We were lucky to catch up with Raff Alpha recently and have shared our conversation below.
Raff, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Well since I was a kid I always knew I wanted to do something involved with the arts. As a child I use to draw anime characters and make my own comic books. I Actually would sell my drawings at school to the students. As I got a little older, my love for writing music and making beats grew. I fully invested myself on becoming a MC once I heard a song by Nas called “The World Is Yours”. I always tell people that, that was the day I fell in love with Hip Hop and became fully invested in the culture.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
For those who don’t know me, I go by the name of Raff Alpha. I’m a hip hop artist based in Baltimore, Maryland. I got into music at a young age but I can’t say I took it seriously in the beginning. At the time, my oldest brother was inspiring to be the next Master P lol He would make me and my other brother record 16 bar verses on cassette tapes. I hated having to record because I was so young at the time and I was more concerned about playing with my action figures. My oldest brother even brought me lil Romeo’s first album ( the son of Master P ) to keep me inspired to rap haha. I think he wanted to show me that it’s possible that a child can be a superstar rapper. And i must say, it did inspire me. I would listen to the songs and would try to get my flow and cadences similar to lil Romeo’s. Eventually I got uninspired and stopped rapping and started drawing more. As I got older I started to get back into song writing and I started making beats. At a older age I feel like I started to understand the culture of hip hop way more. Once I had the understand of what “hip hop” was, that’s when I fully pursued it, and I’m still at it currently.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My particular goal is to show myself that I can do anything I put my mind to. I’m in competition with no one but myself. Everyday I strive to be better then I was yesterday. I feel like the biggest battle we face is always the battle within yourself. I feel we hold ourselves back from our greatness from low self-esteem and self doubt. Nothing hits harder then life but when life hits hard, I turn it into art. I try my best to turn a negative into a positive. The belief of the vision of what I can accomplish drives my creativity every single day
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist to me is the feedback I get from the listener. Sometimes it blows me away to hear people tell me about how my music has helped them through difficult times. It’s really a great feeling to know that my creation is helping someone in some shape or form. Creating the music is a wonderful feeling as well. It’s therapeutic to be completely honest. It helps me mentally release stress. When I fully complete a song, it’s no better feeling.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @raffalpha
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RaffAlpha410?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Twitter: @raffalpha410
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@raffalpha228
Image Credits
Kevin Johnson