Everybody
knows an overnight success is the result of years of work if you are
unsure ask Berkeley rapper Koran Streets. Koran has been acting since he
was 9. He started out with Oakland's Lower Bottom
Playaz
doing Shakespearean adaptations. He is in fact, one of the only two
actors in the world to have done the August Wilson Century Cycle,
(appearing in all ten plays) in chronological order. He gained some
visibility in the independent film, LICKS, produced in the Bay Area.
LICKS, a coming of age film, placed in South By South West and was
awarded Best Film, and Streets was named best Supporting Actor at the
Chelsea film festival in 2013. He followed that up with a part in Kicks a
nationally distributed film. Reliable sources indicate that he is in
current talks about a new movie role. But music has always been Street's
first love.
In his middle school years he was one of the founding members of a group called Turf
Starz that
created a hot young sound with a lot of promise. From there he started
working independently and released a number of Mix Tapes all similarly
titled,
"U. Know. I. Got. It", Volumes I-III. The latest rendition,
U. Know. I. Got.,
It.
is his first full length album, released in late 2016, the joint is a
strong freshman statement that's making national noise. His lyrics
come from the Bay Area streets he grew up on, and strike an honest cord
in listeners and music critics. The production of the album is sonically
dope, and his easy straight forward flow is a welcome addition to
today's music scene. The video production that accompanies the work,
produced and directed by Streets along with
videographer Luis
Montoya, indicate a film makers eye, offer up some incredible visuals
from the Bay Areas inner city, and speaks to Streets ambitions to be
recognized as a world class artist.
While
he is often recognized on the streets and associated with one of his
projects, it's usually in response to a role he played on screen or on
the stage. Sometimes it's a parent of a young person he mentored in his
summers working at a free summer theater camp, (The Lower Bottom Playaz
Summer Theater Day Camp in Oakland) where he passes on opportunity to
youngsters who come to learn how to act on stage and in the world. One
of his former students also landed a role in KICKS because of Street's
mentor ship and advocacy. Streets is a person who has always made his
way when no way seemed possible. Until very recently, he was a one man
company on a mission, with the attitude, "All I need is for someone to
push play". Someone did, and now they are listening, finding it
compelling, fresh, and authentic. Streets is building his fan base and
looking forward to new projects while he rides this rising wave of
interest in his considerable talent. The work seems to be paying off for
him and things are changing almost overnight.
These
days it's the music he's being recognized for. From Billboard to
Rolling Stone who named his album as number 28 in a list of the top 40
albums of 2016. Recent articles across the hip hop blog sphere say he's a
comer and a sound you want to discover. Hip Hop bloggers are calling
and so are record labels. Streets, while taking all calls, seems in no
hurry to tie himself to a label, and most interested in what this new
attention will offer him in the way of opportunity to make the kind of
music he makes, in the way he likes to make it. But that's a good
problem to have. As he travels between the Bay, L.A. and New York he
reflects on the amount of work it took to get this far and wonders if
the doors will continue to open for him. So far it looks like a go.
2017
is looking like it might be a year for some long deserved visibility
for the Bay Area rapper determined to make it in an industry that
requires as much luck as talent to get a good foot hold. If talent and
perseverance are the right tools then look for big things from Koran
Streets, you know he got it.
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