Local rappers Alonzo &uot;Lil Half Ounce&uot; McGowan and Gregory &uot;6 Pac&uot; Jones want to spread a positive message with their new rap and R&B album due out next month.

&uot;We’re trying to put out the best image so it will make people look at us in a different sort of way,&uot; said Jones, 36, who works at Johns Manville.

They want to be viewed as people trying to influence young people in the right way, he said.

McGowan, 17, said he wants young people to realize they can be successful in rap even if they are from the unlikely place of Mississippi.

&uot;(We’re) trying to give them a message they can do it to,&uot; McGowan said.

Their CD due out next month in local stores features clean rap and is titled &uot;All It Took Was Us.&uot; It is the combined work of their two record companies, Lit Boy Productions and Big G Money Music.

The CD features four songs all performed by local artists including Jones, McGowan, Lance McIntyre, 19, &uot;Baby O.G.&uot; and Dustin Sylvester and Justin Sylvester, 13-year-old twins who attend McLaurin Elementary School and Natchez Middle School.

The CD features one song about the twins’ relationship as brothers and another song about Jones’ and McGowan’s careers in music.

Jones said he wants young people to realize music can be a positive activity to keep them busy and out of trouble.

&uot;They don’t have to do anything wrong to be popular,&uot; Jones said.

And McGowan, who dropped out of school to get his GED, said he now regrets his decision and wants to encourage other young people to stay in school.

McGowan is now studying computer science at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

&uot;I’m not the smartest person in school, but I’m there and I’m learning something,&uot; McGowan said.

Jones, who claims to be the first rapper from Mississippi, said he hopes the album opens the door for other performers.

&uot;In other words we’re trying to make the next generation of musicians,&uot; Jones said.

Jones began performing in talent shows during the early 1980s but at that time he often received &uot;boos&uot; because people did not understand that type of music at the time, he said.

McGowan got his start at a talent show in 1997. This new album will be his third and the first for him to produce through Lit Boy Productions.

Jones is the son of Cordelia Edwards and Earl Turner and the husband of Sherita Jones.

McGowan is the son of Judith McGowan and Willie Jackson.

Jones and McGowan are also looking for other artists interested in rap, R&B or gospel.

The artists must be between the ages of 8 and 17 and have good grades and parental permission.