Fashawn

Fashawn performs under the name of Santiago Leyva, a Fresno, California rapper whose realist lyricism has earned endorsements from Nas, the Alchemist, and 9th Wonder. Raised by an absent father and a mother struggling with addiction, the artist matured rapidly; at twelve he already resided in a group home while composing his earliest rhymes, drawing inspiration from Public Enemy, N.W.A, 2Pac, and Dilated Peoples. By fifteen he had issued his debut mixtape. After his uncle assumed custody, Planet Asia took notice of the teenager, prompting Fashawn to leave high school and tour with the veteran MC in pursuit of a sustained career. Through 2008 he maintained a steady output of mixtapes. Hip-hop outlets soon took note, with XXL awarding strong marks to his debut studio album, the Exile-helmed Boy Meets World (2009), and naming him to its “Freshman for ’10” class. Additional mixtapes followed, among them the Green Lantern-hosted Ode to Illmatic (2010), while guest appearances linked him to J. Cole, Skyzoo, and Wiz Khalifa. In 2012 he and Murs released the joint project This Generation. His sophomore album, The Ecology (2015), arrived via Nas’s Mass Appeal imprint, again featuring Exile on the majority of the beats. Mass Appeal also issued the Manna EP (2017), which showcased some of his most intense verses.