Knucklez is an independent artist hailing from Richmond, Virginia who has been rapping since he was just 14 years old. In his latest album, ‘In Your Face Music’, he shows listeners who he is with ten hard-hitting tracks that has helped him build up a fan base of nearly 5,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
From falling in love with being a musician after watching ‘8 Mile’, to writing his first song at 18, to seeing the dividends of his hard work, Knucklez is on a mission to show the world that he is the most versatile artist in music. In our conversation together, we learned that everything starts and ends with his music. He’s a musician through and through.
With that in mind, we worked our way through his catalog and put together our thoughts on his music. Here are some of the highlights.
‘Goin Crazy’ sounds like a quintessential East Coast hip-hop song and it certainly comes right at you from the first note. The dark and haunting beat kicks you in the chest with it’s constant heavy bass and sets the stage for Knucklez lyrical attack.
With over 20,000 streams, this track is his most listened to on Spotify. The simplified beat allows you as the listener to focus on the lyrics and wordplay that he brings to the song. As he delivers line after line, you get to hear his creativity and advanced lyrical ability. This song has been as popular as it has been for good reason.
In our conversation together, we has asked Kuncklez what song best represented his sound and he told us that without a doubt, it was ‘Goin’ Crazy’.
“The song that best represents my sound right now is ‘Goin’ Crazy’. It’s hard-hitting and it slaps you in the face. It’s music that the world can’t help but notice.”
Check out ‘Goin’ Crazy’ on the YouTube as well.
‘Can I Kick It’ is another wildly popular song with over 14,000 streams on Spotify to date. This song has a more soulful and smooth feel to it. Just like ‘Goin Crazy’, he uses a straightforward and catchy hook before he gives you all of the flavor in his verses.
Again, his style is fast and aggressive but on this track, he finds a way to keep subtly changing his flow while delivering quality lines and overall delivers just an intricate and talented hip-hop track. As a man that describes himself as “the most versatile artist in the world”, he certainly is making that case on ‘Can I Kick It’.
Check out ‘Can I Kick It’ on the YouTube as well.
This song also speaks volumes about Knucklez ability to switch up sounds and styles. The beat on ‘What You Rep’ has an industrial and tribal sound to it with very little melody. The driving force of this song really is the lyrics and rapping that he lays down, there’s a real underground cypher feel to it.
He again ties the song together nicely with an effective and catchy hook. Between those portions, he’s rapidly delivering line after line very evenly in a talented flow. Like the other two tracks we looked at today, there is a real nod to the old school in this sound that would make 90’s east coast rappers real proud. However, the uniqueness of elements like this beat mixed with the quality of the production avoids it sounding dated. Knucklez has been able to craft a sound all his own.
Check out what we mean and listen to ‘What You Rep’ on the YouTube.
As we told you earlier, what shines through in both his words and his music, is that he is a real musician. By that, we mean that he lives and breaths music. When we asked him about his biggest achievement to date, it wasn’t a singular song or stream count. Instead, it was more of a sign that he was on to something here.
“My biggest achievement was when I got my first check from my music. I was like yeah people believe in my music enough to support me and buy it. And I know they want that hard great music that gives them energy, life, and that they can have a ball with.”
That validation has Knucklez focused on his future and his music. Some artists’ future focus is on “making it” or becoming famous. When we asked him, not surprisingly, it was all about the music.
“My overall goal is to show lyrical skill on classic singles, hits, and albums. Also, that real hip-hop isn’t dead and I want to show people my versatility like they’ve never seen before.”
Again, it always comes down to the music when it comes to Knucklez. He’s a real artist whose sole focus is his craft, getting better, and winning over fans. If you are a fan of his, that’s good news as he will only get even better than he already is with time. If you are just finding out about him, then you have every reason to become a fan now.
To stay up on everything with Knucklez, check out and follow him with the links below.