Pacolet, South Carolina, United States
Know before you spin that Crocker track that you won't be pandered to. He might challenge your worldview. He might imply that you're closet bigot, a intellectual coward, or a lazy, blind follower of whatever disposable trend, belief or ideology is being marketed to you. He'll call you out. If he's not making you uncomfortable, that's because you aren't listening. That's not hype. In 2013, the annual Spring Fling festival in Spartanburg, South Carolina, banned a contracted performer from taking the stage. It was the first time in the festival's 35 year history that this had happened, and it only added to the controversy that the performer was a native son, a hip-hop artist, and had gotten the festival slot in the first place due to popular vote. That performer was Crocker, and the reason he was banned was due to a controversial collaboration track with The Lone Gunmen titled "American Way." In the track, Crocker railed against ethnic, socioeconomic and religious prejudice, culminating in a rousing refrain, "Kill Whitey! Kill Whitey! / Say what you like but you think just like me." Had it been another performer, perhaps the whole controversy would have quietly faded. But that didn't happen. Within hours, TV crews and newspaper reporters were covering the story. The public outcry was so loud that there was another first from the City of Spartanburg ... a formal apology. That's Crocker's story in miniature. He says what needs to be said, even if it means alienating his audience. And then, after the waves anger and the outrage have crested and receded, that same riled-up crowd comes back, desperate for more. (Edited per LinkedIn character limit.) - Steve Shanafelt (October 19, 2013)
LVLRN Records is an independent music label based in upstate South Carolina that empowers talented, undiscovered artists to grow as both performers and as human beings. Founded in October 2010, we focus on quality and talent rather than hype, and we bring our D.I.Y. artistically focused ethos to every album we release
I'm a working artist in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Do shows. Book shows. Work with other artists and put out different projects and such.