Marcel P. Black

Hometown: Ardmore, Okla.

Twitter: @MarcelPBlack

Notable Songs: "Stare and Whisper," "Boss" and "Trap Hop"

Sounds Like: Killer Mike before Run The Jewels

Why You Need to Know Him: Marcel P. Black originally came to Baton Rouge by way of Oklahoma, but has established himself as one of the city’s hip-hop leaders over the past decade. In addition to cultivating the local scene, Black has become an in-demand act on the regional circuit. Black’s rise has been an unlikely one, creating conscious rap in a Baton Rouge scene largely bereft of such content. The rapper found a winning formula in recent years by moving away from boom-bap beats to more traditional southern production. The switch reached its apex last year via Black's excellent Cry Freedom LP. - XXL Magazine

Oklahoma Native Has Become A Leader In Baton Rouge’s Alternative Hip Hop Scene
Inspiration For Career


“My father is a gospel singer and musician. I grew up watching him create music, put it out, and perform all over Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, etc. Creating music is in my DNA. My older cousins where huge Hip-Hop heads in the 80’s & 90’s, during that time I memorized my first rap at age 5, wrote my first full song when I was 11. I come from a family of people who are musicians as well as very active in the community. So, being making non-traditional conscious Hip Hop is a natural part of who I am. I chose to make a career in Hip Hop because I feel I have something to offer the fight to overcome the struggle artistically.”

Having A Shot At Stardom

“This may sound weird, but I’ve never really cared about being a star… I remember when I was in my first group, I came up with this mantra, ‘The goal is not to sell a million records, but change millions of lives…’ Of course, I want the absolute max of people to hear & support my music, and I loved when I was opening for Common and Jay Electronica or Kevin Gates in front of thousands, but my focus has always been touching the people in a genuine way on, on a personal level. If I can do that and be big as Drake, or be an Underground King like Bun B, I’m blessed either way, as long as I’m touching people’s souls.”

Project(s)

“My next LP is titled “Cry Freedom,” and it’s dropping late summer on Ohio-based upstart indie label Grand Union Media and Baton Rouge’s Real Profit Entertainment. It features STL activist Tef Poe, Carolina legend Supastition, DMV vet emcee Substantial, as well as New Orleans rising star Alfred Banks. The whole album is produced by Baton Rouge beatsmith Joe On The Track of Real Profit Entertainment.”



Twitter: @marcelpblack

Instagram: @marcelpblack - Hip-Hop DX

A native of Oklahoma, Marcel P. Black moved to Baton Rouge 15 years ago and has since become an integral member of the city’s culture not only as an MC, but also a youth development counselor. He’s the organizer of Fade the Flow, a monthly showcase aimed at providing BR’s burgeoning talent with a place to perform.

“When I moved there in 2002, I didn’t really know much about it. As far as an underground, independent scene, I really didn’t know of anything,” he recalls. Marcel says the city’s social and racial segregation plays a role in its relatively unknown place in rap culture because “it dictates where the hip-hop shows take place.”

The majority of events take place in “ultrahood clubs that play the street stuff” or near the campus of Louisiana State University, just south of downtown. “Very rarely do those sides mix, from a fanbase standpoint or an artist standpoint,” he says.

This creates polarizing and restrictive spaces for rap, forcing it to exist on one of two extremes: artists either make what Marcel calls music for the “turn up” and “the streets,” or you’re making the kind of hip-hop that doesn’t fall in line with preconceived notions about what the South should sound like. Artists become de facto leaders of differing microcosms and collaboration between the two is rare.

