Today we’d like to introduce you to Kent Osborne.
Kent, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Atlanta, and ever since I could remember, music has been a huge part of my life. I also started producing around this time as well. When I got to high school, I was in a few bands, which was me playing music with some of my best friends. With those friends, I played a lot of venues around town like the Loft and various house shows. At this point, I was not rapping seriously. Not even close. My main passion at the time was playing guitar and singing. I would freestyle with friends, but that would be it. Once I got accepted into college at Belmont University in Nashville, my buddy Jerry and I started an electronic punk band called Thank You Please. I had a lot of friends from Atlanta who moved to Nashville that played around a lot, so us getting shows outside of Belmont was easier than I thought. We made a lot of progress from this and got a lot of recognition in the underground Nashville music scene. Two years had gone by, and I started to record myself rapping for fun/as an outlet for a lot of pent up emotions I had kept within myself, which led to me putting out this EP called “Internet Era”. After I dropped this, it got listed in the Nashville Scene as one of “The Best Local EPs of 2018.” This was a huge surprise to me because I had not played a single show with me raping, only playing with my band around town. After I got listed in the magazine, I started to get offers to play bigger local shows as a rapper. From these local shows, I started to tour out of town here and there but was still primarily playing local shows to help try and cultivate the local music scene in Nashville. A year later, The Nashville Scene asked to do a photoshoot with me, which ended being the cover of their 2019 Summer Guide. This was great because it granted me the access to many of my greatest opportunities to date such as playing at Third Man Records Halloween show which was sold out in October, opening for Upchuck’s most recent release party in Atlanta, and this past weekend I headlined this local festival called Spewfest which was also sold out.
Has it been a smooth road?
Honestly, I can’t believe how much support I have gotten for my music from Nashville. My come-up has been pretty smooth in my eyes because I mainly stuck with the formula of play as many shows as I can and keep making music. At my core, I believe hard work pays off eventually, even though you may not see immediate results. The underground scene here is super supportive of good music and good people. The only thing that I can say that has been an obstacle being a rapper in Nashville is the fact that Nashville glorifies country music on the surface. But living here for four years, I can say Nashville has every genre to offer if you know the right people and are tapped into the scene. Also, I have seen crowds in Nashville are more receptive when you have a musician on stage, but for my shows where I did not have the opportunity to play with my drummer, the crowds have always been super receptive.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am a self-made nigga. Nah, but in reality, I am a very goal-driven person, and I like to utilize my talents. I am majoring in audio engineering, so I am very involved in the mixing and mastering of my songs. I also produce and co-produce the majority of my music, which I record myself mainly alone in my room. With both doing my own marketing campaigns and booking the majority of my shows, It has also really opened my eyes to how the business side of the industry works, and hard you have to grind in order to make it. I am very proud that I have been able to come this far with a team that I handpicked as well as my own intuition.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love how fucking diverse Atlanta is. The energy in the city is unmatched. I love the fact that no one sleeps either, and events can go as late as 5 am, but that still doesn’t mean the party is going to stop. The thing I wish that more prominent in Atlanta is more recognition for the other genres taking place. My buddies in Upchuck are a prime example of this. They are punk as fuck. Self-made. And do shit their way. And have still been able to make a huge impact on the city of Atlanta, especially in the underground. I see similarities between the two of us in the cities we are mainly based out of. We have been on the underbelly of the music scene, and we are finally making a name for ourselves. Side note I love the fucking wings, especially if they serve them with shrimp fried rice.
Contact Info:
- Website: kentosborne.com
- Phone: 770-401-6052
- Email: kentosbornemusic@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kentsauceborne/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kentsauceborne/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsauceborne
Image Credit:
Jorge Sierra IG/Twitter: @shotfromthepit
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