We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Black Boy King a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

King, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

As an musician, artist, rapper, whatever you consider yourself in your position in the music business, you are always taking risks. For me, I’ve lived a life that is full of risks that I’ve taken to succeed. I grew up on Tropicana Ave in Sin City so you learn the value of understand the risk versus reward mentality. When you gamble, you understand that you can win or lose. You are mentally prepared for it, and take the risk anyway because of the old saying “fortune favors the bold”. And if you want to be successful in life, you simply have to take risks. I lived in a lot of different types of places as a kid so understanding that you can’t be too married to one thing which will prevent you from making moves. In Las Vegas, that’s how people think about money. We get it fast, spend it fast and take risks. We like doing things in big bold fashion. When you grow up around dancers, waitresses, dealers, showgirls, and other performing acts, it’s normal. And when you see the underbelly, nothing surprises you. We live by no fear. It’s also one of the many things I love about living in Texas. Texans are never scared and it’s the only state that has a warning if you mess with it. People aren’t afraid to stand on their feet if they feel something isn’t right. It’s that risk taking mentality I’m drawn to.

Being risky as a creative person is a must because every song you write, or every beat you make you are taking a risk on if people are going to think it’s terrible or if it’s a masterpiece. In the studio, you get the beat from the producer or you make the beat in the studio with the producer, then I listen to that beat 1,000 times while digging deep into my subconscious bringing up memories from my past or what I’m living through right now and put it in rhyme form then record it. So, you take a risk putting it out there and hope people bob their heads to it while experiencing your life.

I’ve been in the studio working on songs that I feel are big risk for me. It’s a positive risk though because if the songs are received well then it was all worth it. If there are any people I can touch with my experience then that’s a big victory and something worth risking for.

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

I’m a rapper from Las Vegas but I now live in Dallas, TX. I run the record label Kingdom House Records. I’ve been recording music for 8 years, and you can find me all streaming platforms with my most popular platform being Spotify where I’ve got over 250,000 streams and charted #1 on the Spotify Austin, TX Local Pulse Charts for my single ‘Eat It Up’ in October 2022. My latest single ‘My Time Feat. Curt Flo, Dansonn’ is an inspirational track out now on all streaming platforms and is doing extremely well.

I’ve overcome and overachieved as an underdog in my life many times over and that’s helped me develop a unique perspective on life and I would say my life story has more ups and downs than a Hollywood movie. I rap about my life and my experiences as well as express how I feel about major topics. You’ll be able to see what I saw and lived what I lived in my music. The mentality I had to have to endure the things we went through.

I’m most proud of the opportunity to have songs out with artists like Sean Kingston, and soon Rick Ross and Gucci Mane as featured artists. To know where I came from, how I used to record music in a closet, to having songs with mainstream artists is exciting and humbling at the same time.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

What non-creative people will struggle to understand about me is the lack of fear or my risk taking mentality, and how I can take my thoughts and organize them and formulate them to fit a reality that I created. I’ve had to do that many times in my life to bounce back from rock bottom. Being a hustler. Being an artist means you are in tune with yourself, with your soul. You can hear and feel your soul in your body and it speaks to you, it tells you what you need to do. For many of us, we feel it as well. We feel the power that’s generated from creating something from scratch and then sharing it into the world. In music, it’s putting the vibrations out. God said in the beginning there was the word, and then after that he commanded there to be light. So sound is the basis of our world, you understand? You control how your body vibrates and you can control your reality. The logical two plus two, non-creative brain has a hard time understanding this because it’s not easily measured.

It also gives you an extremely high level of confidence. Not just self confidence but positive mentality. The iron mind. You have to be disciplined in your process, and you have to keep going regardless of what bad things might happen. I feel like if people turned their situation in a song, even if they are just doing their 9 to 5, not only would they be more productive but they’d also be surprised at how much they would accomplish. This is why the military sings songs while jogging. You speak it into existence.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal has always been to share who I am with the world. To tell my story. Create my own lane in this world. And if I can inspire someone or if someone relates to what I’ve been through, then that’s even better. I think we have an imperative in this life to be who our souls tells us to be. And not be who modern constraints have placed us to be. I understand we all need to work to live, but true freedom is being able to wake up in the morning and choose what we want to do with our day. And since day one that’s what I’ve always worked to be in that position. I think everyone should be working to live their lives on their terms. It’s all about knowing that there is something better out there than what we’ve been given and are told “is life”. They say money doesn’t buy happiness but it sure can help you enjoy what this world has to offer while you are alive.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.blackboyking.com
• Instagram: @blackboykingofficial
• Other: Linktr.ee/BlackBoyKing