Meet Marcus Ariah

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcus Ariah.

Marcus, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m hip hop/soul artist from Newark, Nj and multiple other cities in Essex County. I started making music at around 17/18 years old, with two of my closest friends (bullet & jamol). It started with a freestyle cypher in the basement and I thought that I can actually do something with it because I had some rhythym. I bought a mic, a shoebox, some foam and a du rag and made my own little studio at home. Got with two other close friends (Quran & Love), who we all grew up together, and started recording on a program called audacity with a rock band video game mic. We all kept being consistent with our art, and linked up with a few other close friends (Mike & Raz) and started a team, and grew together. Each and every one of us went to work on our craft, some moved, some stayed and we still stayed connected so that we can actually make big things happen with the music together. The county I grew up was probably the roughest in the state, so while I was making music, I was dealing with people we know dying, disloyalty, identity struggles, close family on drugs, racism because of the mixed race schools, and all of the above. I wanted to be the change in my state and the reason why we could finally get recognized because we get overshadowed by New York.

So I got in the studio every single day where me and my bro Byron, were in Stephen Crane projects in North Newark in not even a 100 sq ft room. We had a small set up with a mattress on the wall and mic stand that was halfway broke, but we got the job done and put out quality better than a lot of studios that had top-notch equipment, which made us stand out. Kept recording and kept building until I really found my confidence and sound and was able to catch a good amount of people’s ears. I went to a school named Institute of Audio Research and met two more close friends ‘til this day (Laze & Fabian) and they were doing the same things as me, so we clicked. Laze and I did big shows together made songs and continued to build. I dropped four projects, “Growth,” “Changes,” “Making A Man,” and my most recent “SilkySZN.” I have a team, which is almost like a label, named GoodFellas and Co, and we throw events, host a podcast, and deal with entertainment. I decided I wanted to come to LA to pursue my career very seriously once I started to see a lot of people actually gravitating to me. I came on a whim really with nothing but support from family and friends, and I’m now becoming successful in my career, and things are actually coming to fruition.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. There’s been ups and downs as far as mentally and not knowing if you’re ever going to be anything as an artist. I’ve lost great music that I’ll probably never get back because of failed computer, invested in myself to where I’ve gone broke, and a few bad deals that I was locked in to. I’ve been sold dreams to by people in the industry I would never think, and I’ve been put down by people that I thought would help me out. Nothing in the music industry is going to be smooth, they say it takes years to be an overnight success.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m a hip hop/ soul artist, known for now being one of the more decent artists in my state, from what I’ve heard. I specialize in my wordplay, melodies, and catchy choruses. I’m apart of a company called “Goodfellasco” and we throw a lot of events for New Jersey so that we can be the tastemakers. We also have a podcast thats been going for about a year now, and I’m the artist. Our team consists of an artist, a top boxer in the country, designers, videographers, photographers, and promoters. I’m most proud of learning how to do a lot of things in the studio by myself, and with Byron, to cut costs. We engineer the music ourselves, record videos and edit ourselves, take photos, edit them, and any and everything we can do by ourselves, we do it. My innovation sets me apart from a lot of different artists because they solely constrict themselves to knowing one thing, which can make the process longer. My work ethic is me sleeping in the studio every night and waking up to record again, no matter what.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Going to amusement parks with my mom and sister.

Contact Info:

• Website: Marcusariah.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram.com/marcusariah
• Twitter: Twitter.com/marcusariah

Image Credit:
Photos by @jeanthehueman, @pray4fabe, @wav_dm

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