College Underground Magazine Issue 4 | Page 9

Page 9 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT— KING LOCUST By Terrance Hazly I recently had the chance to inter- view Akron, Ohio’s rap impresario and Clique Vodka Rep., CEO & art- ist of Global Mogul, LLC King Lo- cust. The gritty street veteran of the Akron hiphop scene gives us a look inside his world. “I started this hiphop thing a long time ago back when hiphop was pure expression, not just a bunch of people saying stuff on beats. With that, I call myself a pioneer, an O.G to both worlds. As far as music I came up in the streets, my background is authentic, my resume reads true. Through music I’ve been able to tell my story and other people I grew up with stories the real way it needs to be to be told. I started doing records with Ricky Re-Up 12 years ago, we metamorphosed into Global Mogul. The man with the globe in his stomach.” In giving us insight on his style of rapping King Locust describes his style as “Reality rap, con- cept and pure deep music. I’m a give you music, I’m not gon’ throw words together. Might have quotes from a deep book I read or someone I met in real life. Basically my style is reality rap and substance music. When asked about his songwriting style he added “I’m a reader, a thinker and a dreamer so with that, that brings a lot of things into my world. I feed off words, I feed off life scenarios, I feed off characteristics of people. I can look at something and my pen will pick up and I get to writin’ some- thing that pertains to my life, next thing you know it’s coming to life with a melody. I might see a horror movie and flash back into something in the ghetto. I can just write, I don’t need a beat to write. I’m a born writer and a dreamer so my thoughts come vividly and that’s what gives me the advantage. If I made a song called stormy days, believe the content in the verse is gonna’ be about some bad days in my life or somebody else’s life I know.”