Today we’d like to introduce you to Thunderous Knight.
Thunderous, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As an artist, my journey started as a child born in Long Beach, California, then moving to the High Desert Victorville, California with my parents. My music background started with my Step-Father being a singer from Detroit & Mother being a rapper from Long Beach in their early years. I didn’t pursue music seriously until seventeen years old, but always had a strong love for music at a young age, from hearing my parents listening to jazz, R&B, blues, reggae, rap, hip-hop and etc. I was already so inspired off the different artists. Hearing my father play James Brown the Payback on repeat to my mother listening to Lauren Hill’s Miseducation and so on. The power behind the words and the feeling from the tone made me very curious and wanted to hear more powerful artist tell their story. My parents always would tell me music doesn’t hit unless it comes from the heart, I didn’t really understand that until I started going through my own personal life lessons as I grew older.
I remember running into people that would say I had a unique voice and always asked if I did music when I was younger but I was so driven by playing basketball that I really never thought about it until 2011 I was in my friend Steve’s garage and he would beatbox, and show his father and I videos of him beatboxing for this rapper at our high school at the time. And I got inspired and wanted to do the same, so we used his laptop camera and recorded the video then posted it on YouTube back in 2011 that same night. It’s still up on YouTube, I’m sure. After that, I started freestyling everyday until I heard Kendrick Lamar Section 80 and Mac Miller Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza. Also, my mom would play Busta Rhymes Lil Kim, The Brat and way more the list is so long I could be here all day if I told you everything but anyways, hearing all that made me want to start writing my own lyric’s. I would write everyday at home after school than would use my homies laptop camera to record.
Then later after graduation, I recorded my first song at my friend’s home studio it was called highest skies I still remember some of the lyrics which is crazy. I continued recording there till his parents said I cursed on songs too much and wasn’t having it than I meet a producer that was also an engineer I ended up going to his house every weekend and record songs called Dirt A.C.R and Faculty that was on my SoundCloud. A couple of years later, my homie DeezyTheSuper also an artist I’ve worked on music with from the beginning invited me to Palm Springs to network with these music artists and producers that was around the Inland Empire. A year later, I linked up with BREGMA, ICECOLDBISHOP & JAHMED FLO DEEZYTHESUPER, and other artists & producers around the LA & IE Area, And started developing my sound with BREGMA. We worked on my upcoming project Titled: NO CALL NO SHOW with producer VIIKADEN & DAVID EMMANUEL.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Hell nah the road isn’t smooth from trying to make music in the beginning and people would criticize me saying I wouldn’t make it in music and just discouraging me but I kept going and those same people can’t wait for the next song to drop. Then got older and slept in my car for almost a year cause I didn’t know how to balance music and a job believing one day my music was going to change my life for the better so I didn’t need a job. Then losing bonds with once close friends because they thought I changed but I had to put my head down in work on my crafted. Then losing my cousin in the same year, cause we didn’t have enough money to keep paying for life support, and me knowing I have a gift that would help my family out and couldn’t do nothing about it at the time, the list of struggles are long but one thing I could say all of the struggles made me a better person and artist and will push me to greatness one day.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define success by spending those late nights or days working on your craft even when you make it to your goals, and having an obsession about your craft and not stopping until you are the greatest to ever do it, Also being one with your decisions and don’t let anyone make decisions for you be your own person. Having great balance with everything you do and keeping your mind sharp and put positive energy in everything, don’t make no excuses on your failures, eat healthy cancel out all the toxic people in your life if they don’t want to change. Always gotta have the motivation to grow more and don’t get comfortable.
Contact Info:
- Email: thunderousknight16@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thunderousknigh/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thunderousknigh
- Other: https://fanlink.to/thunderousknightnosmoke
Image Credit:
Javan Martin Instagram: @javanjux Twitter: @javanjux & Photographer: Polygon Instagram: @polygonnnnn Twitter: @polygonnnnn; Lighting: Cody James Cook Instagram: @codyjcook
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