Pen’s Ink: Clif Soulo’s Story.
“95% of what I’m spitting is the truth/ other 5% is story telling, but
shoot/ I’m a real MC and that’s what MC’s do.”- Clif Soulo
He’s from Oakland, a place where you’re either a gangster rapper or a
revolutionary messenger; He’s neither. Instead, he’s a traditional MC.
No.
He’s not a “traditional MC” because of his wordplay, his delivery, or
his references back to the golden era of hip-hop.
No.
Clif Soulo isn’t even a traditional MC because he has tried his hand
at all of the elements of Hip-Hop, only to realize that being an MC is
his calling.
No.
Clif Soulo is a traditional MC because he is pursuing his dreams.
Soulo is a young man who got serious about rapping because his
graveyard shift at FedEx wasn’t satisfying his soul’s purpose. The
post work freestyle sessions with his co-workers were the catalyst to
Soulo finding the courage to rock the mic in-front of a crowd; and
eventually lead him to opening a show for Kendrick Lamar.
To this day, Soulo looks back at the performance in the Spring of 2011
as the biggest moment in his young career.
Soulo has released 3 projects to date, the most recent one titled
“Pacific Standard Time”. The project features a mixture of cuts that
bring Clif’s environment directly to the listener’s ear lobe.
Soulo is a young family man, with a wife and a child. He’s a hard
working, ex-football player, who always had a knack for writing. The
kid who used Oakland’s Lake Merrit as the backdrop to his coming of
age story says that he used to journal, but now the music has taken
over his journal, “I still journal, but now it’s musically.”
He doesn’t make thug rap. He doesn’t make conscious hip-hop. He’s
pursuing his dream, and you can hear it in the music. Just like the
traditional MC’s.
His project can be downloaded at: http://clifsoulo.com
Twitter: @clifsoulo
No Comments – Add Your Comment