Certified Fresh: Memphis Ash Is Rapidly Turning Online Followers Into Real Life Fans

At 20-years old Memphis Ash doesn’t really know of a world without social media. Which is why he’s been able to use the tool unlike any other up and coming rapper out there.

Where many rappers use Instagram to post selfies and shoes, Ash has been using the platform as means for feedback about songs he should or shouldn’t put out. He’s built a strong online following by posting snippets of songs disguised as “freestyles” allowing followers to either tell him to go ahead and record a full song or leave it on the cutting room floor.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEy3oHQuFbd/?taken-by=memphis.ash

The “freestyles” that get the most positive feedback are turned into songs and then released on his Soundcloud page within days. The songs that get mixed reviews are either fine tuned until they get right or left alone. The result of this is Ash releasing music that people actually want to hear and get excited about.

Most of Ash’s material revolves around relationships and speaks directly to women who feel unappreciated. But, he also offers songs from the perspective men aren’t ashamed of expressing how they truly feel about love and being in it.

His single “Confessions” is gaining momentum on Youtube and it’s only a matter of time before this budding internet sensation makes the jump from URL to IRL (In Real Life).

Who: Born Malik Ash, Memphis Ash was born in Memphis and has spent most of his life living between there and Jacksonville, Fla.

Credentials: Even though he has only appeared on just a couple of blog sites, he has garnered over 2 million listens on Soundcloud with no real promotion.

Fun Fact: Memphis Ash was raised Jehovah’s Witness. His mother listened to a lot of 2 Pac and Enrique Iglesias and considers both of them as influences on his style.

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HipHopWired.com: We want to know how you originally got introduced to music. We’re hearing that it was through your mother because she used to rap around the house all of the time. Is that true?

Memphis Ash: Yeah, both of my parents actually got me into music. My mom used to freestyle around me a lot. She had the old school flow though {laughs} . She’s real country, so when she would spit, I thought it was dope. Then my Dad, he was touring in Japan with his R&B group before I was born. He taught me how to play piano and bought me a guitar. I also took violin classes in school. My Dad used to have people record his shows and put them on DVD, so I was inspired by seeing that.

HHW: You were raised in a Jehovah’s Witness household. Forgive our ignorance, but, just what kind of music were you allowed to listen to?

Ash: My Mom was fellowship at the time. So that means you just practice it, but you’re not in the church yet. You’re just going to Kingdom Hall like everyone else. The things we listened to probably weren’t going to be allowed if anyone knew. I was raised that way, but we didn’t live by the hard guidelines. We didn’t celebrate birthdays and holidays, but we I wasn’t restricted on what I could listen to. .

HHW: Memphis has traditionally become known as a hard town to grow up in, what was your experience like?

Ash: In Memphis, you got gangs on every single corner. Walking to school you might get asked, “what you bang?” Even as a kid you can’t make the mistake of wearing wrong color. But my main problem was living in unstable conditions at home. My parents were splitting up, so I was always with my Mom. She was kind of stubborn, on that whole “I don’t need a man,” thing. So she was doing it all by herself and we were always in last place. I remember transferring schools four or five different times in one year. My mother was always in and out of jail for random stuff so she was rarely around for anything. I remember when I was 13-years old, she got locked up for six months. I wound up living with my Grandfather and his people, but, I didn’t know them like that. I was always having to stay with people who I didn’t even know like that, and getting abused a lot of times. That forced me to get out on my own and make friends with people in the street so I could have a Plan B. That’s how I got introduced to the ‘hood. My childhood was rough, I don’t look at it as traumatizing. We slept in shelters, behind homes. But I prevailed. I just look at it as what made me who I am today.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwoz6QjpgI

HHW: What role did making music play in all of this? Did you start to make it as a catharsis?

Ash: Not at first, but eventually, yes. When we was going through it, I wasn’t thinking about music. I always thought I was too young. I was thinking, “I can’t wait to be grown.” I wasn’t thinking, “I can’t wait until I blow up.” Only time I started writing was when the problems started fading because I had more time to write and sit to myself and gather my thoughts and write a song. I’d been freestyling since elementary school though, that’s when I found out I was kind of good. I used to be rapping against older students all the time and just never lost. I built a rap battle mentality, so I never wrote songs. But when I was 16, I was in Jacksonville with my uncle. He was doing music, but he was still in the streets. We was up in his room listening to his songs and I asked when he was gonna let me get on something. He told me if I wanted to get down, I had to write something, I couldn’t just go in and freestyle everything. Seeing how he structured songs and put them together made me want to start writing. Writing actually helped me with my anger. So I’ve been doing that ever since.

HHW: When did you decide to start taking rapping more seriously?

Ash: When I moved to the north side of Jacksonville I hooked up with my godbrother’s group called RSMG. I actually clicked with them from helping his cousin in a fight. They all happened to rap too, but they had access to a studio. I started going with them to record. The quality wasn’t the best, but I was just excited to hear myself. We found an engineer who could make us sound better though. From there we recorded four songs and pressed up some CDs. We went out to sell them and we made $365 the first night. We literally just ran up on people in their cars and asked them to listen. We told them if they liked it they could buy it. If they didn’t, they could just throw it on the ground. Really, I think we told some of them they could just keep it if they wanted. But, everybody we approached wanted to pay us. That’s what showed me that we really had something and that you could make money doing this if you go out and hustle.

HHW: You’ve built a big following on Soundcloud and you’ve done it organically. How did you do this?

Ash: It’s weird. When I first got on Soundcloud, my songs weren’t doing nothing. But then I started freestyling on Instagram to build anticipation for what I was about to drop. I know everybody raps on Instagram, but for some reason people really took to what I was doing. When I saw the feedback I was getting, I figured I might as well drop what I was spitting on Instagram on Soundcloud as real songs. When I did that, people just started sharing my music all over the place. I didn’t really have a support system, but now I get thousands of new fans everyday. I didn’t pay for any views and I don’t even have a promotional team.

HHW: What is it about your music that you think makes people take to it so fast?

Ash: I try to keep my music as realistic as possible. It’s always going to be direct and right at you. It will always help whoever listens. Good vibes only. I want to give you a good sound and a good message. I want to come through and be the artist who can show affection to females and be a real dude at the same time. All of my music isn’t R&B or melodic though. That’s why I make songs with just bars, to let people know I can do Hip-Hop, I’m just versatile. I’m not the person thinking “kill, kill, kill, f*ck him, f*ck her.” I can’t dumb down to please others. There is a crowd for everyone. So I can’t change my reality to get a buzz off saying something I don’t believe in. I want to feel my music too. I want to be proud of my work. I don’t want to put out songs talking about the stereotypical things I’m expected to. I’m not trying to be looked at as the good guy in Hip-Hop either, because I’m not that. I just don’t push the agenda of negativity. I’m just keeping it real and letting people pull the positivity out of it.