“With the group of rappers coming up now, ages 18 to 25, there’s a lot more shows and events for young kids then there ever has been in Baton Rouge,” says Marcel of today’s climate. That huge dynamic shift has led to a lack of venues for the “hood artists” to perform. “There ain’t no more hood open mics, so you’re seeing a lot of the hood guys like strip-club DJs going to play at LSU. A lot of the music now is reflective of ‘party and bullshit,’” he says. - Genius

Baton Rouge, Louisiana made headlines last summer for a tragedy far too common in the United States. On July 5, Alton Sterling was killed by police. He was unarmed, and his death only reinvigorated the energies of those fighting for meaningful, permanent changes to the way the United States views and treats its Black citizens. Local rapper Marcel P. Black, who has been touted as one of the city’s preeminent talents, has channeled the frustrations surrounding the failures of American government and society to adequately address the racism permeating society into his music. Having been called “baptist deacon meets gangster rapper meets Malcolm X,” he recently dropped Cry Freedom, an album featuring Tef Poe, Supastition, Substantial, and others.

More from Marcel P. Black.

For the album’s title track, which he describes as a “runaway slave anthem” for 2017, Marcel cries out for his people with searing lyrics, referencing South African apartheid, collusion between the media and the government, Nat Turner, and revolution. As he tells Ambrosia For Heads, “Cry Freedom is the joy, pain, triumph, and tears experience as we struggle to overcome whatever or whoever is benefiting from our oppression. I wanted it to serve as a 2017 Runaway Slave Hymn, an ode to keep up the good fight even when we get tired and feel like quitting. It’s a demand for our humanity to be honored and respected, and an open rebuke of all things discriminating against the people.”

In the video, he alternates between wearing a dashiki and a plain Black tee (notably, he is behind a fence while wearing the latter, as if to suggest the only time Black people are deemed non-threatening is when dressed in more formal attire). Sweeping camera work, snippets of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words, and tight shots on his face help are all incorporated to underscore the loneliness, history, and pain he carries with him on behalf of others. - Ambrosia For Heads

This rap artist hopes to send youngsters positive messages through his lyrics
A spitfire lyricist who treads on an ardent love for history and a desire for social justice, Marcel P. Black dropped his first solo EP just three days before his first child was born.

Now, nearly five years later, the married dad of two has not slowed down.

“Fatherhood affects everything,” Black says. “It makes me take a lot more things seriously.”

Black has released five EPs and two full-length records since 2010.

Recorded a year ago and released last fall, Black Collar is his most personal collection of songs to date. It’s a real statement record about where he is in his life as a 31-year-old who wants to influence young people drowned in the sounds and often-negative messages of modern hip-hop.

Black says he approached the album as a grown man. “It was real work,” he says. The acclaimed indie was celebrated recently with a raucous performance at Lagniappe Records.

The rap artist grew up in small-town Oklahoma, the son of a social worker and a gospel singer. “It was either the Jackson Five or church music in the house,” he says.

His father was something of a regional success story, booking his own shows and independently releasing his CDs. Black manned the merch table as a child.

“Dad was similar to how I am now; doing everything himself,” Black recalls. “I approach my music as a ministry, too. It’s not squeaky-clean, but I don’t say anything I can’t live with.”

Southern University brought Black to Baton Rouge 13 years ago. After graduating and working with the youth of the city through the Big Buddy program, he says he’s never thought about leaving. He wants his music to inspire the next generation toward education and responsibility.

“Talking to these kids, they don’t really know,” Black says. “They hear these rap lyrics on the radio and don’t realize how it affects them. I mean, are you really going to call a young lady that word?”

The artist says his concept of “black collar”—which struck him one day while typing out a mini-manifesto about empowerment on his cell phone—is not about race, though it does speak to the black experience. He wants the title and the album to connect with anyone in a struggle.

“I don’t try to make hit records,” he says. “I try to make the best pop music I can that gets my point across.” - 225 Magazine

There are a lot of things that the "P" in Marcel P. Black can stand for, and judging by "Black Collar" I can say all of them are fitting: passionate, positive, productive, persistent, preacher, pro-black, potent and powerful. One bio describes Black as "gangster rapper meets baptist deacon" and I think that sums up his style nicely - but if it doesn't then the song "Work" and the interlude before it certainly do. Black vows that you can be smarter, sexier or more talented than him - but you will never ever work harder than he does.

