A collection of important milestones pushes Brandon Baker to continue making his original, realist style of hip-hop.
Near the time Baker began using his music moniker REACEYUNG about 10 years ago, a blog in his native St. Louis described his record, “Turn Me Back Around,” which was inspired by his U.S. Navy fighter jet pilot Uncle David, as “amazing.” Baker said that kept him going. In 2008, another big encouragement for Baker came from a conversation he had with Grammy Award winning producer Carlos “Six July” Broady, who worked with one of Baker’s biggest influences, the Notorious B.I.G.
“I met him in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was listening to his music while I was right in front of him. … I asked him, ‘Is there any room if possible for you to lend an ear to a person who is very inspired by a person you already produced and is no longer here. Is there a way for me not to capture that same energy, but come close to capturing it?’” he said. “Carlos kind of stunned for a second, then said, ‘I don’t think anybody will be as great as the Notorious B.I.G., but I will definitely check you out.’ As a young guy, to hear gave me a big push. … These little milestones through my career have given me those bursts of confidence.”
After releasing his third solo project “Unlucky Me” about a month ago, REACEYUNG now has hit another pivotal moment. In mid-August, the five-song album reached No. 2 on the Billboard’s Heatseekers chart for new music. This made REACEYUNG the second independent hip-hop artist in Mid-Missouri to break the Billboard music charts behind his longtime friend and album producer Marco “BlackGrits” Patterson when he reached No. 3 in late July with his debut release, “Paradox 88.”
“Marco was so positive. Even times when I was discouraged and not knowing if it was going happen, he would say, ‘REACE, just stop it man; you are going to make it.’ He called me (the morning it hit the charts) and said, ‘Get up. You got work to do; you just hit the Billboard.’ I just started crying,” Baker said. “It was another milestone, another thing that pushes my drive to stand and excel. … Right now, I’m really on fire.”
At the center has always been Baker’s music. Hip-hop became a pinnacle part of his young life, providing self-soothing qualities and also allowing him to gain interest in creating his own realist style of hip-hop he was not hearing from his local music scene.
“Having that much traffic and hip-hop diversity, I had to articulate into a certain style. … That whole spirit and ambition never left me,” he said, noting he begin writing his own hip-hop music at age 13 in 1999.
He wrote about things he saw at home, in his neighborhood and in his town. He continued writing every day, straying from “rough street” rap lyrics and creating inspirational lyrics, developing his original brand of hip-hop, rap, alternative and urban style, and sound, his website noted. After moving to Jefferson City to live with his mother, Baker created even more music with the new places, people and changes he was experiencing.
“Hearing music from different cultures, different parts of the world and different parts of the country, let me know what was being made in my section could be much better. … My music had to be so pure, and if I couldn’t paint those own pictures with my words, I was wasting my time,” he said.
Before attending Lincoln University in 2006, Baker met Patterson and the two built a friendship and eventually collaborated, forming a hip-hop group they hoped would break into the local music scene and give a boost to their musical style. Even though the group disbanded, BlackGrits and REACEYUNG didn’t separate, stayed in Mid-Missouri and supported each other in promoting their music.
“Marco is the backbone of my whole routine,” he said. “He shoots my videos, mixes and masters my records. He’s a one-man army.”
Baker’s first two solo projects — “The Cassette, Side A” released in 2012 and “The Cassette, Side B” came out in 2016 — showed pivotal parts of his life. Each record showcases a collection of different songs that mirrored times in his life he was dealing with hardships and later some reprieve from personal struggles.
During the peak of the recession in 2009-10, Baker lost both of his jobs and his music stopped as he focused on surviving. His close friend Shareiff Robinson helped record Baker’s emotionally driven tracks like “Day to Day Life,” “Apologies,” “GoodMan” and “Till I’m In a Box,” the last explaining why he never stops what he is doing.
