A 19-year-old rapper with a lifetime of stories to tell, Markie hails from the East End of Louisville, Kentucky. Naming Lil Wayne and Boosie Badazz among his longtime influences, Markie started making music at age 18, teaming up with his cousin and recording his first song in a closet studio. He soon caught the ear of local producers, who offered him free studio time. A year later, Markie’s forthcoming debut album is set to bring his magnetic charisma and melodic flow to that purposely unfiltered truth-telling. On lead single “Ugly Places,” he drops his incisive rhymes over a dreamy beat, layering the laid-back but bittersweet track with a straight-from-real-life narrative. With its beat built on a dramatically belted vocal sample, the harder-hitting and deeply soulful “Repent” takes its lyrical hook from words spoken by Markie’s grandfather just before he died.