"I wake up early in the mornin while the rooster steady callin
Ain't no time for sleepin late, gotta put some food up on these plates
For my babies and my wife, gotta get my people straight...
And there's guap to be got, so I gotta get it poppin
So I gotta stay sharp, never ever am I sloppy
When I'm out'chea on the block, tryin to take it to the top"

The crunked out J Filly track sounds more like something that Three 6 Mafia would throw down over than a self-admitted man of God, but the ferocity with which Black attacks the track makes it a fit even if there's a black collar around his neck. You won't mistake him for a Biblical rapper though - the album is explicit and so is Black, though not in an over-the-top way that makes for a torrent of bleeps if you tried to air this on commercial radio. He mostly uses his language to make points about the male role model he aspires to be: "I don't want it if I gotta call my sisters bitches/and you can keep it if it means I gotta squeeze the triggers."

Positive rappers also occasionally suffer from sounding out of touch with the current generation, but Marcel P. Black goes on a "Facebook Rant" that sounds like something I would find on my timeline on a daily basis. Black defines himself as "hip-hop you don't stop/real nigga boom bap, the opposite of coon rap" and blasts "niggaz actin like I tried to sell out" on his wall. If you bring that drama to him while he's trying to write "the soundtrack to the revolution" he vows that you won't just get unfriended online - you'll wear his size 13's.

Pro Prospek provides the beat on this one, but Black works with a variety of producers throughout the 45 minutes of "Black Collar." The well named Klassick Beats provides a soulful medley of horn and drums on "Phylicia Grier," the Wu-inspired CZA proves that even the positive black can be a "Bad Man," and Joe On Tha Track busts out the rock and roll guitar licks for "Another Way to Pray." No matter who Black raps with he brings a high degree of intensity to the instrumental with his delivery. He gets so amped up that you're actually glad he's a man of God - you'd probably not want want him in your lane if you were a trap rapper.

Marcel P. Black didn't overstate his case when he e-mailed us about "Black Collar." He noted the album had no big guest features, only a few recognized names for producers, and that his work was simply "a reflection of the everyday person working to take care of his/her family." I'm so used to press releases bragging about how hot someone is or the credentials they've got (and often annoyingly IN ALL CAPS) that his humility did more to catch my attention than a lot of rah rah shouting would have. I'm glad he did because even though "Black Collar" came out in late 2014 it's my first favorite album of 2015. Years ago KRS-One famously opined that if negativity comes with a .22, positivity comes with a .45 - and that's how Marcel P. Black raps. He's positive but he's not SOFT. - Steve Juon

Local MC and Ardmore, Okla. native Bryan Marcel Williams, better known as Marcel P. Black, is putting a brand new twist on the constantly changing genre of hip-hop.

With the release of his seventh project in six years, titled Black Collar, Marcel offers up something seldom heard in Baton Rouge’s musical landscape. “As hip hop grows older, the music doesn’t really grow older, it still stays like a young 20-something kid, a freshman in college,” Black said. “And as I grow older I’m having conversations with people like myself who are professionals, they have families… and so whatever a Young Thug or Migos is talking about, nobody my age can really relate to them.”

It’s Black’s recognition of this fact that has led him from recording with his high-school buddies in Oklahoma to a bonafide rapper, performing alongside the likes of Killer Mike and El-P in August of 2013.

“I know a whole lot more people who are just trying to make ends meet and trying to make sure they have enough money to get their kids Christmas presents,” he said. “It’s more people going through the everyday struggle or whatever, and so, pretty much this album is me growing into my 30s and just understanding like there needs to be a voice for people like myself, as opposed to everything else out there.”

So, in that vein, Black has developed a new, personal concept that he refers to as “Black Collar”

“If you’re white collar you are the man, if you’re blue collar you’re working for the man, and if you’re black collar that means you’re a man or woman trying to take their own destiny into their own hands and create something,” he explained.

