"When I got signed to my first record deal...I remember I was making really experimental pop music. I wanted to make things that were what we associate with alt-R&B today, but it was 2006 or 2007 and that wasn't a trend in music yet. And I remember all the label executives telling me I should go in the direction of Alicia Keys. And the only reason I could justify that in my head was I'm light-skinned, I've got curly hair, and I sing and play the piano. So it's like they see me in this specific lane or role I should be in. And then it got really blatant when they were telling me to do features on rap artists and I wasn't even doing any kind of urban music at the time. It was like I'm black so they were putting me in this urban box and telling me I have to follow this specific pathway to success that they think works."​Avriel Epps--aka King avriel--Founder of SeekU and critically-acclaimed alt-R&B artist, joins us in our season finale.Full show notes available at www.discoveryourinnerawesome.com.

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