East Coast Recording Artist, Kwaku releases his latest single, "Pressure"
Kwaku Sarpong Adu-Gyamfi, is a Ghanaian-American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer from Boston. Also known as Q, Kwaku was first inspired to dance in his early childhood by the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson. After falling in love with dance, he soon became a local sensation, performing at talent shows and competitions with his natural break dancing style. Eventually, his undying passion for music led him to teach himself how to sing, rap, and write songs. With encouragement from friends and family, his popularity began to rise, giving birth to the QCREW.
Born in Newton, Massachusetts, Kwaku spent the majority of his childhood moving from town to town- as well as- out of state and country. Luckily, his passion for music and dance connected him with people wherever he went. This forces him to grow and adapt, especially during his time as a student at St.John's University.
With catchy songs & a versatile sound, Kwaku allows his honest storytelling to share not only his own stories but those looking for a voice. Fusing his unique background with his creativity, originality, and strong songwriting ability, he is well on his way to making a big impact in the entertainment world. Repping Beantown and Queens, NY, St.John's University alum, KWAKU, will soon be a household name.
Be sure to connect with the artist on all social media outlets and digital music platforms.
Boss Born Ent. artist, Charm'n releases debut single,"Crown Me"
Charm'n is not your average artist. Although her sound is rooted in the rap genre, her music is very diverse and unique.Being a natural boss, Brandi started her own label, Boss Born Ent, and signed herself as Charm’n!
Having been raised by a single mother in a tough neighborhood in Northern Kentucky, life wasn’t always easy for Charm’n, born Brandi Bright. Her anger and frustration got her into trouble a few times at a young age, leading her to spend time in juvenile detention. This is when she realized that she had to do something and that she deserved better in life. Soon after, she began modeling and discovered her passion for music.
Charm'n makes music that is striking for its outstanding melodies, punchy grooves, and gripping lyrics. Charm’n’s voice is seamless and organic, combining her great musical background with unprecedented charisma and a distinctive vocal approach that echoing the work of influencers as diverse as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Drake, The Weekend, Lil Uzi Vert and Rae Sremmurd, just to name a few.
It’s been eight years and six months since Smoke D brought that undeniable underground sound made possible in part by himself as well as two trailblazing Southern rappers Bun-B and Pimp C, collectively known as UGK. And since touching down on free ground August 27, it’s evident that his homecoming has been a long-awaited welcome.
Within a month of being released from prison, he has received rave reviews online for his comeback single “When the Feds Pull Up” featuring Bukwild. Over a silky smooth interpolation of R. Kelly’s classic “When A Woman’s Fed Up” accented by piercing piano chords and acoustic guitar strums, Smoke honestly and unapologetically breaks down the possible consequences of living on the other side of the law. And with a highly anticipated mixtape and full-length album distributed via Trill Life Entertainment on the way, diehard fans across the nation celebrate the return of the trill.
“Judging from the internet response of my first leaked single, I definitely have an audience already in place,” saysSmoke D. “I’m bringing them back that underground sound that was there before and bringing in a better way and pick up where Pimp left off…I learned a lot from Pimp as far as coming up with that UGK sound,” Smoke admits. “I learned how to rap from him and how to produce.”
Born in Denver, Colorado and raised in Mississippi since he was six weeks old, Smoke D came up in the sleepy town of Crystal Springs, right outside the state’s capitol city Jackson. When he was 15, his mother packed up the young man and his six siblings and relocated to the faster-paced Capitol City. “Jackson was a lot different than Crystal Springs. There were a lot of gangs in Jackson so I got acclimated to the streets through gang activity,” he recalls. “It’s just another state with another ghetto. It’s a lot of poverty. It’s just a rat race. Even if you win the race, you’re still just a rat.” Despite all of his dirty dealings in the streets, Smoke managed to make it college. He had a friend from Crystal Springs who also attended Hinds Community College but pursued a rap career on the side. The friend invited Smoke to travel with him to Lansing, Mich. for his studio session. There, he rubbed elbows with such celebrated Flint rappers the Dayton Family.
It just so happened that the studio owner’s son wanted to record a song of his own but no one would help him. After getting the nod from his father, Smoke wrote a song with the kid called “The Pimp Mack Hustle.” Smoke only intended it to be a joke record and was mainly concerned with helping his friend’s career. When Smoke and his friend brought their music back to Mississippi, they circulated the tapes amongst their friends. One of those friends was a local club owner named Stokes who passed both tapes along to Bun and Pimp, who were performing at the club that night. “Out of the blue, I get a call from Stokes telling me to come to the club,” Smoke recalls. “I didn’t know what he wanted.” When Smoke arrived at the club, the owner told him to go out to the backdoor of the club. “When I got out back, it was a limo back there. So I got in the limo and it was three girls in the limo with Pimp and Bun,” Smoke remembers. “We were listening to the music and listened to the song I did with the little boy, and Pimp invited me to come to his house for two weeks. I ended up staying for two years.”
