I am a socially-conscious hip-hop artist hailing from Springfield, Illinois. I started making hip-hop music at the age of 18, though at the time my lyrics were centered around marijuana. At the age of 19, I recorded my first few tracks. I didn't have proper gear, just a cheap $10 computer microphone and a copy of Cakewalk Home Studio, but I made the best out of it. Lyrically, I wasn't saying anything new. Stylistically, I wasn't that impressive. I was 20 years old before I started really putting out good lyrics, and started heading in a new creative direction. I wasn't content with the music that I had been making before that, so I really started thinking about what I wanted to say. Around that time, I recorded "Definition of Hip-Hop" as MC Assassin, which was a track that I vented my frustrations at being an independent artist. Now, eight years later, I'm finally releasing music with quality lyrics that have something to say. As a hip-hop artist, I'm not concerned with getting rich, nor am I concerned with a lot of the things that mainstream rappers have a tendency to talk about. I'm not a thug, I'm not a pimp, or a "gangsta." I'm simply an MC that is sick and tired of seeing young kids get lured into a life of crime by so-called musicians who glorify that way of living. When I rap, I want to make people think. I want them to look at their communities, see the problems that society faces, and think about what they could do to make it a better place to live. That's why I make the music that I make. Music is a powerful tool, and while many think of it as simply being entertainment, it does influence people. Why not use that influence to make our communities better?