It seems nowadays that every year there’s a new young face in the music scene and they only get younger and younger. The new internet age can be found responsible for this as it becomes more accessible for people to get their talent spread out.

This trend is evident in the music scene at ERHS, with students like Senior Bolu Ogunneye, a rapper who goes by King Salazar

Ogunneye said he decided to pursue music because of other artists he dislikes. He explained that he raps because of Lil Yachty – another internet rapper – who according to Ogunneye is “trash” who Ogunneye “can do better” than.  

Ogunneye has been making music for “about 2 years” and aims to “make an impact on society, touch people’s lives, and inspire them.” His first song is called “Navigation” and he said he has around 13 songs at the moment and already averages “around 300 to 400 plays” on Soundcloud and Spinrilla.

He has “one mixtape called ‘The Odyssey’ and a pending one called ‘A Week In The Life” projected to come out in around October. He considers his genre “alternative rock and hip hop” and musically looks up to “MF Doom, ColdPlay, and Joey Badass.”

Artists like Soulja Boy are pioneers for this type of internet musicians. He started posting music on MySpace at 15 and in 2007, at age 17, had his first number 1 hit on Billboard.

Many people say he paved the way for a generation of artists who gained fame after posting music on the internet.

Justin Bieber was discovered after posting videos on YouTube at age 12, and Chief Keef began posting videos to YouTube at 15, and by 16 signed a $6 million contract with Interscope. Around that time things like this were rare, but now talent on the internet seems to be everywhere,  with applications like Soundcloud, Twitter, and other social media applications on the rise where artists can post more frequently and create a fan base much more efficiently.

Everyday new young artists are on the rise – like 17-year-old rappers, Lil Pump and NBA Youngboy, and social media craze Danielle Bregoli.

Ogunneye’s opinion on the new internet age of music is quite negative as he feels “music has definitely hit a decline in the past couple years” in terms of quality, as he feels it’s easier to get on as ever as “the internet has grown a lot since the earlier days.” He still respects “other artists for making it whichever route they took but [he wants] to make it to bring real hip hop back in style.”

When asked about fellow musicians at ERHS, Ogunneye was eager to mention people like Dick Flare, Yung Shmoove, tra, and Apollo Black.

If you like Kid Cudi type melodies and a Joey Badass style of rap King Salazar definitely for you. As an upcoming artist he’s looking for collaboration with other artists so make sure you check out his Soundcloud: King Salazar and be ready for his upcoming tape A Week In The Life coming soon.