honors last year at the awards’ inaugural event and is the favorite for them again this year. He is also nominated for single of the year for both ‘‘Forever Young’’ and ‘‘Magic.’’

In addition, the 28-year-old artist’s latest mixtape, ‘‘The Red Tape Volume II,’’ is selling well online and on the streets. This exposure is bringing him more opportunities to perform. ‘‘The music gets out there,’’ he says, ‘‘and people just start hitting me up [for gigs].’’

But this success has been hard won. That might seem surprising — Grant happens to be the nephew of disco and soul legend Donna Summer. But the rapper has never been one to choose the easy path.

‘‘People think, ‘Your aunt’s Donna Summer, why haven’t you blown up, dog?’.’’ he says. ‘‘It doesn’t work like that. She’ll give me advice, but she’s not going to hold my hand. I need to learn like she learned. ..... I want people to say, Red got there because Red got there, not because his aunt put him there.’’

Red got there because he got there. His journey has taken him around the world in the Air Force, landed him behind bars, and brought him to where he is now, working his hardest to make it in music and in life.

Grant grew up on Ballou Avenue with his mother (Summer’s sister), father, two sisters, and a half-brother and half-sister, surrounded by music. His father was an avid jazz fan. Grant took up the saxophone, playing in a jazz quartet as a youth. Fellow Boston hip-hopper Dre Robinson lived nearby; the two used to attend block parties sponsored by the Jamaican community. That Jamaican influence is still evident in his music today. On ‘‘The Red Tape Volume II,’’ he teams up with Boston dancehall artist Mighty Mystic for the song ‘‘Mardis Gras.’’ The jazz influence remains, too; he sometimes performs live with a full jazz band.

It wasn’t until Grant was 7 or 8 years old, when he was introduced to Barbra Streisand and Chaka Khan, that he realized his Aunt Donna was a celebrity. As he grew older and his interest turned from jazz to hip-hop, he began rapping in Summer’s West Coast studio with a cousin. Listening to the Sugarhill Gang, Nas, LL Cool J, Run-D.M.C., and Das EFX, he started to get serious about hip-hop when he was about 15. Around that time, Grant moved from Dorchester to the suburbs. He attended Randolph High and befriended Clinton Sparks, now an acclaimed hip-hop DJ and producer, through mutual friends. ‘‘My first impression was that he was a quiet, cool kid,’’ Sparks says. ‘‘I thought he had potential, but he wasn’t rapping the right stuff. ..... He had a Jay-Z swagger before everyone liked Jay-Z. The producer in me came out. I said, that’s what you should be catering to.’’

And Jay-Z is now undeniably an influence on Omega Red (named for an ‘‘X-Men’’ character); his voice, pronunciation, and stage presence evoke the Def Jam president and CEO. His fashionably preppy style — white low-top sneakers, designer jeans, baggy designer T-shirts — echoes Jay-Z’s, too. But he’s his own performer. His beats show the influence of the West Coast and the South. He puts together simple, laid-back raps and often sings his own hooks. Onstage, he performs with confidence and swagger; offstage he is quiet yet passionate about his pursuit of music.

‘‘It’s all about taking risks and having passion,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s almost addictive. It’s a dream, but it could be reality. You see people doing it around you. You just have to find a way to get in that circle of people. That’s what keeps me doing it, because I know it can be done.’’

That can-do attitude may in part be a legacy of his time in the Air Force, which he joined after finishing high school and having his first child. He spent time in Germany, Turkey, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. ‘‘I got to experience different cultures and lifestyles, so it was a good thing,’’ he says. ‘‘I was learning about many different world cultures and about life itself.’’

After an honorable discharge in 1998, Grant decided to focus on a career in hip-hop. His mind was blown when he discovered the Wu-Tang Clan through Jeff Rivera, an Air Force friend from Staten Island, N.Y., who grew up with members of the influential group. Grant and Rivera started a group together called Underground Madness, and Rivera helped Grant bring his hustle and flow to the next level by teaching him to read the dictionary. ‘‘It made me able to articulate myself and gave me a broader choice of words to make a rhyme, without cussing or swearing,’’ Grant says.

