TZ’s Finest

Hip Hop has always been around me, even at a very young age. Born in Blantyre, Malawi in Africa it seemed that hip hop was always playing. I remember when I first heard public enemy and DMC on a CD of a friend of mines, the beats, the lyrics, it all touched me and inspired me. Even before I started to rap, hip hop seemed to be my outlet to every thing. When something was wrong, I played the music to calm me down, when I needed to think, the music helped me think. I remember I would play songs in my bedroom and just rap to the the words of the songs. It seemed as I got older that it was still always around me, when I was with my friends cruising around Tanzania hip hop would bumping in the speakers of the car. When we would be at the shopping center, hip hop would be playing in either cars passing by or restaurants. Everyones ringtones would be a hip hop song. Everyone around me dressed in a hip hop way and this influenced me to dress the way I dress today. As you can see hip hop influenced every aspect of my life when I was young. When I was 12 I was in an english class and we learning bout poetry and we had to do an assignment for class. I went home played a song (I recall it being jay z song) and writing the poem to the beat of that song. My teacher loved it and it inspired me to start writing. From then on I was always writing whenever I could but at the same time I didnt have that self confidence to show it to anyone so I kept it to myself. When I left Tanzania in the summer of 2005 and came to the US for the first time in my life because it was a different place and a different culture that I was used to I was a lil scared and shy but I can say that if I hadnt had hip hop to help me I dont know what I would have done. As I started my junior year in high school in westminster, MD I began to build this confidence because I was writing constantly and I began to show people my writing, a lot of people really liked it and encouraged me to keep writing. I thought maybe its time to actually record and even though I didnt reli have the equipment, I was inspired to do it. I recorded a few tracks and even though the quality wasnt good, I felt that it didnt sound that bad, that maybe I could actually do this. I showed the tracks to a few friends I had met in westminster and they liked what they heard and they encouraged to keep doing it. I remember a qoute a friend said to me, he said "Man ima see you on MTV one day" this made me laugh but at the same time it jst felt good that people accepted my music and actually liked it. After graduating from westminster high in 2007, I moved to philly were I went to school at antonelli institute where I met the 3 men who would help me develop my style and help me become a better rapper. There names were chris, Bailey and omar (rappers themselves called GENIUS). I remember meeting chris and bailey at school for the first time and when I told them I was from africa and got to talking with them, we got along well and began to hang out. Now they were 2nd years so they had already been rapping for sometime but they really helped me develop. I remember the first song we recorded together "Lyrically Devine" and even though I sounded pretty bad, the shit was hot. Over the next year or so I would freestyle to several beats in my booth in my room but something just didnt sound rite, the lyrics were hot, the beats were hot bt i just hadnt found my voice yet. I would watch chris and bailey when they would make beats or make a track and by watching them and seeing the way they did stuff, this inspired me to use some of the things they used to develop my style. I remember putting up the first good tracks on my myspace and having people give positive comments towards them. This really helped me because feedback was something I needed, I needed to know what I was doing right or what I needed to improve on. I remember coming back to westminster for the summer and my friend Joe held a birthday party for me at his place. Joe asked me to rap and people were actually feeling me, they actually liked my flow, they liked the way I rapped. His friends got they guitars out and I freestyled to it and I have to say I loved it, shit sounded hot to me. This really encouraged me to keep doing it because for the first time people were actually cheering me on, they were bumping there heads to me rapping and the feeling I got from this was something I had never felt before. As my second year of college came, every moment I got I would be in my room either writting or making tracks, I was constantly perfecting my craft, constantly developing my style. After a bout a year and a half of making good solid tracks I could actually see myself making a mixtape, that it was possible. After graduating from Antonelli Institute with a degree in a graphic design, I thought maybe this is the time to finally get this mixtape together, I already had enough songs and I had ideas of what the covers and back would look like. After being at more parties, I felt this was def the time to get the mixtape out because now I wasnt jst sitting there rapping, people were actually asking me to rap, asking me to rap to a song as it played and this feeling of being accepted as a rapper was a great feeling. I got my mixtape together and handed it out to people but like I didnt even want money for it, I jst wanted people to hear what I had to say, to hear my music for what it is and to give my music a chance.Even if I never make it in the hip hop game, rapping will always be there for me, because to me I do just becuase I love doing it, its a hobbie to me, its something to do that I enjoy doing. A lot of people told me that I would never make it this far, that because of my skin color I would never make it this far, but you know Im glad I had people say that to me, it inspired me to prove them wrong, to show them that Im serious bout this shit and it helped me develop into what my music is today. So I have to say a big thank you to all my haters. I feel I was raised around hip hop, that it influences almost every part of my life, that it is a part of me and Im jst waiting for someone to give me a chance to show the world what I got. It would be my dream to be on a stage in front of hundreds of people doing a show, that would be a dream come true. Im not gonna give up and Ima keep this music moving untill I get that chance.Shouts to GENIUS (BC, Benny B nd O'smeasy), young Bizzle, eden and all my other rappers out there who are just trying to make it in this game!! I wanna say thanks for all the support because I really appreciate it!!