SK

My name is SK and I’m a musician from Boston, MA. I would say my music lies somewhere at the intersection of hip hop, R&B, and pop but it’s hard to pin down.  I grew up in New Jersey listening to Aaron Neville, the Dixie Chicks, David Gray, and Sheryl Crow in my mom’s car and Lynard Skynard, Eric Clapton, and BB King with my dad. On the middle school bus, I was jamming out to CDs of Jay Z, 50 Cent, Linkin Park, and Fort Minor. I wrote down lyrics from my favorite rappers and bands, rehearsed them in my bedroom, and sang them in the shower.

I started playing guitar in high school after one of my sisters began taking lessons. I wrote terrible country songs that slowly turned into less terrible country songs. 

My route to hip hop is somewhat unclear.  I went to college at MIT, unsure of what I would study and ended up pursuing math and economics.  Despite getting good grades my first two years, my main focus was running. I ran cross country and track and field and was a regional champion, an all-american and a team captain.  But I never felt successful. I was diagnosed with compartment syndrome my freshman year and despite two surgeries that didn’t work, ran through my injury but never reached the level of accomplishment that I felt I had worked for. I learned about myself from physical pain but was always frustrated by the limitations of getting little blood flow below my knees.  I was de-captained for doing extra workouts and started to have mental health problems my junior year of college.

I never wanted to believe that depression wasn’t something I could personally conquer or out-muscle.  So for me, one of the biggest things was finding a way out.  Music ended up providing me with that. I started taking night classes in music production in Cambridge.  I learned how to synthesize, record, mix, and master in Ableton through a combination of class, online articles, and tons of hours of trial and error.  

What drew me to hip hop is the lyricism, culture, and history.  I’ve enjoyed hours listening to LL, Salt N Pepa, PE, the Fugees, Nas, Biggie, Tupac, Queen Latifah, Geto Boys, the Wu-Tang Clan up through J Cole, Kanye and today’s artists.  

At one point, I played lead guitar in an old-school funk/soul band and extended my musical background further.

Music has filled in many of the gaps created when I could no longer run. Lyrically and emotionally, I can express all of the anger, frustration, love, and happiness I’ve experienced through music. It helps me deal with family problems I’ve faced, pain, being constantly misunderstood and allows me a level of self-respect I wouldn’t have otherwise.  Listening to hip hop is about listening to someone’s story—through flow, emotion, style, and words.