New Bars: Classic Memphis

New flows dropping for yall on Friday, July 8th! I am putting my take on the classic Memphis song by Yo Gotti, "Gangsta Party." Produced by my mentor and producer, Carlos Broady. 

This song is hella special to me, around that time when it was bout to drop in 2006, I was in 7th grade at Cypress Middle, Yo Gotti used to ride through the hood in a truck with his face on it. 

​You gotta be a real Memphis vet to remember these days-- I do. In 2006 I was a wanna be rapper, a kid-- just hoping. In 2016, I am an actual rapper and a label owner. Yo Gotti and I have linked on a few occasions, in LA in 2014 when, after I hop over security to get to him, and In Austin, Texas in 2016, when Ebro Darden gave us a formal introducton at the Apple Music party. 

​In celebration of things coming full circle, I am dropping some bars to "Gangsta Party": Friday, July 8th, on KINGOFMARCO.COM:

Legends of North Memphis.

What do you think of when you hear North Memphis? Better yet, who do you think of? Many forget, many others have no idea of the legendary hip hop names that have come from the, sometimes infamous, Memphis neighborhood. I didn't have the luxury to forget, growing up I experienced alot of that infamy-- from (2) friends dying before I reached high school to being jumped three blocks from my home by a gang, to almost being killed while playing with a gun. So i had to find and pay attention to the positive. Beyond these all- too-common tragedies, I wanted to be a rapper, i wanted to change my life with hip hop, I had legendary examples to look up to--From Yo Gotti to, Juicy J, to Project Pat, to Dj Paul. In retrospect, I know that none of those guys were rappers, they were and are businessmen that happen to rap. Coming from a city that hasn't had a thriving music scene since 1975, with the closing of Stax, all of these guys were able to establish themselves as prominent forces in hip-hop. That was my inspiration, I knew it was possible to make a positive change on our city. I wanted that for me, I wanted that for my friends, I wanted that for my family, I wanted that for my neighborhood. 

In 2013, I was struggling to keep my dreams afloat and establish myself as an artist. Around that same time there was another north Memphian about to follow in similar footsteps of our neighborhood's past. Snootie Wild was just released from jail, and he literally hit the streets a free man, with one of the biggest hits out of Memphis in recent years. "Yayo." We heard that song everywhere, all the time. The song debuted at number 50 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and at number 40 on Billboard's Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hopchart. This caught the attention of another legendary North Memphian, Yo Gotti, who signed Snottie to his imprint CMG. While, in my own corner of the world chasing my dreams, I had the opportunity to connect with Snottie at the video shoot for this mega regional hit. 

Many might look at my grind as an artist and assume that me and Snootie have nothing in common, that's further from the truth than anyone can imagine. In a recent interview snootie, explained his need to know the business: "I had to educate myself on the business part a lot but every chance I got, I got a chance to sit down and work with people to make sure I understand the business part of the business." Anyone that knows me and is familiar with my grind, they know that that is dam near a quote that I've said before. I don't know what it is, but us hustlers from North Memphis don't play about the business. 

Fast forward three years, I have started my own label, released a project on that label, been featured in the Source and had my video for the lead single on MTV. It's safe to safe that I know a little bit about the business. Three years later, I was able to link up with Snootie Wild, not as an extra in a video, but as 2 North Memphis natives with goals and dreams, plotting. 

Memphis to NYC

I am so excited to be making this trip to NYC next week. I'm looking forward  to all the future possibilities and opportunities but I'm also in a very reflective mood. This time two years ago, I was in the middle of a gofundme campaign to raise money for me to fly out to LA to record my Perception Ep . Two years later, that project is out for the world, and it has been reviewed in The Source magazine, it made it to #2 on the CMJ charts, TechN9ne and his crew support it, and It got me my own Pandora Station. Thanks again for all the support to all my day ones, I won't ever let you down. Now I'm making my way to Brooklyn to perform for the first time, at a show that I booked myself. Of course there are other things up my sleeve, yall just keep tuning in, tell a friend. 

