“Tattoos was just kinda like my gateway to becoming what I really wanted to become and that’s an artist and all the music that I’m putting out right now,” he said. He later dropped out of school and turned his skills as a graffiti artist into tattooing. At the age of 15, he says he was the victim of another seemingly random incident, a stabbing.

Recently, Phoroa wrote at length on Instagram in regards to the two-year anniversary of an apparent random incident, a shooting in which he was hit in his back and neck while in a car with his significant other.”I still try and look for the light in a world that can be so dark,” he posted.īefore fully committing to music and hip-hop, Phora was forced to grow up fast.

My job as a human being is first to put positive energy out into the world and be a good person to people whether they’re good to me or not.” “My job’s not even to really be a rapper and make music. “I feel like that’s my job,” he continued. “I feel like not only as artists, but as human beings, you have a responsibility as a human being to treat people right and put positive energy out there into the world. “Having a positive message is very important because it’s just so rare nowadays,” Phora said. Today, along with artists such as Logic and Kendrick Lamar, Phora is helping to foster a more pensive, thoughtful take on hip-hop. Initially, he had uncertainties about unleashing such vulnerable music into the world, but fan reaction encouraged him to keep pushing forward. Phora’s had the same vision since he was 17 years old and working on his first project, “Still a Kid,” which was released then on his own label, Yours Truly (the Yours Truly brand has since expanded to include a clothing line). 18 release and fighting back a cough from a just-completed 35-city tour. “I feel like all types of music definitely helps people, but music that specifically and especially covers topics such as suicide - and that can be a very touchy topic - but songs that cover suicide, depression, family issues, even abuse, things like that, I feel like that’s very important, most of all to make people not feel like they’re alone,” said Phora, days before the album’s Aug. His steadily growing fan base is one that’s been built with honest storytelling about depression, love and grappling with religion.

But his first album for Warner Bros., the recently released “Yours Truly Forever,” isn’t solely centered on tales of hard living. The 22-year-old has survived a stabbing, a shooting and has wrestled with thoughts of suicide. Anaheim-raised rapper Phora hasn’t had it easy.

Phora still a kid album tracklist