Pretty Boy Hefner

For five hours, Sam Wright Jr. waited to meet Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels after the seminal Run-D.M.C. rapper's performance at the Taste of Madison in 2013. But Wright wasn't merely interested in a selfie and an autograph. He was there on business.

"I gave him a short story, that I was an artist trying to lead the way for my generation, and I wanted to inspire the world," said the Reedsburg-based Wright, 18, who raps under the stage name Pretty Boy Hefner. "He gave me his email. I sent him a few songs...and he was fairly impressed."

PRETTY BOY HEFNER PERFORMS 'RIGHT TIME'

Pretty Boy Hefner performs 'Right Time' in the Tap Milwaukee studios. Video by Piet Levy

It was only the beginning. From there, Hefner asked for a verse, and D.M.C. gave him one, for the song "What It Feels Like." He even flew out to Madison last fall to star with Hefner in the music video.

"Record labels and agents couldn't do it, management couldn't do it, the damn president couldn't do it, but this man did it," D.M.C. said. "I respect this young man so much. He doesn't use cuss words. He doesn't disrespect women. His verses are dope, his delivery is dope, his look is dope. You could play his music in the hood, and you could play it for your mother and father."

The veteran and newcomer connected in another way: D.M.C. was adopted, and Hefner ended up in foster care.

"My dad was incarcerated, in and out of my life, a drug addict. My mom was a drunk," Hefner said. By the time he turned 14, "my mom couldn't take care of me. I was into bad influences, hanging with the wrong kids....It made me stronger living in foster homes. People would tell me foster kids can't succeed. I wanted to prove my doubters wrong."

He recorded music through the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, guided by Creative and Performing Arts Director Greg Doby, a music producer with credits for Lloyd Banks, Avant and Eric Benet. And when the D.M.C. song and video drops early this year, Hefner will have a whopping 147,000 Twitter followers and 45,000 Vine followers to share it with. A debut full-length album and possible spring or summer tour will follow, Doby said.

And D.M.C. promised, "When somebody closes the door, that's when I've got to kick the door open." - Piet Levy of the Journal Sentinel \

There are just too many bands of the day out there on the interwebs. Plus, as platform dedicated to emergent music and contextualizing how new artists will have an impact on the cultural landscape, it’s silly to just focus on a single band or solo musician every day, there are days where it’s better to have none and other days where it’s necessary to have several, especially given the boom in independent labels.

We also want to be expansive and cover genres besides indie rock and indie dance, which has been our stable, even though we need to take Terfenadine when we say the word indie.

Enter Pretty Boy Hefner, a hybridized nu-soul/rapper from Madison, Wisconsin, a place not known for hip hop or its African-Americans beyond those recruited to University of Wisconsin, Madison sports teams. - earyummy - By kriiri5

am Wright, who performs under the name "Pretty Boy Hefner", and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, of Run DMC were at the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County on Saturday. They shot a music video for a song they did together called "What it Feels Like."

It shows the music industry from the perspective of a rookie and a veteran.

"What [Sam's] doing is motivation and should tell all these other young kids, no matter what you're going through, you can make your dream can come true," DMC says.

The song and video will be released early next year to help promote the Boys and Girls Club's Celebrity Music Mentors Program. - ROB THOMAS | The Capital Times | rthomas@madison.com