Untitled - Nick Grant

is living proof that some guys are
bred and built to be elite emcees.
Born and raised in Walterboro,
South Carolina, it didn’t take much
for Nick to stick out in the town
with a population of barely 5,000
people. While he was firstly known
as a talented basketball and baseball player, he discovered that Hip Hop was an equally, if not more,
competitive sport. He wrote his first rhyme when a
group of friends dared him to write one better than
theirs. After winning them over on that bet, the rest
of the town followed suit as he battled neighbors
and classmates one by one, defeating them all.
Though he was usually the youngest in the
battles, he always rhymed with maturity beyond his years; a direct result of his grandmother and older uncles raising him amidst
his father being absent and his mother only
showing up in his life occasionally. That, coupled with neighborhood OG’s taking him
under their wings, Nick inherited gems that
most kids his age weren’t being exposed to.
Leading Nick to feel like he might have been
“raised in the wrong era” as he often says.
“The town is very small, not a big Hip Hop influence at all,” says Nick, who grew up studying rap
elder statesmen like Big Daddy Kane and Rakim.
“Things always seemed so big and far beyond our
reach. We only saw Pac and Biggie and whoever was
on TV. The only local heroes were the drug dealers.”
Grant didn’t want to let a small town environment
hold his big city skills hostage. Seeing that there
were little to no outlets for his creativity, he relocated to rap music mecca Atlanta where he moved in
with his older sister and began fostering his talent.
Upon his arrival entering ninth grade at
Washington High School, he immediately threw himself in the rap ring
by ditching school and going to
nearby Clark Atlanta University to battle college students.
The battles sharpened his tongue to the point that his Economics teacher gave him some unconventional advice.
“He said I was doing the wrong thing coming to
school,” laughs Nick, who is a man of few words in
casual conversation, but has plenty to say once he
puts pen to paper. “He told me I shouldn’t even be
there, that I should leave school and pursue rap.”
He didn’t escape the School of Hard Knocks though. He
hit his stride with his second offering Born Hip Hop where
he re-made classics from the 1990’s. By the time his third
offering The Present hit the streets he had grown frustrated with a contractual agreement he made and was
ready to move on. Fatefully, his older brother
had a chance meeting with a talent scout for
music industry heavyweight Jason Geter.
He showed the scout a YouTube video of
Nick rapping and Geter immediately took interest after he saw it for himself. Three years
later when Nick’s prior deal expired, Geter
jumped at the chance to sign on as his manager. “When I listen to his music, it takes me
back to the essence of what made me want to
be a part of Hip Hop,” says Geter. “He gives me
that feeling I had listening to Nas and Biggie rap
live on the Stretch and Armstrong and Bobbito
show. Nick Grant represents lyricism and fly sh*t.”
With his hurdles behind him, Nick is on track to
become one of Hip Hop’s most respected voices.
His calculated flow and detailed wordplay takes listeners back to a time where you had to rewind the
song to catch a line. Mending the vulnerability of 2Pac
with the quiet urgency of Nas, Nick grants listeners
with the same jewels his influences dropped on him.
“A lot of the songs I write, I’ve never heard records
like them before,” he says. “So instead of complaining or waiting for someone else to make
them, I figured I could make them myself.”