617 Hip-Hop

Friends usually inspire most artists. In glvsshouse’s case, it was his mom and dad. glvsshouse said, “My Dad and Mom were the inspiration behind my music at first. They had always pushed me to express and be my truest self. It was never weird for me to have choir practice then go play a hockey game for my city. I feel like that wouldn’t be the case for every kid growing up in the 2000s. My parents made it feel normal and I’ll always appreciate their support for my musical endeavors.” Going to those choir concerts helped glvsshouse realize music was a passion he was born with. He would always entertain the thought of pursuing music and finally decided to start his freshman year of high school.  Over the past few years, glvsshouse has spent a lot of his time perfecting and experimenting with his music. He says, “I know my music is genuine. Everything I talk about is real-life situations. This is how I express myself and get everything off my chest. This isn’t the case with everyone nowad…

In 2017, which was Juxi’s junior year of college, he would rap in his basement. He used music as an outlet to kill time, he would use his ironing board as his table and rap for as long as possible. Juxi’s friends at school really enjoyed his sound and would tell Juxi that they “know nobody who sounds like him.” Since Juxi decided to take music seriously, he has released songs such as “Night Time” and “Bigger Me,” which have combined for over 50k plays on SoundCloud. Juxi also released his first EP earlier this year, called “In No Rush,” and he has so much more to come.  Juxi credits his friends and family for inspiring him to take music so seriously. One friend specifically is Cousin Stizz, Juxi describes Stizz as a “great mentor.” Juxi also mentioned, “seeing how he (Stizz) did it and how the city has love for him really motivates you.” Cousin Stizz has been able to introduce Juxi to artists such as Smino. Those little things Cousin Stizz has been able to do for Juxi really motivates …

In high school, 157Owen had only released a couple songs, however, once he graduated, he realized he wanted to give music his best shot. 157Owen has “always enjoyed listening to musicians who had stories to tell within their lyrics and always wanted to express myself and who I am in a similar way. I guess you could say that going through the roller coaster of life along with having a love for music is what helped inspire me to pursue a path in with this.” 157Owen will always make sure to express his own meaning in each of his songs.  Recently, 157Owen released the music video for his new song “ON MY MIND.” 157Owen said “ Filming the video for “ON MY MIND” was a unique experience because going into it we really didn’t have any set plans for any of the scenes. I remember we were sitting in my living room just knowing we wanted to shoot a music video while trying to come up with location ideas until one of my homies said he knew some spots in Middleboro so we just kind of went with it. We…

As a senior in highschool, Kid Nix fell in love with music. Halfway through his senior year he decided he wanted to pursue music as a career and made sure to take it seriously. Kid Nix said “I created my own studio in my basement and began recording whenever I had the time. Over time, I have improved my skills as an engineer and just recording in general and I continue to do what I love everyday.”  Kid Nix credits his parents for helping him discover music. His parents went to high school in the mid to late 1990’s and he was born in 2001, he says “therefore I was exposed to a lot of Pop, R&B, and Hip Hop at a really young age.” Kid Nix has been impacted by a lot of artists, such as Will Smith, Mase, Justin Timberlake, and Michael Jackson, however, nobody has impacted him more than Chris Brown. Kid Nix says “I was seven years old when Chris Brown released his second album, which inspired me to take initiative to listen to his music in my own time. Chris Brown is definitely my bigges…

BStacks has always been very self motivated. Most artists will say they were inspired by other artists when they first started making music, however, B-Stacks said “Myself because i liked how my voice sounded on the tracks i was making” He started taking rap seriously in early 2018, but he was always rapping with his friends when they would hang out.  In BStacks’ short career so far, he has been able to rack up over 60k streams on SoundCloud, with his top three songs being “Lost it” “Simple Times” and “For Two.” BStacks credits some of this from being able to make his music known all around the country and not just Boston. He also credits his sound as he says “ I have a different sound than artists from where I’m from.” This Summer, BStacks plans on dropping a bunch of new music videos, as well as a new tape.  BStacks constantly stays loyal to the people around him. BStacks has known his producer FrankoOnTheBeat since “since we was shortys on the block playin ball.” BStacks also mention…

When Mooks first started to take music seriously in December 2018, he was paranoid of what others thought about him. He said “as soon as I stopped worrying about whatever one else had to say and what I wanted to do that’s when everything changed for me.” Mooks has always been very creative and enjoys what his work turns into. Mooks knows he has found his sound, he mentions “I know how to work with different genres and artist but I have a strong presence and I can adapt to anything that it makes me more versatile but with that being said I’m constantly learning and trying to improve on the craft of rap it’s a fast industry so trying to be out of the box and just doing different things is what I’m into” Mooks is glad he is able to sit back and watch the growth of himself as well as his music. He knows “that I (Mooks) can and will make it without any doubts in my mind. Me and my team have a plan we are going to stick to that plan and take ourselves all the way to the top.”  Mooks, Life th…

DJ Kari is inspired by two very talented artists who have both lost their lives. The first is Juice WRLD, he was the one who inspired DJ Kari to make music. The second is Pop Smoke, who inspired him to start making trap music. DJ Kari started making music when he was 13. He would go to the studio with LIZZLE4 and other younger kids who wanted to rap. They made a few songs and called themselves the “West Boyz.”  DJ Kari’s music stands out. He says “I can make an amazing sounding melodic sound and I can make an amazing sounding drill song. When I make drill music I also put singing vocals on the track. There is no rapper/artist in the world that makes music like me. I truly am the definition of different.” His fans should expect a lot more music out of him as well as music videos. Specifically a lot more drill music, which is where he will “also put singing vocals on the track.” DJ Kari made a promise that his music will improve each and every song, beginning with his song “Famous…

Kingfrom98 is a very well known artist from Boston. He has combined for over 300,000 streams on SoundCloud and co-headlined a show with Tyler Loyal at Sonia in Cambridge. Kingfrom98 hasn’t been rapping for as long as most people think. He started about three years ago in early 2017 during his first semester in college. He was inspired by Drake, Lil Wayne, and A Boogie to start his music career. When asked what opportunity has been his biggest in his career, Kingfrom98 responded with “is the opportunity to work with Dj Khaled's team. They’ve been helping me take my career to the next level and I’ll be forever grateful.” Many big names in music have been able to work with DJ Khaled throughout their careers, and Kingfrom98 knows how big of an opportunity working with DJ Khaled’s team can give him.  Kingfrom98 has been able to make his sound known throughout Boston. He said “I think what makes my music stand out compared to other artists is the tone and relatable topics I p…

In 2012, TJ Hickey got cut from the hockey team at Union College. TJ felt he lost a piece of himself that he “always took pride in.” Little did he know at the time, it would open up a whole new world for himself. TJ used to rap for fun in high school but never took it too seriously. Once hockey was taken away he started to dive in and he has now made a career out of it. In TJ’s early 20’s, some of his close friends were making music, so he would help them out. TJ said “As I got deeper into it I started realizing I could make it myself and saw guys like Mac Miller and Sammy Adams take off and it gave me more drive.” TJ is currently closing in on 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. TJ has released many remixes such as his “Look at Me Remix” which is close to 2 million streams on Spotify. TJ has also released original songs such as his most recent song “All on Me” which features Sammy Adams.  Throughout TJ’s career he has had some moments where he has had to say to himself “wow I really…