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    Local Music Spotlight: Ben the Rapper

    As much as I love rock and indie, I was happily surprised when Anne forwarded an email to me that was not of the rock variety. Ben the Rapper describes his club “with DJK’s indie rock voice, my hip-hop flow, and Donovans Electro/Dubstep style songs, is pleasing to everyone”. Their EP was just finished and will be ready to download on iTunes soon (I will post the link when it is live). Ben the Rapper provided me with some insight into him as an artist, as well as giving up some information about his best friend and producer, Donovans Beats.

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    Briana Henry: How long have you been making music? What was your inspiration for doing so?

    Ben the Rapper: I started making music around 7th grade with one of my best friends. It was always just a hobby because I always put football over everything else. I finally took it seriously about 2 years ago, when I met Donovans Beats. I saw him perform in the first Clash of the Titans Beat Battle in Columbus, which he won. I later drove six hours to have a sit down with him, and from then on, we have been best friends and partners.

    BH: 2. Will this be your first EP? How would you describe it?

    BtR: This will be the first EP, but Donovans Beats and I previously recorded a mixtape, “The Life of the Party“. Everything is produced by Donovan and all of the lyrics are written by me. We also feature DJK (DJ Kyriakides) who sings on multiple songs on the EP and is the one who engineers everything we do. This EP is 100% different from a lot of things you hear today. It’s a mix between hip-hop, electro, pop, club, and rock music.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tya_EDYxEQY

    BH: Where has this sound come from, from you and Donovan Beats? Where were the influences early on?

    BtR: My influences come from everybody. I love all music, and have always listened to all types. I’m a big fan of Pharrell and N.E.R.D. They are just so original. We like mainstream music and we like underground music. We get our sound from our personalities, if that makes any sense. We don’t feel like artists should be held to one genre. We listen to everything from Waka Flocka to The Cataracts to Michael Jackson to Mac Miller. We make whatever we feel like making at the time, but we do try our best to keep things up beat and fun. 90% of our songs are club playable.

    Before getting ready to go out to any show, I usually listen to something from the dance genre to get me pumped for the night. Be it hip-hop, dubstep (I know), or electronica, the music Ben the Rapper and his partner, Donovans Beats, will be my new go-to. You can find more information HERE for show information and the latest on their quest to finalize their album with iTunes.

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    Briana Henry
    Briana Henryhttps://columbusunderground.com/
    Briana is an intern writer at Columbus Underground who writes concert and live music reviews and previews, local band spotlights, album reviews, and other featurettes related to the local music scene.
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