The 31-year-old husband and father of two then took it upon himself to develop this new project from January to July of 2013, going on hiatus several weeks at a time waiting on the final production to come in.

Working with a slew of producers, such as his cousin and Chicago-native J Filly, CZA for Crescent Kingz and Klassik Beats has allowed Black to create something that only the father of two children and youth development worker could.

“I can say Marcel P. Black the artist is 99.5% Bryan Marcel Williams, the husband, the father, the worker, the son,” Black revealed. “I mean I’m literally there as a male figure for some of these young brothers and sisters cause they end up wylin’ out and they need somebody positive, and they kinda just need someone to redirect them. It’s a fight every single day.”

Despite all of this, though, Black is not willing to sacrifice lyrical depth or production quality to send a positive, clean message that inspires others.

“It was an experiment to see, like people always say, ‘We don’t like conscious rap because we don’t like the production,’” Black told me over coffee. “Alright, well cool, I’ll give you some conscious rap over the same type of production you listen to in the club or over the radio, and tell me you don’t like it.”

With all odds against him in today’s radio single, drug-dealing, gun totting bombast, Black’s strategy has paid off.

“My fan base grew, my show bookings grew, and festivals and things of that nature all came from it,” he said. “So I was trying to prove a point, I was kinda bending myself to show everybody else I could step into new terrai - Dig Magazine

Many of Hip-Hops more socially conscious MCs are known for being lyrical assassins on a technical level while coming off as extremely soft most of the time. In fact, there really hasn’t been a ballsy MC to see true commercial viability since Chuck D and Dead Prez (and the gap in-time between these acts needs not to be mentioned).

This is what makes the rise of Baton Rouge, Louisiana (by way of Oklahoma) based MC Marcel P. Black rise so alluring. On his own merits, Black comes gives that wise street preacher persona that comes off as a jarring hybrid of Scarface and Chuck D. Black rhymes from a visceral “in the trenches” perspective in vein of the former Geto Boys member while being wise enough to understand the systematical catalyst similarly to Public Enemy’s general.

Though Black has made a name for himself with a few key releases and shows (many that aren’t local), his breakout project may be the above average Trap Hop. The reason Trap Hop works is because Black comes off as too preachy. That would be a huge problem with any other MC mainly due to artificial ranting, Black’s sermons come off uncompromising. Nothing proves the point more than Trap Hop’s titular track. “#RocketsDenverSonics” is an inventive take on Molly rap that’s saturated radio by eluding that drug use prevalent in certain communities starts young(Ritalin anyone?). Production (for better or worse) gives off the feeling that the same MCs whose message he’s speaking against could spit on those same beats. That may or may not turn some listeners off but in the overall contextual nature of the EP, it works well enough. Trap Hop is angry, hopeful, crunk and insightful at the same time. - On Wax Magazine

Marcel P. Black's Trap Hop EP informs listeners about the other side of trap music.

Marcel P. Black wants to clear up any misconceptions about the trap mentality. The Oklahoma/Louisiana repper has plenty more to say about today's hood condition. With Trap Hop EP, Black goes solo this time around. The EP's main focus: the monetization of hood violence and how lack of education and mentoring leads to the ongoing struggle against violence within the "trap". - Live 50

Marcel P. Black is a staple of the underground hip-hop scene in Baton Rouge, but found most of his success with an audience that already had a deep appreciation for the culture. While he was proud of his hip-hop foundation, Black wanted to find a way to reach a wider audience.

“I don’t want to preach to the choir. I want to say something that’s real that you can relate to, but also be pleasing to the ear first,” Black said.

Black’s previous releases have featured a “boom bap” style that was not reflective of the popular tropes in mainstream rap music. A conversation with Chicago-based producer and frequent collaborator J-Filly led Black to reevaluate his mindset towards his own music.

“It’s not catching people’s attention cause that’s not what’s hot right now,” Black remembers J-Filly stating, referencing a single he released last September.

Black’s job as a youth development worker also provided him an opportunity to see the benefits in switching up his style.