DreamChaser Chronicles #3: Chick-Fil-A to Soldout Crowds

People have asked me did I feel like I deserved to be in the company of some of the TedX Memphis Speakers. The most politically correct response is, "No, I am just happy to be here, blah and blah!" However, I grew up learning from the most politically incorrect person of the early 2000s. In honor the 10th anniversary of me witnessing Kanye West say on live TV that "George Bush doesn't care about black people," I answer that question in the only honest way I can think of right now. FUCK. YES. I deserved to be there. (Deep in my head, well not that deep, I thought to myself: do THEY deserve to be in the same company as ME?). The TedxMemphis organizers did not have a slot for for a weaklink, and if they did, I sure in the hell wasn't it.

It goes way deeper than what many of you may have witnessed in the last year or two. Yes, I have done some amazing things. But people don't ever really know the back story; they just see you accomplishing amazing things and say, "he came out of nowhere." Nope, I came out a neighborhood filled with violence, I came out of an abusive home, and I came out with my soul and dreams intact. Before anyone knew me as Marco Pavé, before I became CEO of of my own label, I had become master of my own fate, in the rough and tough streets and an abusive home in North Memphis, in the 3rd grade. 

Geoff Calkins from the Commercial Appeal asked me, "How many people know what they wanted to do in the 3rd grade?" I said "not many that I know, but I was serious as a heart attack." However, it took about 14 years for the plaque to build up in universe and show people just how serious this heart attack was. Along that 14-year stretch I avoided some circumstances that could have literally killed me. I've had friends to die, friends to be locked away for 55 year sentences, I was nearly shot in the face--all the typical "hoodlum" shit. My saving grace was my music. I kept that so tight to my heart and soul, even when I was being bullied at home or at school. I kept it close when my dad called me worthless and compared me to the neighborhood crackheads. I kept it close from dead-end soul-sucking job to dead-end soul-sucking job.

One of these jobs was one I got in 2012 at Chick-Fil-A on the University of Memphis campus. That shit was TURRIBLE. College students and their entitled attitudes will drive you up a wall. And on top of that the job was temporary, I only had employment when school was in, so on ANY break, I was not getting a check for however long the break lasted. But since I was brainwashed and felt like I needed a job to be a man, even if every day they made sure to remind me that I wasn't one because of the low wages and the way that I was treated, I still kept that job so i could make sure that I brought home $350 every two weeks--like a boss! 

I don't even really remember what happened between me and Chick-Fil-A. Maybe we had a long conversation one night about how things weren't working out. Maybe I sent a text and told her (I assume it's a she because it's called Chick-Fil-A) that it's over with a few emojis. Maybe I wrote a letter and left it on her door. Either way, we broke up. So, I went back to being single (jobless). I had been in abusive relationship after abusive relationship. Kroger, McDonald's, Williams-Sonoma, Vista Inn (the place that gave me the fucking bed bugs from this post), Central Defense (yes, a 120-pound security guard), and too many more to name. They all hated me and I hated them I'm not sure why we stayed together, but we did for at least 6 months to a year at a time. 

Then one day in 2013, the moment I had a 2-month-old baby boy in the world at all times, I decided to listen to my 3rd grade self and become the full time rapper that I always planned to be.

To skip past all the BULLSHIT I was told after I made that decision, I am going to fast forward to 2015. I have this amazing website that you are currently visiting. I just got married to the most brilliant woman on the planet. I just launched my own company and became my own boss (so I guess I prefer masturbating to abusive relationships), I launched a scholarship to support high school seniors pursuing the arts. I was selected as a fellow to teach Hip-Hop and music business in the city schools. I've been invited to lecture at four major colleges and universities. And, of course, I was an inaugural Tedx Memphis speaker.  So, FUCK. YES. I deserved to be there. I deserve to be here.

It didn't hit me until a few minutes after I went on to speak that three years ago, I was working at the Chick-Fil-A across the walkway from the Rose Theatre and now I was delivering a Ted talk there. The difference time and believing in your damn self makes! 

I will save the details of my talk because the video is about to drop and probably go viral :) 

Just know that I will forever be an activist for the arts so artists won't have to go through so many abusive relationships with women like Chick-Fil-A.

Keep DreamChasing!