Rough beginnings, rites of passage, or so they say.
I've been on this grind for all of my adult life and all of my teenage life, hell, all of my pre teen life. My. Whole. Life. But during those late teen and early adult years I was introduced to the local Memphis rap/music scene. As a 16 year of kid still in High school I began hitting open mics and putting myself out there to perform. I was the youngest guy on the scene, most if my peers were 28+. Therefore I learned alot, not because the older guys were deliberately teaching me, but because I have a gift of discernment. But before I realized that gift, it was tested. Alot. In these 7 years since I've started taking this serious, I have been in more life threatening situations than I can count on both hands and feet. I'm still here.
Around 2011/2012 I met two other rappers that were more similar to me in age. First I met Preauxx. A hip hop artist that had put in quite a bit of work at the time. His name was buzzin on the scene. I intended for us to link. We did. Things turned sour pretty fast. Barring the useless details of this situation. We went on to continue our grinds on our separate paths. But we always continued to run into each and even do shows together. But we never linked up again. Until 2015 when we decided that we were both being childish and needed to squash any unnecessary drama. Then, he split, dramatically from his long time crew/label. He moved out to Atlanta and Boom. Then we started making some crazy moves.
Shortly after I met Preauxx in 2011/2012 I met another rapper, Ray Rebel from Harlem, with southern roots. We vibed with each from the jump. We just had different circumstances, but also very much the same. Specifically we had no good older energies around us, who wanted to hold us back. We went our separate ways. Ray Rebel had already made a name for himself in Memphis. He moved to Atlanta in 2014 to build. Shit got rough, because some of those same negative energies were still around. Long story short, he cut those off and got back to the basics. And started making moves.
2016, this is my first A3C and I come in the door on an official level. Matter fact, I has two official showcases with Stankonia and Swisher Sweets. It was only right that I linked up with Preauxx and Ray Rebel in Atlanta. That link up has made us all come to a realization, we really had been through a lot of shit on this grind. We were the young niggas on the scene and we built our brands big enough for them to be recognized in different cities and states across the country. But we also realized that we are STILL on it and ain't quit. Many rappers have come and gone in these last 5 years. We ain't gone no where.
Childhood dreams to Paths & Passions
If all these Facebook posts, tweets, and website posts all showed yall the blood, sweat, and tears of this excruciating grind instead of just mere words, you would understand why I'm so SERIOUS about my craft. This is not just a job I wanna have, this ain't just some goal I always wanted to accomplish. It's a passion, a calling, a path-- a path that I didn't choose, a path that chose me. When I was 8 years old, I imagined that I had my own record label. At 8. Most kids my age changed their career choice every week, to fit their mode. Nope, not Tauheed Rahim II, I wanted to be CEO of a label-- EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
In 2014, I made that childhood vision come to life and I started my own label. 2 years later after a few accolades (actually quite a few) and some grinding later, Im going on my first tour. The River Kings Tour with Alfred Banks from New Orleans.
I'm bringing that tour through Memphis, September 3rd 2016, and I want all my Memphis fans and supporters to be in the building in full support of the growth and the mission to keep growing.
You can purchase tickets from the Marco Pavé Merch store:
http://www.kingofmarco.com/merch/river-kings-tour-memphis\
Touring: A must for Indie Artists
In the last few months, I've been asked by quite a few people the same question: "how do you make your money as an artist?" Certain people still assume that music sales are the cash cow for artist. Well, with Streaming services rolling into town and paying us poor artists 0.0001 of a penny, there isn't much hope to make tons of money. If we look at the top of the hip hop industry, folks like J Cole only made 100k from Streaming, we talking about an artist that went PLATINUM.
I'm under no illusion of success, it takes hard work to make it in this industry. You have to be business savvy and creative: creatively business savvy.
I'm still learning alot as a music business excuetive, but I know one thing for sure, if I can accomplish the things they sell in dreams, on my own, I am in really good shape.
I've produced and releases my first project with my own funding and now, I've booked my own tour with the homie Alfred Banks from New Orleans.
The River Kings Tour is kicking off August 26th in Memphis with a private event in partnership with Rhodes College and The Mike Curb Institute.
Show money, is good money, it's really our only money :) Let's go get it!
