New hip-hop record connects Memphis, St. Louis
Two musicians from Mississippi River cities are teaming up on a new project.
Tauheed “Marco Pavé” Rahim is a Grammy-nominated rapper and activist from Memphis.
Tef Poe (left) and Marco Pavé. (Submitted)
He served as Georgetown University’s Department of Performing Arts’ first hip-hop artist-in-residence and as a U.S. cultural ambassador to Bolivia.
Kareem “Tef Poe” Jackson is a rapper and activist from St. Louis, Missouri.
He served as a Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow at Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute and as a U.S. cultural ambassador to Jordan.
On Wednesday, Feb. 26, Rahim and Jackson released a joint EP called “Nothing’s Easy.”
“As a St. Louis native, I’ve always believed in the power of collaboration, especially when it comes to building bridges between cities that share a struggle and a story,” Jackson said. “While we come from different places, the grind, the hustle and the stories we tell are the same.”
Rahim and Jackson were first introduced in 2017, the year Rahim released his debut album, “Welcome to Grc Lnd.” While on tour, Rahim worked to bring awareness of cannabis decriminalization.
“We went to all these places where cannabis had already been legalized or decriminalized,” Rahim said. “St. Louis was one of those places.”
Despite Jackson being out of town when Rahim stopped in St. Louis, Jackson was supportive of Rahim, the Memphis rapper recalled.
“Over time, we just kept connecting, kept building,” Rahim said. “And then, in 2019, both of us were selected for the (U.S. Department of State) Next Level Fellowship, when we became hip-hop ambassadors to our individual, respective countries that we were picked for.”
That would take Rahim to Bolivia and Jackson to Jordan.
They met in person for the first time at the fellowship opening, and the two artists stayed in touch.
Rahim has a history of combining hip-hop with other genres.
Jackson said his new project with Rahim is not just about the music but also about the connection between the two men, struggles they’ve overcome and the people who’ve shaped their journeys along the way.
On each “Nothing’s Easy” track, the artists trade verses back and forth, their voices and lyrics complementing each other.
On the song “I Can’t Play With Yall,” Jackson raps, “I’m down in Memphis, but where I’m from, we do the Louie Walk.”
Later in the song, Rahim answers, “I’m in the Lou’ with Tef, but I’m from a city where we Gangsta Walk and step.”
“This project is a reflection of that shared experience — two cities with so much talent and so much to say,” Jackson said. “Memphis and St. Louis are both places where success doesn’t come easy, but that’s exactly why it’s so worth it.”
St. Louis, Rahim said, is one of the cities that embraced him in his career journey. He feels kinship in the city as a Black Muslim.
“I really wasn’t around Black Muslims all my life (in Memphis), but St. Louis has a deep, deep history and influence of Black Muslims,” he said. “Tef Poe is a Muslim, as well. That and a lot of my other friends in St. Louis are Black Muslims, as well. So that’s another little layer to it.”
Rahim said his and Jackson’s collaboration is not just for collaboration’s sake.
“We’re real friends, and we really are building, and we are community-engaged — him in St. Louis, me in Memphis, me in D.C.,” he said. “But also … people when they think about political rappers, they don’t necessarily equate that to good music.
“So, for me, it’s like, ‘Oh, no, we can make some good a-- music, right? And, we got some stuff to say.’”
Another Memphian, Tayy ThePro, produced the project.
Jackson and Rahim are working on the second edition of “Nothing’s Easy.”
Rahim is also a Grammy U Mentor and is coincidentally mentoring a singer based in St. Louis, named Alysha. The Memphis Recording Academy chapter includes both St. Louis and New Orleans.
Rahim is working to bring Alysha to Memphis for a show.
He’s also developing an episodic audio drama series called “Bloodbound.”
Featuring fellow Memphis rappers 8Ball and Kia Shine, it’s set in 1990s Memphis and is about family, generational struggles, breaking generational trauma and learning about “generational powers.” It includes critiques of gentrification and Beale Street’s change from being a Black district.
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Elle Perry
A native Memphian, Elle Perry has earned graduate degrees from the University of Memphis and Maryland Institute College of Art. She’s written for publications including the Memphis Business Journal, Memphis Flyer and High Ground News, and previously served as coordinator of The Teen Appeal.
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