Featured Artist: Tha Message

Tha MESSAGE is no stranger to struggle, born into a blue collar family with a long line of field and mill workers. His father a diesel mechanic worked long hours and many different shifts to support his mother and him. His mother worked different jobs throughout the years but due to her bouts with Bi-polar made it difficult to hold down a job. Throughout his youth he moved many times being forced to try to fit in he was often teased about his weight among other thing such as his own struggle with being bi-polar and ADHD. His family eventually settled in in his fathers' home state of Idaho, after moving from his native state of North Carolina and then Arizona prior to his move to the Northwest. Tha MESSAGE began his love affair with music after his grandmother passed away, she was a published author and passed before she could see her first book published. He made the promise to himself to take on her legacy and to continue working through his words just like she had, he started simply by writing poetry and then that transitioned into rhyme. In 2003 after receiving his first portable Cd player and a rap Cd he was inspired by the tracks he heard, he soon found that hip hop could speak to him and soothe his soul. So he started the slow but steady journey into becoming one of the best artists in his state. Before he knew it his headphones became as familiar to him as any part of his body, he would often spend hours closed up in his room listening to his favorite rappers and writing his own rhymes along to their songs. Soon after having a string of conflicts with his principal and school staff he dropped out to pursue a career in music. Around that same time his family had lost their home, and he found out that his mother had secretly become a meth addict which further intensified the conflicts within his home life. Thus his music became his only release, his mother surprised him with his first piece of recording equipment. An ancient karaoke machine with dual tape recorders and a 20 dollar microphone from radio shack. After that it was magic, he started recording on any beat he could find even holding his mic up to speakers to record a beat to cut a track on. As his skills progressed so did his knowledge, being a self taught artist he soon learned of the ability to record on software. So he upped his game, spreading like wild fire across the Northwest scene through use of social networking and word to mouth and as time progressed he began to develop his persona. He first chose the name MESSAGE because he felt as if his music served a purpose, he wanted to spread a message of hope or awareness to the masses all while delivering lyrics that everyone on the struggle can relate to.