College Underground Magazine Issue 4 | Page 10

Page 10 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT— KING LOCUST (Con’t) Being from one of the roughest hoods in Akron, Ohio King Locust has over-came obstacles in life that put him in the position to be where he is now. When asked what those obstacles were he added, “Being black for one thing, always having the deck stacked against me. Sec- ond, being targeted by the Federal Government on a trumped up case and doing 10 years. Good graces of God that Obama let me come back. My obstacles wasn’t even money related. Some people fall out because they money ran out or their longevity ran out, mine got stripped away and it still didn’t break me or my fan base. Most people tried to judge until I got out on a racially motivated charge, 25 years old it came back and it freed me and my soul is still in-tact. That’s one thing about the Black Man, we’ve been broken before so it’s in our DNA to keep pushing. So I came back bitter but determined and motivated to get my stories across.” We also touched on who influences his microphone, this is what he had to say “In a strong order from a lyrical standpoint and influence I’m a go Rakim, NWA, and the Don Makavelli, Tupac. That’s a real line-up based on how music was. Three people who took over era’s not just a year. Rakim kind of blacked out everybody, then NWA blacked out the world then ‘Pac came back and changed it and gave everybody something to think about. So them my 3 influences of the top.” When asked what he would do if he was a top industry music industry executive, what he would he change he added “If I was a one of these big time music executives, I would change the abil- ity for the industry to keep feeding us bullshit to dig down into the people with the real talent.” Always the consummate performer at shows, King Locust tells us to expect “High energy, that octane when I hit the stage I’m a go in. I’m a sweat, I’m a jump, I’m a yell I might go hoarse but I’m a keep your attention, I’m a keep your attention period. I’m a high-powered one mic man, I don’t got a whole bunch of mutha’ fuckas on stage, I’m a give you a show every time and if a mutha’ fucka say go acapella best believe I’m a bust yo’ head acapella. It’s always gonna be high-octane for a King Locust show all the way back to my Bermuda Triangle album all the way up to now. When I hit the stage, I’m a shut it down.” We closed out the interview touching on what to expect from King Locust and Global Mogul, LLC next, this is what he said “Aww man I’m deep into projects right now. The “Next City to Blow” compilation, my AK Spitters album “Bloody Roses”, you got my “Krown” album, then you got my “Ice Pick” album then you got a Red Label album. These are projects that are already done. I’m like 7 albums in some untitled. You can expect pure work from me and the sponsorship with “Cilque Vodka ”, it’s gonna’ be a hard push until I’m done and when I’m done I’m talking about jumpin’ of into these movies and these real novels” Social Media www.reverbnation.com/globalmogul , https://www.facebook.com/kinglocust , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd-m8wioeOstIDOfa_fuN9Q