🌟 How I Became a Rapper 🌟

Have you ever done things in life you had never imagined?

I never imagined I would be recording rap songs and possibly performing live one day. The only semblance I had of that was when I played drums as a teenager at church. My favorite music was metal and rock -- they still are -- and I actually used to think I would be in a big-time metal band playing drums, but rapping? 😆 Outside of the occasional silly and wack freestyles I never thought about coming up with rhymes and lyrics but those silly freestyles are what gained me the opportunity to become a rapper with actual songs under my belt. 🎶

See I met a guy at work named Brandon a.k.a. Monney, who has been rapping and producing beats for years under his personal brand Nepstar Entertainment. As I became friends with him we would chat & cut up at work, sometimes freestyling raps back and forth about all kinds of ridiculous things. A few times he complimented my rhymes and said they should be in a song, but I was just having fun and not really serious. The whole deal became serious when Monney asked me to feature on his mixtape Challenge Me, which was inspired by the Dodge Challenger that he bought earlier this year. 🚗

Now Monney knew that I know quite a bit about cars from being an auto technician for years, so he thought I would be a good fit on his car-themed mixtape. More than that, he saw flashes of talent in my rhymes enough for him to extend the request. Sometimes you don't know what to think when someone with experience and credibility compliments and encourages you when you know you're at the bottom. And I wasn't even at the bottom in the rap game -- I was nonexistent. 😄

So one weekend this summer we got together in the studio and the whole experience of the first time being in that environment was very cool. Let's get this straight -- up to that point I had never practiced any kind of vocals be that rapping or singing. I also had never written any lyrics. I show up on a Friday evening and we put on some beats to get things going. Monney already had his verse and chorus written for the song, and wouldn't you guess that I had a bit of writer's block coming up with lyrics. He helped me get started with a few words and I managed to write the rest of my verse between that night and the next day. ✍

The next day I went into the studio to finish the song which didn't take long at all. With the rest of my verse written, I hopped on the mic and recorded it in 2 takes after practicing it for a while. According to Monney, a lot of artists he has worked with had to record many times so he was really impressed with my ability to knock it out quickly. So my part was done, and a few days later I got to listen to the final version of the song. I gotta tell you, it was weird to listen to myself in a song but it gave me a great feeling of accomplishment to have completed a song with a talented artist such as Monney and receive all the positive feedback from him and others. 😎

In my mind there wasn't any going back after doing one song. I felt like I had gotten into something so positive and with so much potential that it only made sense to keep going with it. What I learned from the experience was that you never know who you will meet or where, and what type of influence you will have on them or vice versa. Little things matter and influence in ways you wouldn't think. Those little raps from work mattered more than I thought. 😁

Feel free to check out Monney's songs on Soundcloud!