Boxa aka I’m Still Breathin

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Innovative, Concious, and Genuine...Three things that just don't seem to go together in the music industry...yet these things are the foundation for Brooklyn bred emcee Boxa. Born over in the Ukraine, this young emcee has seen a lot of different things happen, while some may say that he has not yet seen what the world is really all about. Make no mistake though Boxa touches on topics that most grown cats just can't approach and he has a raw talent for taking topics previously spoken on and making them his own. You'll never hear him talking about wanting to Kill his ex-girlfriend like other artists in the game, nor will you hear him do a baby I need you, baby I love you type of track because that's not what being innovative is all about. His stories will paint pictures so vivid you will forget about the saying a picture is worth a thousand words and just get lost in the world Boxa brings to you. In the days where veteran emcees don't even get a push for their new albums from their labels, where using the same concept , just different arrangement of how someone should lean, or talking about what kind of t-shirt you're wearing, and in a world where people have just lost interest for the real, rugged hip hop scene; Boxa is a breath of fresh air.
Starting out you can say that Boxa didn't fit into the hip hop scene at all. I mean come on...who in their right mind would think that a Giant, Ukrainian, Jewish, White Emcee would be anyone you would actually want to listen to. Hell, the first open mic he went to perform at other rappers were genuinely shocked that he was there to perform and when he told them his name is Boxa...they just looked back and asked him Pasta? That was just the beginning of the lack of love Boxa got, but that never stopped him. Always going on the mentality that "if they're hating me I must be doing something right," Boxa continued to stir through the industry landing in some shiesty industry situation between the labels of XiP and Point Blank Ent. While these issues are now deadened the end result of it all was Boxa proclaiming that he wants nothing to do with labels after squashing a beef that pitted every emcee involved with both labels and Boxa going at it with tracks back and forth. People watching from the outside where shocked at how many hits Boxa took and yet he still always came back taking out everyone who spoke his name, staying true to his mantra of...If you saw me in the ring...best believe I knocked you out...If you ran up on my block...I took your crown and stomped you out...You spoke my name on a track...I took the game and locked you out.
It was during this part in his career that Boxa realized he wasn't making any friends in the game and that it wasn't going to end well with all the constant beef and hassle. At the same time his passion for the songs he was making under contract just was not there. Reportedly Boxa was simply putting out songs until the label breached his contract and let him out of his bind. With the last album put out through them being "Judged by 12...Carried by 6". The album dealt with a lot of real street struggles, a lot of pent up aggression, and at the same time carried a mantra of not being worried about death and how it comes. Soon after this release though little was heard from the emcee. For Boxa it was a time of growth and realization where he saw what he wanted to do with music and how he wanted to grow as an artist. Sure some tracks surfaced here and there, but it was as if this giant had disappeared.
Boxa recently talked about why he seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. "Basically...it's simple, I'm in college doing a lot of things other than just putting out music. I have this whole investment banking thing lined up and I have to think about the bigger picture. I don't want to be a broke rapper who sacrificed it all to try to make it in the music business who has to work bullshit jobs in order to feed my kids. I know with the investment banking bit I'll be able to provide a good life and it's something I enjoy at the same time. At the end of the day it's tough...I can't turn my back on music, because well...music saved my life...but at the same time I have to think about the bigger picture. What am I really trying to get out of life?
Seemingly though Boxa just couldn't stay away as not more than 6 months ago, the game was given a huge boost of swagger as Boxa exploded back on the scene with his mixtape Voice of the Streets: A Demon Debut. The album spoke on his real life struggles with being a white Jewish emcee in the music industry. It spoke on how you have to sell your soul and become a puppet for the record labels to love you. Beyond that though Boxa didn't go on attacking A&R's saying that they need to sign him. In fact Boxa wasn't out there proclaiming to be a hungry emcee who needed to get signed. His mantra was of a man who loved the music he put out. A man who wanted people to hear his music and take away from it. To understand the struggles of the hood and how beauty even in the form of a goddess gets mangled and raped on his track "Aphrodite in the Hood". He gave a glimpse into the life of a quadriplegic loved one who once told him..."I wish I could kill myself, but I can't even do that."...the emotion just seeped from his heart on his song "A Mile in Our Shoes". At the same time Boxa attacked the hypocrisy within our world today on his song "Angels & Demons". The list goes on, but what is certain is that Boxa brought back what the game had been missing. "Life"
Over the course of the last 5 months or so Boxa has been heavily working on his highly anticipated next release. The project promises to have a lot more crossover tracks that everyone will be able to appreciate and relate to. So stay tuned, this next one is sure to break you out of your "eat, shit, sleep" lives.