NEW MUSIC | I AM TRU STARR – VIVA ALBUM PREMIERE

By Jasmine Hodge • On What is New

“Because of the col­our of their skin, they’re not being treated the same”

Here at I Am Hip Hop you can get a first listen to I Am Tru Starr’s bliss­ful blend of soul and hip-hop on his new album Viva.

Born in New York but cur­rently based in Las Vegas, he tells the truth on what it means to be black in Amer­ica with songs that truly encap­su­late his feel­ings through­out such a social crisis. After fin­ish­ing a five-year sen­tence in pris­on, I Am Tru Starr is using his music­al and song writ­ing cap­ab­il­ity as a way of repay­ing his debt to soci­ety through high­light­ing power­ful mes­sages with­in his songs.

“I am a lit­er­al walk­ing story of redemp­tion,” he begins. “Been shot, shot at, shot back, sold drugs to people who were like fam­ily and a host of oth­er shit that shall go unspoken that led me to spend­ing five years in fed­er­al prison”

“Though I’ve paid my debt to the gov­ern­ment, I’ve still yet to pay my debt back to soci­ety and the people that I had a hand in caus­ing harm to. So, I attempt to do that through music. Giv­ing people hope through song. This soci­ety is sed­ated and I wanna do my part in wak­ing ‘em up”

Part of the inspir­a­tion behind this record is from find­ing out Emmett Till (whose lynch­ing was a major influ­ence on the emer­gence of Black Rights in 50s and 60s Amer­ica) was a dis­tant cous­in. I Am Tru Starr claims, “what he went through has always helped to fuel the pas­sion in my music”.

Like the story of Till that helped influ­ence this album, the themes strike hard with mes­sages cited such as “because of the col­our of their skin- they’re not being treated the same”. 

“Fast for­ward a few years, I’m liv­ing in Vegas, became a fath­er and I now see what life is and all it can be and just how beau­ti­ful it is,” I Am Tru Starr states. “VIVA is about the cel­eb­ra­tion of life and all the import­ant things in it that make it worth liv­ing. We are all in a place of appre­ci­ation for life and the things that truly mat­ter. VIVA! Long live us!”

I Am Tru Starr is head­ing dir­ectly to the heart of today’s social and polit­ic­al issues and you can listen first here:

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Jasmine Hodge

I’m Jas­mine, a freel­ance music journ­al­ist, music PR and por­trait artist who does­n’t hold back.

About Jasmine Hodge

I'm Jasmine, a freelance music journalist, music PR and portrait artist who doesn't hold back.