Rashad “Hurricane The King (HTK)” Hawkins is an independent Hip Hop Artist, Songwriter, Producer, Videographer, Graphic Designer from Baltimore, MD. In addition to his career as a musician, Hawkins is also a youth justice advocate and organizer in the state of MD. He organizes grassroots support and builds public awareness about issues and stories of real youth who are charged as adults.
Rashad created the youth steering committee for the Just Kids Partnership (an advocacy organization) and is also one of the co-chairmen and main organizers of the widely publicized alliance of organizations that stopped the state of Maryland from constructing a new jail for Baltimore city youth.
Since 2008 HTK has been creating, distributing, and promoting his style of hip-hop music independently in Baltimore, MD and on the internet. At the age of 16, HTK began to produce his own instrumentals. Drawing inspiration from legendary producers; Kanye West, Timbaland, Heatmakerz, and RZA, HTK uses a “sample-heavy” style that incorporates techniques used in classic hip-hop while adding a new modern flavor to them.
In February 2013 HTK released his first official mixtape, “CHARM” on Datpiff.com. CHARM consists of 10 original tracks (9 solo, and one with featured artists), all produced and mixed by HTK. Despite having a small roll out and no media coverage, CHARM was downloaded over 25,000 times in a little over four months and received rave reviews from supporters on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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CHARM rides on the strength that each track is strong in its own way. The lyricism and poetry imbued in all these tracks is insanely good. “The Return”, “Losing my Mind,” “Could Have Had It All,” “Revolution” and everything else on this disc is the stuff of an ambitious genius. Here we have a charismatic and confident emcee blessed with the God-given skills to be unbelievably deep on the microphone, yet able to spit his lyrics out with machine-gun-like fury.
CHARM is an incredibly journey through the mind of an intelligent man, committed to the social endeavors of his community, as much as he is committed to his art of lucid storytelling. HTK paints a vivid picture of his experiences, thoughts and ambitions. Each track acts as a different emotion that he expresses to the listener with his complex and sometimes rapid-fire lyricism.
The beats throughout this album is perfect for the lyrics as HTK goes back and forth tearing the tracks to shreds with his articulate deliveries. He comes in hard with metaphors, punch-lines, and tons of sick flows.
The superb production on all tracks is courtesy of HTK himself, furthermore consolidating his artistic prowess. CHARM was recorded and mixed at Profitt Productions Studios by Jeff “Tha Profitt” Kowalewki and Hawkins.
Bottom Line; nobody should be without this album. Even casual hip-hop listeners will love this. It is a classic sounding masterpiece, and could lay down a solid foundation for a prolific and successful career by Rashad “Hurricane The King (HTK)” Hawkins.
Rashad ‘Hurricane The King’ Hawkins
OFFICIAL LINKS & WEBSITES:
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