At the time, UGK had recently signed a major label deal with Jive Records and were recording their 1994 seminal Southern classic album Super Tight in New Orleans. They were working on a record entitled “Front Back Side to Side” and asked Smoke to get on the song. With menial promotions and virtually no airplay, Super Tight went gold and "Front, Back, & Side to Side" became a hit single for the Texas-based group. That one verse featuring Smoke's gritty lyrics established him as one of the up-and-coming voices in Southern hip-hop. Among true fans of Southern rap music, he was a legend in the making and hadn't even released his first record yet. The success of "Front, Back, & Side to Side" caused things to really take off for Smoke. He toured with UGK, and he and Pimp C worked on tracks that would be on Smoke's highly anticipated solo album, but before he could finish recording the album, his life took a tragic turn. Smoke had a run-in with the law that resulted in his serving a 10-year bid for manslaughter. “My life changed after that. I wanted to keep it real and still hang in the ghetto,” he admits. “I didn’t have guidance. I was doing whatever I felt like, going wherever the wind blew me… People who are from the same place where you are from resent you for trying to do better. Back then, I was too naive to understand that.” While locked up, Smoke recorded an audio message to let Pimp, Bun and the rest of the crew know that he was ok. Pimp chopped it up and put the audio as song intros on the next gold-selling album Ridin’ Dirty.
“While I was in the penitentiary, it put a lot more hype on me,” says Smoke. “That got me respect in the prison because I was trying to do something. God blessed me all the way.” As luck would have it, though, 10 days after Smoke got out of prison, Pimp was on his way to prison. “I got out expecting an easy road but it didn’t turn out that way,” he says. “I was really out there on my own, trying to avoid trouble. I waiting on Pimp…I was rap hustling and street hustling.” That street hustling gained him another round trip ticket to prison as Pimp was being released. “Before Pimp got out, I was back in trouble so when he was getting out, I was headed back in,” says Smoke. “By the time we got to reconnect again, he was found dead in California. I don’t know if it was God’s will for us not to coexist in the same space or something. I don’t know.” On his last sentence, Smoke faced a 20-year bid but got out on “good time” for participating in rehabilitation classes. Last year, prior to his release, several previously unreleased tracks from Smoke, Pimp C, Bun-B and Lil Boosie, among others, were released on Smoke D’s mixtape The Lost Files, hosted and mixed by DJ Big House.
“A whole lot of people know who I am but they don’t see my face,” says Smoke. “I’m not a person who’s always out. I stick to myself but now it’s time to use my talents to further my family and people I know and love.” And that’s exactly what he is set to do with his forthcoming mixtape and full-length album fueled by runaway single “When the Feds Pull Up.” “Before, I had this big house built as far as the music. But since I’ve been gone, the house done got old. So I’m in the process of rebuilding, reestablishing and bringing everything back up to date.”
Born and raised in San Francisco, CA, K Soakin was born into the music scene. He started writing and performing his music for a little over 1 year as a solo artist. He's been putting the pen to the paper over the last year, and released his first few singles in winter 2015!
K Soakin sound extends from Cali to down South and even on the East coast. He's taking the campaign all over! He's been performing at venues in San Jose ,CA, Stockton, CA, San Francisco, CA, San Diego, CA, Los Angeles, CA . One of his latest performances was at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, CA, He engaged the crowd lyrically while rocking to his unique sounds. Also, he hasshared the Stockton Arena Stage with the artist Ginuwine and Jagged Edge.
You may find Soakin's sounds played on most digital radio and mainstream outlets,also supported by DJ's such as; DJ Shabazz,DJ J12, and DJ RickLee.
Lancaster, PA 's very own Max Mason's New Single "Billie
Jean" takes Social Media by Storm
Lyrical artist, Max Mason has outdone himself on the track "Billie Jean". The song has a direct message and it depicts keeping your eyes open out there in the streets.
"Run and tell them bitches we a lot richer, we'll turn this sh^t to CSI n*gga.
The visual was directed by Guru Media Group with scenes in the hood including the dope overhead shot of the basketball court. Watch the visual and take a moment to provide feedback.Don't forget to follow Max Mason on most social media sites.
“To Be Lyrical, or Not To Be” is not the question, when it comes to Emory Forbes. Also, known as; Steven Sutton was born in Baltimore, MD on February 27, 1990. Introduced to the art of hip-hop at the age of 12, he soon began to master the freestyle. Heavily influenced by all music, Forbes admires artists like; Eminem, Jay-z, Nas, Big L, Big Pun, and the lists goes on and on.
“Eminem is my hero. He found a way to fit into a genre that generally isn’t interested in white artists. Not only did he fit in I think he does it better than 95% of other artists in the game” says Emory Forbes.
At the age of 19, he enlisted in the US military and moved to Lompoc CA. It was there where a mutual friend introduced him to legendary producer Reckah (Rex Lee). Together, they created Emory's debut project, and one of the best mixtape releases of 2011, "Live From The Bottom", which received high praise from many independent outlets including an IMA nomination for best Hip-Hop/Rap Album. “Live From The Bottom” was his first recording, and there were a lot of emotions put into it. “I had lost a lot of the things that I cared about,and I wasn’t making any progress with the music that I was making, so I just tried to put that all in the CD to let the world know how I was feeling, says Forbes.
While still focusing on his music, Emory began to branch out into theatrical and cinema performance.During many months of 2012, Mr. Forbes showed off his acting skills in live stage productions.
Forbes’ upcoming album will also display his multi-faceted mix of talents, which include rapping, as well as vocal performances. The self-titled album is set for release on January 15th and will contain several hip-hop based tracks, yet also some selections of urban and R&B flavored mixes. This artist is so diverse; he can be described as a “renaissance man”.
Be on the lookout for Emory Forbes, and stay in tune with him on all Social Media outlets.