“This was around the time in my life where I was taking care of my grandmother and it was really for me about maintaining life, taking care of her and working all in the same circle,” he said. “Shareiff was going through that with me … and he really believed in my music. He said ‘Please keep doing what you are doing; I know what your are going through is bad, but stick with it.’ I stuck with it. Even me breaking down and crying in the studio, I know what was happening to my music because I had so much emotional stress and mental strain from what was happening and coming from a very harsh background. Me, being a seed of where I come out of as far as my environment and my family; me being the only one like me, my music is really what makes me who I am.”
“The Cassette, Side B,” is a less emotional album that told songs of REACEYUNG being in a better personal state and having more time to concentrate on his music. This album includes songs like “Grandma’s Story,” “Still Living,” “Letting It All Go” and “In the City.”
BlackGrits has encouraged REACEYUNG to continue to release his songs, mixing and mastering five songs to include on the recently released “Unlucky Me” album through Patterson’s independent label Grithouse Music. Tunes like “Freight Train,” “Cold Outside,” “Truth” and “Bright Lights” help show what Baker says is his most diverse collection of music. One song REACEYUNG co-wrote with BlackGrits, “American Made,” is already gaining popularity regionally, and the friends have plans to shoot a music video for in the near future.
“One of our old-time friends, who now is a police officer, Evan Hoyle, did the vocals. It captures what is going on in America right now, being African-American and it is all in one song,” he said. “It is easy on the ears, and it is something places like this need. … It is a record that everybody can relate to and has the potential of being one of my biggest records.”
REACEYUNG said “Unlucky Me” gives his regular fan base a taste of his more polished tunes but also pieces that still deliver that realist, pure message he transposes into his style of music.
“Other records I haven’t been in a clear space to create music for everyone; I created it for myself. With ‘Unlucky Me,’ I created it for everyone. It doesn’t matter who you are in life, if you push play and are listening, I just may grab you,” he said with a smile.
Those emotions REACEYUNG wears on his sleeve in his music are also channeled through the exceptional work he does in his two full-time jobs. He works as a teacher’s assistant with elementary school students facing developmental or emotional disabilities at High Road School of Boone County, as well as a full-time employee teaching life skills and advocating for individuals with disabilities at Woodhaven in Columbia.
He also is highly appreciative of his fiancée, Da’Ja Lavette Dale. A model, painter and artist, Dale helps make their home a creative portal for the artists and encourages REACEYUNG to not only write and promote his music, but also continue to unleash emotions and deliver important messages to the masses. For his 30th birthday, REACEYUNG received a pencil drawing from Dale’s artist friend, completed from a picture Patterson took of REACE. Now, the enhanced picture is the cover of “Unlucky Me.”
Dale also created a painting of REACE she did from a childhood photo she found at his grandmother’s house. That too will be used on an album cover of one of REACEYUNG’s five upcoming solo projects he plans to release in the next year called “Blind Sullivan Kid.”
REACEYUNG said his next solo project, “Derrty Joe,” will be produced by Jaimere “Jsonata” Thurman, who lives in Chicago and co-produced REACE’s record, “Good Man” on “The Cassette, Side A” years ago. He hopes to release it by the end of this year.
He continues to promote his current album; perform at a variety of venues in Columbia, Jefferson City and St. Louis, including Paint Louis on Sunday; and connect with fans at many of Patterson’s artist showcases, such as The Resistance that featured more than 10 artists last week at The Mission.
“Jenny (Babcock, owner of The Mission) has accepted hip-hop at her venue and that opened the doors for other venues and our connection. She is a beautiful person,” he said. “I wouldn’t be at the level I’m now if she wouldn’t let me be at her establishment and express my craft. I will always love her and thank her for that.”
REACEYUNG has more milestones in his future as his solo projects continue to drop and his fan base grows. But at the center of it all, he plans to keep it real for himself and to anyone who listens to his music.
“My anticipation for my next tape is very high and it just may go (hit the Billboard) again,” he said. “I try to remain humble, create the best records I can and make this place so different. I’m not from here, but this place is a part of me to. I want to bring light so people know it and support it.”
To access REACEYUNG’s music, check out his Apple Music Profile and on Spotify. For more information, upcoming shows and more, connect with REACEYUNG at reaceyung.com or on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using @REACEYUNG.