“At the time, I didn’t tell the kids that I rapped,” Black said.

During his time at Carville Job Corps, a profile by 225 led to the young men discovering that the Bryan Williams they knew was also the emcee Marcel P. Black.

“While I was there, I had the leeway to pull them aside and talk about black empowerment with them,” Black stated. “And working for the government, they don’t necessarily like you talking about that so the kids thought I was cool for keeping it 100 with them.”

But despite the positive response to these previous discussions, the kids did not respond well to Black’s music when he finally let them hear it.

“A lot of the conversations we were having, I talked about the same things on the CD, but they weren’t feeling it,” Black explained.

So Black asked them what they disliked about his music, and the answer was simple:

“Mr. Williams, we don’t like the beats. This isn’t what they would play on the radio.”

With those criticisms in mind, the seeds of the Trap Hop EP were officially planted. Black began receiving beats from the aforementioned J-Filly that reflected the “trap music” production style that currently dominates mainstream radio.

“I saw these kids were listening to Future, 2 Chainz and Chief Keef,” Black recalls. “So, I studied that style and wrote the same way that they would in terms of repetitive hooks.”

But despite this change in style, Black made a point to maintain the content he always employed.

“It was a challenge artistically,” Black admitted. “I don’t want to say I dumbed it down, but I had to find a way to not make my music so abrasive.”

On the EP’s title track and lead single “Trap Hop,” Black utilizes repetition and a screwed style hook as a platform to address just what the trap is.

“I’m explaining to these kids how I see the trap in the first verse,” Black said. “Then I talk about the industry and how they use the media in hip-hop to disseminate messages to leave you trapped.”

The single has become a crowd favorite at live shows and been featured on outlets such as KevinNottingham.com and A3C Hip-Hop Festival’s monthly mixtape series.

Another example of his adjustment is seen on the track “RocketsDenverSonics.” Black uses a beat and hook that would normally fit with a typical drug anthem and turns it into a record about addiction.

“If you pop pills, drink lean or smoke weed and you have to do that every day, you’re a drug addict,” Black stated. “These songs glorify these drugs, but don’t address the consequences. There’s no way you can do all those drugs and not have it ruin your life.”

Following the Trap Hop EP’s release earlier this month, that musical balance has proven to be a winning formula for the Baton Rouge hip-hop stalwart.

“As far as the content, I’m still saying pretty much the same stuff I’ve always said, but now it’s not so overt.” Black explained. “Somebody who might be on the fence, it gives them an incentive to really listen because the beats are knocking as well.”

The change has not only made Black’s music more accessible, but provided him with a new line of opportunities.

“Switching things up opened a whole lot of doors,” Black said. “This year alone I’ve been blessed to perform with high profile artists like Mickey Factz, Nappy Roots, Jasiri X and Mobb Deep.”

The response to the Trap Hop single and EP even led to Black booking tour dates in previously uncharted territory such as Memphis, Phoenix and Mobile. In light of this new success, there’s no denying that Marcel P. Black made the right call in switching his style up. - Dig Magazine

Family man. Historian. Story-teller. Artist. These words describe the persona that is hip hop artist Marcel P. Black. Combining conscious hip hop with street edge and southern comfort, Black delivers music that is much more than a simple song. Having grown up in the streets and pulpits of Oklahoma, Black moved to Louisiana to attend Southern University, and began making waves. Merging classic styles of hip hop with the nostalgia of profanity-free rhymes, Black offers music that true hip hop lovers can enjoy. On WAX caught up with Black while he was on break in Oklahoma.

On Wax: What was your inspiration behind the album?
Marcel P. Black: One night, I couldn’t sleep and it just came to me. I wrote like five of the songs on the project in one night. Black Soul speaks to who I am. It’s definitely influenced by the African oral tradition. Just trying to keep alive that legacy of black spirituality. People think black spirituality is pigeon holed to Christianity. It’s a lot of different black spirituality that’s been out since the world begun.

