The Pacific Northwest enjoys a diverse amount of musical artists. Who are the next music prodigies coming out the Northwest? Targeting three, we explore that question. First being the local artist or the singer, next the street poet or as they call him the “St. Johns scholar”, and last, the dreamer or the Irish rapper. These are the artists who have earned the Northwest a spot in the national spotlight for our music movement.
The local artist an alternative singer native to the Tigard Tualatin area Christian Burghardt, he is an extraordinary artist coming out of the local area is currently signed with Sony music records with its branch label kemosabe entertainment by a ceo Dr. Luke. Burghardt taught himself how to play guitar his sophomore year he is inspired by artist such as John Mayer and Goo Goo Dolls. Christian is currently remaking his music in a professional studio set remastering his music. “I’m going to tour around the northwest college’s and my music spread.” Christian explained. There’s a glance of a different genre in the music industry in the northwest, there seems to be a bright future for this aspiring artist.
“The St. Johns scholar” is Portland native Vinnie DeWayne, self proclaimed V DeWayne. He grew up in the North Portland neighborhood of St. Johns where as a child he was heavily influenced by hip hop. He began going to a neighborhood recording studio, going viral after his first mixtape blew up on a worldly scale, getting downloads from everywhere. He then released the new mixtape “Castaway,” named after the Hollywood movie starring actor Tom Hanks. This mixtape depicts the struggles he’s dealt with and lessons he has learned through his 21 years of living, telling a story of a young African-American male coming out of the Portland area. His storytelling ability is way ahead of his time. Expect to see him more often. This isn’t the last time you will hear of him and that’s a promise.
Finally comes the dreamer, the man who has become a triumphant artist in the past two years, debuting with his single “otherside”.
“I didn’t have a pre consignation, like this is going to be a song about drugs or is this going to be a song about my experience.”
Seattle native rapper Macklemore Ben Haggerty started his career twelve years ago, but he only recently became recognized for his music. From 2005 to 2009, Ben struggled with drug abuse which inspired him in his music. When he cleaned up he teamed up with DJ Ryan Lewis to create recent mixtape which made him blow up. Macklemore was on the Freshman double XL class of 2012 appearing on the cover as well as the annual class cypher video on Youtube which has millions of views worldwide. During his interview on freshman xxl he was asked where his name originated, this was his answer.
“I used to mess with these ladies for years, I finally decided to apologize went to knock on their door and they took me in, I apologized and they told me I was a man now and they gave me my name Macklemore.” A soon to be hip hop mogul Ben Macklemore Haggerty is the best thing to happen to the Northwest since Sir Mix Alot.
The spotlight has shed its light on these very talented young men who represent our cold and grey area. Except from now on make sure to wear some shades next time you see these stars because the spotlight will beaming down.