Month: February 2017

Maturity is one of the major keys to success in an artist’s development. Houston rapper and L.A. Leakers “Indie Pick of the Week” alumni, Rocky Banks, has definitely matured as a person and as an artist on his new project ‘Trust In Banko’.

The maturity and change began to become evident in his 2016 mixtape, ‘In Other News I Don’t Do Drugs Anymore’, where Rocky vowed to make major changes in his life like kicking drug habits to the curb and focusing on music.

“I’ve grown from the last project,” he humbly said. “I’m just trying to be a better person, I wanna be a better person and artist than I was last year.”

‘Trust In Banko’ highlights that change with “big boy” bars where Rocky explicitly tells anecdotes about different experiences in his life and being in the music industry.

“When I say big boy bars I mean I’m having bigger conversations now and rapping about more important things,” he shared.

The project boasts a total of 14-songs, that sound like a younger version of Kendrick Lamar mixed with Big Sean and sprinkled with Chance The Rapper’s soulfulness.

The EP was primarily produced by longtime contributor, Mufasa Ensor, who Rocky credits for creating his current sound and musical vibe.

“Mufasa touched every single track on there,” he said. “Me and him created this sound together and I haven’t felt a need to make any changes because if it ain’t broke you ain’t gotta fix it.”

The sound will only continue to improve and get better for Rocky, who seems to be in the studio creating everyday. Someone should include this man in the conversation for XXL’s Freshman list.

“This is me graduating from all the hard taught lessons in my life,” he said. “I’m independent, I’m the leader of the Yellow Hearts collective and I’m going to continue to get better.”

Stream ‘Trust In Banko’ below via SoundCloud.

@IAMBNYCE