Major

Quietly nestled in the Deep South, somewhere between Louisiana and Alabama, is the great state of Mississippi, a place where some of the most magnificent voices in the worlds of hip-hop and R&B trace their roots. From BB King to Brandy, Robert Johnson to Rick Ross, David Ruffin to Rae Sremmurd, the starting point for many successful careers begins in the Magnolia State. Keeping true to the tradition of churning out talented artists is Houston-based, Hattiesburg native Major. As co-CEO of his own label Get Major Entertainment, he has caused major commotion with runaway singles “Power,” “Truth Hurts” and popular YouTube music video “Twerk Fight.” For “Twerk Fight” remix, Major upped the ante and enlisted the legendary Beat King to produce the track. But that is just the beginning. He is also gearing up to drop his muchanticipated as-yet-untitled mixtape this Fall, along with lead singles “No Words” and “Arrogant.” “My sound is art. It’s like no one else’s sound because my voice sounds like no one else,” Major explains. “I got killer beats and I got a flow that will catch you. I got the kind of music where you got to listen to it again and again to catch something that you might have missed the time before.” Born in New Orleans, Major relocated to the Crooked Letter State with his mother when he was still in diapers. Raised in a stable home with a loving mother and hardworking stepfather, he would often spend summers back in Louisiana with his father. But it was in the growing small town of Hattiesburg that the youngster learned to shoot ball, fight the other young knuckleheads on the block and keep a crowd’s attention rapping freestyles. “I got into a little trouble here and there as a kid, but I always knew I would make music,” he recalls. He was so sure of a career in music that he was only 10 years old when he recorded his first song. “I worked on a paper route with my dad one summer,” Major thinks back. “And I saved up money to go to the studio. I was young chasing the dream.” His mother realized her son’s musical potential, so when he was 14, she bought him a Triton keyboard, a top-of-the-line instrument at the time. Within no time, he learned to produce beats and record his music. Less than a year later, he printed up some CDs, got a CD cover made and self-distributed his mixtape Get Major. “I really didn’t know what I was doing,” Major admits. “I didn’t know about registering my music or marketing or any of that. I just knew that I had to get my music out there.” Off the strength of that CD alone, Major became a neighborhood superstar. But his career was cut short, however, when he found himself in a world of trouble by simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. “There is a lot of corruption all across the board in Hattiesburg, so it’s hard to prosper,” says Major. “I did three-and-a-half years in prison for nothing, for something I didn’t do.” He was charged with being an accessory to a robbery that never actually took place. So when charges were filed against him, Major opted out of a plea bargain, took the case to trial and lost. He was handed an eight-year mandatory sentence. “I went to prison and I fought it,” says Major. “I was in the law library. I was writing my own statutes and got a lawyer to clean it up for me. I fought for three and a half years, took my case to the Mississippi Supreme Court and I won.” Since touching down of free ground, he moved away from Mississippi and settled in Houston. He launched his own trucking company Hall Trucking and ignited a rap career that cannot be easily extinguished via his label Get Major Entertainment. He set off sparks with debut singles “Power,” “Truth Hurts” and “Twerk Fight” remix with Beat King on the track. Making his next move his best move, he is set to release as-yet-untitled mixtape this Fall, along with lead singles “No Words” and “Arrogant.” “My music is art,” says Major. “I go with the feeling of the song. I go with what the beat tells me to do. I put a lot of emphasis on the lyrics, but my song concepts are also unique, and I have a different kind of voice that’s comparable to no one.