A new Face for Los Angeles Hip-Hop: Jamal Cristopher
“College isn’t for everybody” as the old saying goes. For some that may be true. For others, College offers an amazing opportunity for one to find himself. Enter Leimert Park’s newest star, Jamal Cristopher. After graduating from the University of California, Merced, Jamal Cristopher‘s following has grown yearly since his college beginnings in 2011. Cristopher released what he considers “his first real project” in 2014 in “Like We Used To” and has been releasing music since, leading up to his new album “Call Me When You Get This” due out this year. Cristopher’s stardom has recently come to a head in 2017 with the release of “Come Back to California” on iTunes and prior releases such as 2016’s “Out Of Luck” amassing rave reviews from the likes of The Rap Fest, YouHeardThatNew, This is 50, Hip-Hop Vibe, and more.
One of the new faces of Los Angeles, Jamal Cristopher has made it a point to change the perception of LA, particularly Leimert Park. Dom Kennedy for years now has done so, pretty much by his lonesome. Leimert Park, prior to Kennedy’s ascent, had quite the rich history when it came to music…for everything except Hip-Hop. Dom Kennedy’s emergence in the late 2000’s as a household name doing so independently offered hope that a Hip-Hop act from Leimert Park can achieve greatness. And as we approach the final years of the second decade of the 2000’s, you have to wonder who’s next from Leimert. “Dom was always like a distant big brother to me,” Cristopher said. “Since I was a sophomore in High School I followed his every move from a distance. And once I decided to do music, that was the model I looked to immediately. How did Dom do it? And now, to be approaching a position where I can hopefully do something similar, It’s a great thing. It’s something I wanna do and a challenge I’m trying to take on..I’m workin’.”
What sets Cristopher apart from other Los Angeles acts is his mere desire to be himself, even though that may not necessarily be in line with what a traditional LA rapper is. While Jamal Cristopher, who attended 42nd street elementary, Audubon Middle School and Dorsey High school, may have grown up around some of the more harsher parts of LA, that’s not necessarily who he is. “That’s where I grew up. Met a lot my closes friends…I just always was in school and played ball. says Cristopher. “So like when I started rapping that’s the story I gotta tell. I gotta tell what I know.” “One of the fastest rising stars on the west coast” according to Hip-Hop Vibe, everything suggests that Jamal can be a potential player in West Coast Hip-Hop for now, and for years to come.
Jamal Cristopher is adamant that Los Angeles’s is more than just Ratchet or gangster aggressive rap. Says Cristopher, “That’s all apart of who I am. All of that. So like that’s represented in my music too. That’s only a part of me though. I feel like the other side isn’t shown enough. Not just in music but in TV, Movies, all that. There are kids in LA who don’t gang bang who do go to college you know? That’s closer to who I am.”
The Dorsey high product, Cristopher conveys a message in his music that tries and does prove that there is a new voice the world should pay attention to, one that offers a brand new perspective on what it means to come of age in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California.
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