Rising Stars: Meet Tubz Raw

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tubz Raw.

Hi Tubz, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Independence, Missouri, and throughout the Kansas City area a little bit of time; I came up in a one-parent household. My dad was in and out of my life, and my mom and grandma took care of my younger sister and me. I was first introduced to music at a young age as I saw my older cousins Chrizz Holmes, a very big-time known rapper and young pheno always working on music and freestyling over beats when I was a kid.

So, I always knew that I wanted to make music. However, the first time I rapped, I was 12 years old, and my cousin August got me to rap peer pressuring me in front of his friends. It wasn’t that good, to be honest, something told me to keep going so I did a year later I would meet a good friend of mine through a cousin in school named Eddie Bozeman but nowadays goes by the stage name Gunsmoke The Holy Smoke who took me into the studio that his dad had.

We often would sneak in there as kids to do music and when we had time I would sharpen my craft there I became decent but I would continue to work and over time I perfected my craft and my sound along with my flow I would later drop my first mixtape the wake and bake mixtape during my sophomore year in high school with a friend who is also a rapper nowadays Riko El Diesel and a couple of other friends who would record on a phone and post my videos on YouTube.

Creating my first mixtape about a year later I would find a young producer/singer that is very well known as well in music today Malik Maceo who would produce the wake and bake reawakening mixtape that put me on the map in my city and got everybody asking who is this kid and what he has up his sleeve next I would later for a couple of years go on and take a hiatus from rap to focus on the mother of my kids and family but from time to time we record at my brothers where I learned to write my music because up until then I was freestyling all my tracks and thanks to that I ended up falling in love with writing my music.

But I always knew I could always fall back on freestyling as well so I was a double talented rapper who could freestyle and write I continue to practice my craft and perfected it and with my brother’s help, I dropped two mixtapes under his label grind hard records until I would move on to do my own thing with a friend of mine from the past who helped me with my first mixtape Rico El diesel and another artist that I had not worked with but been wanting to and also he wanted to work with me as well Chase Duckett’s.

We would go on to create a label known as Tsunami Ave Savage Records under that banner; I dropped my well-received mixtape the 9 to 5 mixtape and would take my talents and go to Colorado to open up for Etho Escobar and even opened up for Dax at the Kansas City Riot room along with a couple of other venues but things would go good only for so long and due to some disagreements we all went our separate ways I would find myself as a solo artist kind of lost for a couple of months looking for a producer I would run into a familiar face from my past once again Malik Maceo.

After 8 years since the wake and bake mixtape reawakening, he had made it back in the day having a beer and we had met one another at a show and had talked about returning to this studio to work together I would go over to Malik’s and within 5 minutes of working with him, it was obvious we still at chemistry as far as a producer and artist go like we had never been separated for 8 years and we had worked together every day since the beginning till now but it had been 8 years since we first teamed up.

I would complete a mixtape and drop it on 4, 2, 2021 the heartbreak motel mixtape that was focused on a sound along with topics of love lust, lies, and other topics similar unlike my usual trap music or gangster rap I had stepped out of a box and was surprised people with this type of music that was not usual for me and would show my versatility as this mixtape would take the early 2000s & 90s R&B samples on trap beats.

The mixtape was well received and got a lot of views on SoundCloud as of right now I am in the middle of working on a new project the release date has yet to be set and as far as rap/music goes I have no intentions of slowing down and have no intention to quit I’ve come a long way but I still have more to go.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I had juggled a lot of things for one I had been homeless a couple of occasions during my course of being an artist along with some run-ins with the law.

But the biggest patch of hardship would come when my grandmother and my mother passed away in 2017 a month a part of one another and then not too long after one of my best friends my best friend would die early 2018 due to gun violence.

Along with my 7 years relationship with the mother of my kids we grew apart and ended up feeling that it was only best to go our separate ways after 7 years and four kids and suffered for a little bit with depression but music.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m best known for being very versatile and diverse and creative, catchy and lit at concerts, with my show presence & stage presents bringing a different fill to any venue or stage that I have performed on.

I’m most proud of my work throughout the years and how far I’ve come lyrically and even writing. I’m most proud of my projects which showcase the body of work I have done over the years in the accomplishment of people, and places music has taken me.

What sets me apart is that I bring a sound to the music/rap game that is a different type of feel because it is edgier and hype but still keeps to its gangster rap roots. It’s something my music to understand t that dirty eye flow a sound in which you would have to be from the dirty eye to understand.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love that our city has so much talent in it looking around now compared to when I was young and coming up in the rap game there is so much young talent that in the next 5 to 10 years is going to be so special like Wannie Guwop and Lil Colz and others such as them. Still, a lot of hate goes on here, and low-key people envy one another, or at the time someone is getting a buzz, they get killed or go to prison.

The dirty eye and Kansas City are not the easiest places for a music artist to come up and build a career. Still, unlike the South, the biggest problem is that they support something an artist does or puts out. André 3000 said, “The South got something to say.” Now the South is making most of the songs we like because the south supports the south in music and the support of its artists.

The moral of the story is the Midwest or Kansas City or the DIRTY eye aka Independence, MO doesn’t support artist music as much as we should, and for that is very important for an artist and their music and leads to mixtapes/albums in return boosts the confidence in oneself & helping the artist continue one’s journey to be the best in music and create tracks we will never forget.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/tubzraw816
• SoundCloud: Check out Tubz Raw https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/wPJ4k
• Other: https://m.facebook.com/TUBZRAW13/