He began rapping with the influential Boston hip-hop artist Krumbsnatcha, got married, and focused on fatherhood. (By now he had a second child.) But he also began to get involved in things, he says, he shouldn’t have, including distributing drugs. A deal went bad, and he was arrested. Convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon and illegal firearm possession, he was sent to prison.

It was, of course, a dark time. His wife left him. His friends abandoned him. ‘‘Everything got taken away,’’ he says.

And yet, he says, being incarcerated probably saved his life. He changed behind bars. While he was in prison, he wrote the lyrics to more than 200 songs. ‘‘It made me focus more,’’ he says. ‘‘It made me hungrier, stronger, and wiser.

‘‘I really learned who was there for me and who wasn’t there for me,’’ he continues. ‘‘The people who were pretending to be my friends when I was hustling weren’t there for me when I went to jail. That brought me back to my roots, and to the people who really cared about me, to get me through this.’’

Like his famous aunt. ‘‘He’s come a long way,’’ Summer says by phone from Los Angeles. ‘‘I like where he’s going. [His music] is connected to his heart. He’s trying to learn from his mistakes.’’

When he got out of jail in 2002, he was ready to take the music world by storm. He began networking, trying to meet every DJ on Boston radio. He eventually connected with Jam’n 94.5 DJ Roy Barboza, who mixed ‘‘The Red Tape Volume I,’’ released in December 2005. ‘‘Volume II’’ followed in January of this year, a final chapter of songs written by a man looking deep within himself behind bars. Since his release from prison, Grant has been working to get his life back on track. He returned to school, at the New England Institute of Art in Brookline, hoping to earn his bachelor’s degree in audio and media technology. He works two jobs and is intent on being the best father he can to his two daughters, now 9 and 10.

‘‘I was heading down the wrong road,’’ Grant says. ‘‘God had something else planned for me. Jail saved me; I’d probably be dead. ..... It’s like I lived four lives already.’’

So whether or not he takes home honors at the Urban Music Awards tomorrow, he’s already won. He’s recording his next album, ‘‘Red October,’’ which he plans to release in October 2008. And Summer says there may even be a collaboration in their future. (Omega Red and his aunt have recorded together in the past, with Summer singing the hooks and Grant rapping, but nothing’s been released.)

‘‘I’m very proud of him,’’ Summer says. ‘‘If he puts in the time and comes out with greatness, nobody can deny greatness. Robert has some genuine poetry in him.’’

Others in the running for 2007 N.E. Urban Music Awards

Francis Phan is the man behind the scenes of rapper Omega Red's rising career. Phan, Red's manager, has the opportunity to repeat last year's wins for male producer of the year and production company of the year, for the Jugganautz , a company co-owned and operated by Phan and Omega Red.

Mighty Mystic , an energetic reggae/dancehall artist from Boston, is the favorite for best Caribbean male artist. He is also nominated for best single for "Riding on the Clouds." In December, he traveled to Miami, where he won the prestigious Joe Higgs "Cool Operator" Rising Star Award . Higgs was integral to the career of reggae legend Bob Marley.

Paul "P-Funk" Mauras is slated to perform in the Latin category. Mauras won for best blues male last year and is up for that category again, in addition to best Latin male, and for best album for "Prozac Frappe." Mauras crosses all genres, blending reggae, blues, Latin, and funk.

Fans won't get to see Ahmir at the awards show this year, due to a European tour in support of its new album, "The Gift," but Boston's best R&B group from last year's awards show is a finalist for that category again this year. Ahmir is also nominated for best album for "The Gift" and best single for "Welcome to My Party." Billboard magazine has said the group is poised for R&B stardom.

Eroc and Optimus, who make up the Foundation Movement, took home the award for best rap group last year and are up for it again this year, in addition to best album for "Greatest Hits." The politically active and socially conscious rappers are leaving for New York this summer, and this could be one of their final Boston appearances before the move.