On Wax: People don’t think of Oklahoma as hip hop. How does being from OK influence your sound?
Marcel P. Black: Oklahoma was originally supposed to be an all black state. Where I’m from is like 100 miles north of Dallas. So we were influenced by Dallas music. Oklahoma is where a lot of the gangs from LA relocated to. It has a serious gang culture. Where I’m from, people been banging since the 90s. It was something I was ddefinitely influenced by.

OnWax: I hear your daughter in the background, how do you balance being a family man with a rap career?
Marcel P. Black: At one time I was signed to a record label. I was going back and forth to Atlanta, had a little per diem… it wasn’t until I graduated from college and got my family in tact; quit all the drinking and partied and settled down. I feel like I need to do something tangible to bring back home. I always tell people, ‘I don’t do it full-time, but I damn sure don’t do it part-time.’ People think you get married and have a family; your dreams stop. Honestly, my daughter, my wife and my newborn son is my motivation.

OnWax: Do you think that by being a conscious rapper, you have a harder time going mainstream?
Marcel P. Black: A conscious rapper? Well…I mean, I’m college educated, have a family so some of the things I pull from and maybe some of the things I talk about may put me in the box of conscious rapper. Like, Talib Kweli is conscious – he’s not very street. If you look at my music, it’s hard edge. That’s where I come from and that’s the people who I deal with.

OnWax: One of the songs of the album is titled, “Fame or Fortune.” If you had a choice of the two, which would you choose? and why?
Marcel P. Black: Even if I got a $10 million dollar contract, I wouldn’t change my music. I’m very much the anti-star. So fortune… I mean I got a wife and kids depending on me and I want to put my kids in the best schools possible. After I take care of my family, I want to take care of the community I live in. So there’s a lot of things that I can do with capital.

OnWax: Your music has substance to it, whereas some mega hits out doesn’t. Would you consider working with other talents, like Lil’ Wayne?
Marcel P. Black: Wayne? Well I grew up with the Hot Boys… I think Wayne has the capacity to make songs with substance. I mean, for me to work with people, it’ll have to sit well in my soul. I got people listening to me – my mama listen to my music. Therefore, I don’t curse in my music. It’s out of respect – and my father’s in gospel. I was raised that if you do stuff just for the money, you won’t be successful.

OnWax: So you’ve done a lot without a team. What’s next in 2012?
Marcel P. Black: Wanting people to check my movement out so I can monetize some of the things I did for free. As far a team, if I don’t publicize my album, nobody will do it. So, I mean if I get somebody to take care of that I can put more time into other things. So I’m excited about what’s next and being new to the industry, people responding-so I’m ready. - Margeaux Johnson for On Wax Magazine

The label “conscious rapper” can be almost a slur, but that doesn’t faze rapper Bryan Marcel Williams, who makes music under the name Marcel P. Black.

“I don’t care. Nobody criticizes mainstream rappers for glamorizing black death or black violence, misogyny or rape,” Williams said.

Williams, a 32-year-old Southern University Graduate from Oklahoma, has been rapping since his cousins taught him LL Cool J’s “I’m Bad,” at six years old. At 18 years old, Williams started recording music with rap group The Outland.

The son of a social worker and a juvenile probation officer, social issues have always been on his mind.

The trick, Williams said, is to put the lyrical content he is passionate about into music that is modern, accessible and, most significantly, fun. He said conscious rap is too often stuck in a backwards-looking rut of boring drum beats and depressing moods. He cited the success of his 2013 release “Trap Hop,” a hard-hitting project that mixes club-ready beats with lyrics focused on black empowerment.

“I have the turn-up right next to the socioeconomic stuff,” Williams said with a laugh.

But for Williams, making music about community issues is only half the battle.

In 2012, he founded the Baton Rouge Hip Hop Project — a collective of rappers, DJs, music journalists and radio hosts — with the goal of providing a hub for independent rap in the capital city.

