A Guest In Hip Hop...Naw

Knuckles has wanted to be a major part of helping Country Rap News get off the ground. Today I woke up to my email being SHOOK!

After watching Knuckles video for "Beast" off his new album, I asked him to give me a back story on what this song meant to him. Here's what he said.

"As a teen in Lawton, Oklahoma, my parents lived in a trailer park on the Eastside, and my grandma lived in Lawton View, which was probably the worst neighborhood. I had a lot of black friends and I was always rapping and shit. So being the white boy I always had to prove I could rap. I still feel like as a white boy in hip hop I have to constantly prove I belong here. It's crazy to me though, because at this point I’m a grown-ass man and hip hop raised me. The hip hop culture brought me into, and through, some of the hardest times of me growing up. The story I tell in the song is real and the lyrics all true.

I spent 5 years in prison and rapped the whole time. I would be the only white boy in a group of black dudes rapping my ass off whenever they were having sessions. They didn’t necessarily like me but they would all say that white boy could fucking rap. Prison is the only place more divided on race than social media. I got hate from both sides in there just like I do out here for being a white rapper. I just go with it. My first hip hop tape I ever got was “The Fat Boys – Coming Back Hard Again” for Christmas from Santa when I was 8 and there was a song on it called “Hell NO” and ohhhhh boy momma was not happy with Santa after she heard me playing that lol. I banged that tape till the cassette player ate it.

Hip Hop is my home. It has nurtured me and made me who I am today regardless of the fact that I am just some country boy from Oklahoma."

I have enjoyed getting to know Steven and his passion for his craft is evident. Keep up the hustle bro!

Country Rap News has the exclusive video before it drops on YouTube later tonight to the song "Beast". Check it out!

-Kelsey Leigh