Rapper uses rocky start to create new rhymes

No one would mistake Inglewood, Calif.-born Shawn Chrystopher for a dumb rapper.

Despite the fact that he is still trying to break into the rap and hip-hop industry, Chrystopher says he refuses to “dumb it down.” His website, Honourrolestudent.com, sounds less like the blog of a hard-core rapper dropping f-bombs every sentence and more like the musings of a bespectacled brainiac — oh wait, that’s Chrystopher.

Photo courtesy of TEAM Image PR

Chrystopher is near-sighted, and proudly wears his thick-rimmed glasses like a badge. During his three-year stint at USC, which he entered at 16 with a four-and-a-half-year scholarship, he studied political science.

Now 23 years old, Chrystopher is a dedicated rapper promoting his self-produced upcoming album, You, And Only You.

Yet, he is more than just a singer.

The truth is that rappers need smarts, and Chrystopher has plenty of them — and isn’t afraid to show it. He has complete control over his music — he composes the lyrics, beats and melodies, produces it, sings it and even creates his own artwork for his albums.

Chrystopher is a modern Renaissance man, but as with all struggling musicians, he had to fight to prove himself to the world.

Ever since middle school, where he joined the jazz and marching band in order to get out of his physical education class, Chrystopher fell in love with music and the way it made him feel. Even while he was in college studying politics, music was constantly on his mind, and he found himself scribbling down beats and melodies instead of lecture notes.

As his grades suffered from juggling both academics and musical passion, Chrystopher eventually dropped out of college to pursue his true interest in music.

But trying to break into the music industry is a rigorous challenge. Realizing he was not getting any record deals, Chrystopher tried pooling all his money into a show — only to have not a single person show up.

“I was crushed,” Chrystopher said. “I went home and said, ‘I am done.’ That was definitely the toughest moment in my life.”

The struggles to get his career off the ground, while having “a net worth of zero,” proved to be a formative time for Chrystopher, even serving as the topic of an interlude in his new album:

“Sometimes [my mother and I] would go months without a speak, not her, mostly me, because I was too ashamed to look her in the eye and tell her I’m still in the same f*cked up position as I was in last week: no shows, no deal, no money, just locked up in my room making beats,” he says in the spoken word segment of his album.

But now, instead of an empty audience, he performs in front of sold-out crowds during his college tour while promoting his single “Catch Me If You Can,” in partnership with the eBook marketplace company WOWIO. His catchy and inventive music even garnered a nod from rap king Kanye West, who added this single onto his recent G.O.O.D Ass Music Mixtape.

Even his mother has since tossed her skepticism, and now proudly shares his videos and pictures with her friends.

Chrystopher is a determined creator; even more than his talent, it was his mental attitude and tenacity that helped pull him to success, which he also shares in the same album interlude:

“You’ve got to believe in what you believe and go get your dream when no one thinks this sh*t will come true because at the end of the day, there’s you, and only you,” he say.

It’s the source for his upcoming album’s name, set to be released Dec. 7.

One could say Chrystopher has musical ADD because he can never stay still and be complacent with a single musical style.

All of his songs tell a personal story, and You, and Only You flows like a storybook — a full package that needs to be listened to in its entirety to get the full effect and meaning. He uses elements inspired by different artists and genres to create his own unique “Shawn Chrystopher” music, which, though never the same, has a distinct pop and groove that marks his colorful energy.

“My music is different because I see music as a fingerprint,” Chrystopher said. “Just like each fingerprint is unique to that individual, my music is entirely mine.”

Chrystopher said his three years at USC helped him to become more versatile and sophisticated in creating content for his music. As an Inglewood native, he said attending USC was a culture shock for him.

“[USC] gave me different perceptions on life,” he said. “I used to believe that life is only how I see it. But when I got to be with different people, and we got to converse about different life experiences, I found that you can actually view life differently depending on where you’re from, and who raised you.”

In the same way, Chrystopher wants his music to be multi-dimensional.

“Music is something that transcends languages and transcends barriers,” he said. “It’s like how Bob Marley basically stopped a civil war by making good music. There is just something special about music that can change feelings and can change lives.”

Despite his budding success, however, Chrystopher is very humble — he still calls his mother and sister every day as he travels across the country — but that might be his saving grace within the mash-up of music industry politics.

“I want people to say, ‘That guy Shawn really stayed true to himself, never changed and never molded himself for anyone,’” he said. “I want to be that guy, that model for everyone, who says, ‘This is how I am, like it or not.’”