You Gene Write is making a different kind of rap. “Hip-hop is a cultural lifestyle that can bring about positive influence, knowledge of self, and initiative to change our current social structures,” he says. “I plan to do just that, not with music alone, but in any aspect within my creative ability. Music is my primary tool used to do so.” You Gene Write started rapping at age 9 and by 18 was in numerous BET freestyle battles while attending college in Huntsville. After a few years and an internships at radio stations & recording studios, he left school and with friends started his own label, Loner-Dreamer-Lover-Rebel, which he later moved to his hometown of Birmingham in 2014. Since then, he has recently established a new creative-culture company under Sankofa Suite where he hope to expand his presence even more. “It’s an honor to be a voice that is bigger than my own,” he says. “I pride myself on giving other artists the guidance that I feel like I didn’t get from the generation before me." Still, for You Gene, finding and articulating his own voice remains a priority. “The music keeps me from holding things inside that may not be beneficial to my well-being, while providing me with an abundance of epiphanies,” he says. “The more I live, the more I have to say.”