In case you've been hiding under a rock or don't have time to turn on the television for some good old American entertainment (like me for example), there's a certain star in the making right now by the name of Astro. The 14 year old Brooklyn, NYC wonder is impressing the nation with his performances in front of millions of viewers on the X-Factor, a show which found its beginnings in the UK.
I'm not going to get into much of what the show is about because that's not what this post is focusing on. Instead, I would like to shed some light on Astro, the Artist/MC/Rapper, (choose whatever term doesn't offend you). I heard some comments being made on the radio a couple of days back about this young man but didn't really think much of it. (My ignorance sometimes gets me in trouble) Fast forward two days after and I'm seeing posts about the kid on twitter. Feeding into curiosity, I decided to check his performance out on You Tube. Looking like a young Kid Cudi, I thought to myself "eh, this better not be another one of these swag boy rappers, or else I'm shutting this off". As the video played I noticed how much energy and passion he seemed to have in the short clips of the previous performances they were flashing on screen.
L.A. Reid, a former Def Jam Chairman and also one of the show's judges, seemed to have taken a liking to the kid, giving the young man nothing but good advice and praise. Reid was preparing Astro for his next performance, a remake of Diddy's "I'll Be Missing You".
The performance starts out with Astro sitting on stage and when the music starts playing, you notice the emotion and joy that runs through Astro's face. An expression that says "I would do this for free". His remake of "I'll Be Missing You" was actually a love letter to Hip Hop. True, it's not like we haven't come across this song before. What amazes me are the references to different stages that Hip Hop has gone through in various points in time even before Astro was born. Not only that, his delivery was superb. He handled the mic the way seasoned veterans would.
Astro is definitely the future of Hip Hop. It's refreshing to see a star in its pure form BEFORE the evil side of the music industry gets a hold of him. Let's just hope he keeps the right people around him. For now, he has made a fan and believer out of me.
Check out the video. Do whatever you can to support Astro and please, leave a comment.
StreetKhemistry.com
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