221 Blu

The story begins on a sunny Saturday on the West Side of Chicago, in an area commonly known as the hood. Born in poverty with a mind for business and a heart for poetry, 221 Blu focused on changing the poverty part first. He learned how to do money math by 4 and began the process of upselling immediately, no formal training. Those early years were all hustle, very little creating. Upon moving in with his father at 10, another element was added to his character. The struggle. He took deeper dives into the Black Panthers, Civil Rights leaders, and hood legends in Chicago. This fueled a desire to come up even more, but without hurting the people in the hood in the process.

The creative writing piece was always lurking in the background. Listening to 2Pac and Jay-Z in high school solidified this writing bug, but rapping was only seen as a hobby. Years later, he met up with EMJY in Japan and the two formed a bond over Nikes and Chicago music. That led to creating a few songs, that were not very good, but not so terrible to give up completely. The focus was still on the hustle and with a few dollars in pocket, it was paying off.

In 2013 he started a business and all of the focus was on growing that. Each year 221 Blu would find a studio to do a song here or there. Finally, in 2021 after several successful business years, he put a studio in his house. Far removed from poverty, the creative is emerging to tell the story about that journey. Enter the first album, Atypical.