The Twin Cities has a strong history of local musicians making their mark and taking over the SXSW Music Festival and this past Wednesday evening 18 year-old, South Minneapolis rapper Nazeem took charge of every minute he had on the mic.
Nazeem, who leaked January 1st, the first song off his upcoming mixture produced by Spencer Joles, was definitely a crowd favorite at this year's SXSW MN Hip Hop Showcase presented by Dante Entertainment at the 6th street Austin venue The Blind Pig.
"Performing at SXSW was a goal I had set 2 years ago, after releasing my first project The Coliseum at the 2012 Soundset," states Nazeem. "I was glad to have my family there supporting me and the crowd was really cool too."
Growing up on the Southside of Minneapolis, and graduating from Southwest High School last June, the rapper and songwriter born Nazeem Jalees Cunningham is now a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College , and for 5 years has been working at Youthfarm, a non-profit organization focused on building youth led food movements in the Twin Cities. He was recently promoted as the Harvest Coordinator at his job, all while writing and recording his new mixtape produced by Spencer Joles.
His name is being heard around the Twin Cities as a best kept secret. With a feature on his father, veteran rapper Muja Messiah's upcoming project God Kissed It The Devil Missed It and this May's release of Atmosphere's Southside album, the new kid out the booth is bound to collect a fan base while educating a new generation of hip-hop fans through revolutionary bars set to shake your mind and tell a story.
"Nazeem killed it at the MN Hip Hop showcase here at SXSW! He had the crowd focused and responding to his catchy hooks like his songs were already a billboard hit on the radio," expressed Twin Cities producer, rapper and friend Bobby Raps of Audio Perm who took part in DJ-ing Nazeem's debut set at SXSW.
Nazeem performs at the SXSW MN Hip Hop Showcase. (Video by D.Potts/T.Mortenson)
I am proudly looking forward to hearing more from my favorite new Minneapolis rapper and seeing his career as an artist and activist grow on stage as well as in the hip-hop community.
