Benjamin Starr

Benjamin Starr was born November 3rd, 1987 in Charleston SC; raised by a single mother, older sister and grandmother in Pineville, SC he always showed a knack for the creative arts. As a middle child of many siblings, he began to express his emotions and views of life through creative writing at the young age of 11. After losing his grandmother to a heart attack at age 15 and his oldest sister to a drunk driver at age 17, coupled with the lack of a consistent father figure in his life his perception of the world and his motivations were changed forever. The culmination of these things led him to music, entertainment and outreach; telling the stories of the young black men in and around the neighborhood he emulated and looked up to, the not so smart decisions, the thrills and regrets, the experiences of pain as well as triumph and ultimately the message of how far he'd come in his life to this point. That led him to co-found Higher Level Entertainment Music Group with his group of friends who shared the same motivations and goals as he does. As a group and a young black owned business oriented conglomerate, it brought them to this point. This point of no return, where success isn't everything, its the only thing.

"I think that Music and its expression of life is universal, especially HipHop because you can speak to so many different people on so man different levels. You can speak to that kid without a father who kinda has to learn through trial and error; that was me. You can speak to the young girl who thinks she isn't good enough when she's really got it all in her hands. The music teaches lessons. Its like therapy