Episode 172 - Marco Pavé.

Dan Sterenchuk and Tommy Estlund are honored to have as our guest, Marco Pavé.

Since 2013, Memphis Hip-Hop artist Marco Pavé has forged a twin identity as a champion of independent Southern Hip-Hop and as an educator and arts advocate working to stimulate community activism and entrepreneurship through the lens of hip hop music and culture. On October 30, Pavé will release Crossroads EP through his independent label Radio Rahim Music. To mark the release, he’ll deliver a virtual performance and host Soundtrack for Life: An evening for Sync Licensing, Music Supervision, & Film Composing in DC at Georgetown.

Crossroads EP solidifies Pavé’s place in the league of rappers like Big K.R.I.T. and Isaiah Rashad who synthesize the sprawling and iconic Southern Hip-Hop tradition. Every Southern city has its own distinctive hip hop flavor that has evolved out of its local history, culture, scenes, and slang, as well as the way it incorporated hip hop with blues, soul, funk, and other styles. Defined by Pavé’s uncompromising blend of Tennessee grit, swagger, and substance, which lands somewhere between Kendrick Lamar and Memphis legend Project Pat, Crossroads should appeal to any true Southern rap aficionado.

Born and raised in North Memphis, Pave started rapping seriously to articulate the dangerous day-to-day realities of his neighborhood. It took a few years for Pavé to align with his sense of purpose. He continued to rap and attend open mics as he graduated from high school and entered the workforce in Memphis, a global logistics hub with a huge working-class population. He soon felt his life choices constrained by adult responsibilities, and he felt a dire need to branch away from paths that people told him were “safe.” An “observer by nature,” Pavé began to take both music and activism more seriously as he watched his city rapidly gentrify, conducted Independent research on social inequality, and reeled after the killing of Trayvon Martin. His upbringing as a Muslim in the inner-city Bible belt means that he has been going against the grain his entire life. “I'm coming from a family that is all about radicalism and black power,” he says. “Activism is in my blood.”

Pavé has built an unprecedented career that uses Hip-Hop culture not only as a means of personal expression, but also as an educational tool designed to make an impact on both individuals and systems of power. “My mission is to spread the lesson of creativity, spread the lesson of believing in yourself,” Pavé says. “But in the midst of taking care of yourself, I want people to think about how their story can be told without trying to get to a destination.”

Website: https://www.kingofmarco.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Kingofmarco/

Note: Guests create their own bio description for each episode.

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