The Project has hosted a number of open mics and rap battles curated by Williams. Next year, it will ramp up its services to provide resources for up-and-coming rappers. He said his years of touring, recording and promoting his own music have given him experience he can share with younger artists.

“It’s about showing that you can offer them something,” Williams said. “I can show them how I have done it.” - The Advocate

Marcel P. Black watched his life change overnight.

The hip-hop artist was in the final weeks of promotion for his new album "Cry Freedom" when Alton Sterling’s death rocked Baton Rouge. In the aftermath, Black was thrust into a leadership role as the pre-eminent conscious rapper in town.

“The reason why people consider me a leader in this situation is because they know the kind of music I do,” he said. “They know I’m all about the community. I don’t glorify the foolishness, but I definitely shed a light on and speak for the people going through the struggle every day.”

Despite Black’s musical track record, he said he felt a need to put his album release on hold.

“I wanted to push it back,” he said. “I had release parties and shows booked in the midst of this. And I was being called to leadership in the hip-hop community. I didn’t think I could handle it all. I didn’t want to drop the ball. And I didn’t want to seem like I was capitalizing off the situation.”

Black, a longtime youth development worker, changed his mind after receiving encouragement from his fans and renowned rapper-activist Jasiri X.

“Jasiri X told me, ‘This is what you’ve been doing. We need your voice more than ever,’ ” Black said. “I had interactions with my fans where they kept telling me, ‘We need this right now.’ A lot of people said my music is therapy to them. If I can help with the healing, it’s worth it.”

Inspired to stay the course, Black released "Cry Freedom" as planned on July 22. On Friday, Black will perform with a few other area artists during the "Hip-Hop is Alive" concert at Spanish Moon. Doors open at 9 p.m.

The album was crafted over eight years with producer Joe on the Track and includes some of Black’s biggest collaborations. Prominent indie hip-hop acts such as Supastition, Tef Poe and Substantial appear on the album.

With more eyes on Black than ever before, he’s confident that "Cry Freedom" is his best work to date. And more importantly, it’s a firsthand account of the black experience in Baton Rouge.

“It’s my highest-quality project I’ve ever put out,” he affirmed. “This album is a black man working in the community for 10-plus years in the city of Baton Rouge reporting live from the trenches. I had no idea that something like Sterling’s death would take place, but the music speaks perfectly to what’s going on.” - The Advocate

Oklahoma Native Has Become A Leader In Baton Rouge’s Alternative Hip Hop Scene

Inspiration For Career

“My father is a gospel singer and musician. I grew up watching him create music, put it out, and perform all over Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, etc. Creating music is in my DNA. My older cousins where huge Hip-Hop heads in the 80’s & 90’s, during that time I memorized my first rap at age 5, wrote my first full song when I was 11. I come from a family of people who are musicians as well as very active in the community. So, being making non-traditional conscious Hip Hop is a natural part of who I am. I chose to make a career in Hip Hop because I feel I have something to offer the fight to overcome the struggle artistically.”

Having A Shot At Stardom

“This may sound weird, but I’ve never really cared about being a star… I remember when I was in my first group, I came up with this mantra, ‘The goal is not to sell a million records, but change millions of lives…’ Of course, I want the absolute max of people to hear & support my music, and I loved when I was opening for Common and Jay Electronica or Kevin Gates in front of thousands, but my focus has always been touching the people in a genuine way on, on a personal level. If I can do that and be big as Drake, or be an Underground King like Bun B, I’m blessed either way, as long as I’m touching people’s souls.”

Project(s)

“My next LP is titled “Cry Freedom,” and it’s dropping late summer on Ohio-based upstart indie label Grand Union Media and Baton Rouge’s Real Profit Entertainment. It features STL activist Tef Poe, Carolina legend Supastition, DMV vet emcee Substantial, as well as New Orleans rising star Alfred Banks. The whole album is produced by Baton Rouge beatsmith Joe On The Track of Real Profit Entertainment.” - HipHopDX.com