One of the joys of always being open to listening to new music is finding artists before anyone else. His also ties into finding musicians that are very early in their career and sometimes so young it amazes me. Today I was introduced to Rakeeb, a rapper from Virginia that released his first record at only 15 years of age.
Luckily Rakeeb was surrounded by many musical influences from family and friends in his early years and felt the need to fit in. The peer pressure forced him to try many different instruments but he never really found his calling until he was taken under the wing of J-Willz. The big brother relationship introduced Rakeeb to the studio and how to truly structure a hip hop track. The positive reactions he received from the start pressed him to continue in the craft and has turned into quite a blossoming young talent.
Last month Rakeeb introduced his ‘Just Scratchin The Surface’ mixtape to the world and it is quite an impressive start. The 17 tracks are full of both lyrical and beat-making skills that seem to be the product of someone who has been in the game much longer than Rakeeb has. ‘The Blessing’ features his great lyrical flow over an old 70’s style beat with female background “oohs and ahhs” that make for a body swaying track. In the lo-fi beat of ‘Cypher’, he again shows off his freestyle without the distraction of much more than a 4 beat background that he is not afraid to drop and basically rap acapella. I also discovered his latest song ‘Lolli Lolli’ that is not on the mixtape. If this is the direction Rakeeb is going in we are in for a treat. He teamed up with Space Jamz to produce the track and they gave him a beat that ties together the deep beats of the early 2000’s south with a singable chorus that is ready for mainstream.
We advise to keep an eye on Rakeeb as his career continues to blossom. We expect very good things. Take a listen to the tracks on his Reverb Nation page to get a taste: