Guest post by Ashley Bell

Visionary.  Pioneer.  Maverick.  Chris Barnett is a breath of fresh air to the stale state of hip hop.  His love of music started in 1986, when he was a three-year-old watching veterans like Whodini, Jam Master J and Run DMC.

“They inspired me to rap, make good music and tell vivid stories through punch lines and rhymes over dope beats,” Barnett said.

Barnett said he feels that hip hop music is currently suffering, because many artists are leaving out the substance.

“Instead of useful lyrics with meaning and purpose, the only thing that’s important is swag and a dance step,” Barnett said.

Focused on bringing meaning back to what was lost, Chris Barnett created Chris Barnett Presents: Esteem, an EP with 10 tracks dedicated to bringing the reverence back to hip hop.  Along with a graphic designer, publicist and manager, Barnett devised and implemented his business and marketing plans for his music career.  To keep initial overhead down, Barnett and his team decided the album would be offered for free on his website starting March 16.

“The reason it’s free is because people don’t buy music anymore but prefer to download. I’m not money hungry, I just want to get my name out there.  You can’t buy respect,” Barnett said.

Barnett will be performing at RockStar Thursday at Rock Island Live (101 N. Rock Island) April 1.

“’Esteem’ is an alternative to the watered down music scene offering something for everyone.  This is hip hop straight from the heart,” Barnett said.

Photo courtesy of ChrisBarnettPresents.com

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