“FLAME ended up buying a CD and then hanging out with me the day that the album came out; him, J.R., and Json,” REAL recalled. “That was dope. These were all my favorite artists that I looked up to at that time. To have them show me love and tell me, ‘Yo, your album is dope bro. Work on this. Work on that. Try doing this.’ … They really took time to invest in me.”
Json would end up putting his fellow St. Louis artist on back-to-back projects. REAL rapped after Thi’sl on Json’s “Fight” on Life On Life. Some of his trademark punchline bars shined through on “Pray For My City” on the City Lights project.
S-T-L, I love you, that’s why my music knockin’/the gospel through your speakers, you can call that sound doctrine.
Producer Steve T. played part of Mike REAL’s song “Sanctuary” for FLAME at the Thi’sl studio launch party. FLAME proposed the idea of putting the song on the Royal Flush album, and shortly after that, REAL was signed to Clear Sight Music.
He couldn’t be more ready to let fans enter the Mind of Hollis.
“It’s like the ultimate relief,” REAL said. “I’ve been working on the project since September of last year. There’s so much that me and Steve [T.] put into it. We’ve worked tirelessly. We pulled all-nighters. At the end of it all, I’m happy with the project. To me, it’s a full body of work. It will be beneficial for people to listen to it all the way through from beginning to end and get the full story.”
Jam The Hype wants to hear from you. What do you think of the St. Louis Christian hip-hop movement? What other cities have similar movements? What did you think of Mike REAL’s Behind The Scenes promo vid?
