Former Ray Elijah Dukes reinvents himself

Fly Eli, who wants to make a name for himself as a rapper, stands in front of the microphone in the little studio off 40th Street and belts out lyrics about women and booze and clubs.

Like a lot of rappers, Fly Eli grew up hard and sings about the pain he's lived.

He's had run-ins with the law, troubles at work, six babies by four different women. Most of the millions he has made is long spent or tied up in alimony and child support.

But there is one thing Fly Eli knows first-hand that most rappers don't: The feeling that comes from sending a 90 mph fastball soaring 400 feet over a wall in front of tens of thousands of fans.

"Life is our hook," says Fly Eli, better known as Elijah Dukes to baseball fans and those who knew him when he was a hot shot athlete growing up in Tampa. "What we see is what you get."

In his 26 years, Dukes has seen a lot. He was drafted in the third round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft and cashed a $500,000 signing bonus. He played for the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals. He was going to be the Next Big Thing.

He also has lived in a shelter outside of Miami after his home was leveled by Hurricane Andrew. He saw his dad taken to prison. He has had dust-ups with players and coaches and a string of arrests, though not many convictions.

He doesn't dwell on those well-documented tribulations. These days, he considers them topic material for his upcoming CD and for his live shows in Tampa.

But there is much more Dukes wants to sing about as well.

In several interviews, including one at his home and one at the studio, Dukes talked about how the police are out to get him, the difficulties of being a black athlete in Tampa and how he was "thrown under the bus" by Major League Baseball.

He says he was blackballed by baseball after he came forward last year with allegations that fellow ball players were smuggling drugs onto chartered aircraft, using drugs in hotel rooms after flights and how he would sometimes smoke marijuana before home games when he played for the Washington Nationals.

Find out much more about Dukes in tonight's special report on News Channel 8 at 11 p.m. and in Saturday's The Tampa Tribune.