MISTERCLUTCH

Every now and then a different kind of a rapper enters the game—one with a mark of distinction.

That time is now. And, that artist is none other than Bwerani “Mr. Clutch” Johnson—the Milwaukee born-and-bred rapper armed with a deep, baritone voice to match his massive six-foot-seven frame.

And he plays the game with one objective: total domination.

That domination is a marked by an insatiable taste for the grind. A grind that started fifteen years ago, when the not-yet pubescent Mr. Clutch was a 10-year-old rapper performing at local Hang Tuff campaigns.

Later, young Mr. Clutch would re-whet his appetite for the grind by entering local talent shows. His energetic performances garnered him enough attention that the young Clutch eventually opened for infamous artists such as, KRS-One, X-Clan and the 69 Boys.

In 1997, at eighteen, his hard work was finally rewarded when he caught the attention of an independent record label in Rockford, Illinois, Black Eye Records.

After signing to the label, he recorded his first album, The World Is Yours, which was sold and distributed throughout the Midwest. This led to other significant opportunities, including opening for national recording artist, Twista, on several occasions.

However, his most notable achievement was being the first artist ever to do a live show on the number-one rated radio show in Milwaukee, V-100.

Unfortunately, Mr. Clutch’s success proved short-lived, as Black Eye Records folded, due to insufficient financial backing.

Despite the setback, Mr. Clutch rebounded by achieving success on the college basketball court, receiving a scholarship to Greenville University, where he played for one year.

Still, he felt incomplete without music—his first love.

It didn’t take long for the rap game to call with raw urgency. It was time to grind again—time re-enter the game.

When Mr. Clutch finally returned to what he does best—making good music—he revamped his style into its current distinctive form, “it’s basically created from years and years of trying to find one’s self and taking every era of rap and fitting it into the present. I don’t sound like anyone, because I try to create a Midwest style, instead of following others.”

And because of his signature voice, he might very well be branded Hip Hop’s Barry White, “my voice sets me apart from the rest of the field, so I make you listen to me. You have no choice but to listen to what I’m saying with my conversation-like flow.” His imagery-drenched lyrics, gripping metaphors and realistic street stories are also arresting testaments of his skill.

Where other rappers fall short, Mr. Clutch brings it—delivering entertaining stories, which are sometimes graphic depictions of hood life and sometimes emotionally-charged confessionals but always entertaining and thought provoking. His street stories mirror his harsh upbringing and hood life.

Some of those experiences include his mother’s battle with drug addiction, since his birth and his father’s periodic absences from his life.

Though life dealt Mr. Clutch unfortunate circumstances, he had a strong support system in his grandmother, who raised him.

According to Mr. Clutch, his circumstances helped shape him as a man and an artist, “it made me a better man and it fucked me up.“ There’s no doubt that his life’s experiences give his music unrivaled texture and complexity.

Though his upbringing was unconventional, he learned lessons that helped him relate to his fans, while finding a creative outlet for his pain, “it helps me open up and talk to people who are going through what I’ve gone through in my life. You have to be an open book sometimes, in order to heal yourself.”

For most rappers such raw candidness would be a difficult undertaking—Mr. Clutch is no such artist.

After all, the Milwaukee rapper isn’t all gritty street drama but actually has something to say and, more importantly, something worth listening to. Each finely crafted story is both powerful and effortless, which comes across distinctively in his conversation-like flow, “It’s all about feeling and truth with me. If I haven’t done it, I won’t talk it. If I won’t do it, I won’t talk it.”

His music is as diverse and ever changing as his moods, “I make mood music. Cats that make a whole album of ‘Ima kill you,’ I’m like nigga, are you ever happy?”

And his versatility is evident in songs, such as “What U Wanna Do” the bouncy, sexually explicit club banger, which reveals Mr. Clutch’s sexual side: “I’m a real sexual-type dude. I wanted to do a song that was sexual but not degrading.”

To flip the script, Mr. Clutch brings it for the niggaz in the single, “Play for Keeps” a throwback joint, reminiscent of gangsta-infused tracks from 70’s blaxploitation films, like Supafly, which features rappers Baby Drew (Universal) and M_Dawg with the hook sung by Jre (Making Da Band I), “This song is for rappers, whoever is