George Watsky certainly has been busy lately. With his recent Rap album release and corresponding tour, as well as recording and releasing an album with his alternative band Independent Inc. he’s certainly been on his grind.

But who is George Watsky. The 32 year old was born in San Francisco. His twin brother went on to become a helicopter pilot but George began competing in slam poetry competitions at age 15. He won dozens of slams, and placed fourth in the National Competition in 2005.

He continued with his slam poetry for a few years until 2009. When he released his first rap album, titled “Watsky”. It achieved minor success. A year later, with the help of San Francisco producer Procrastination he released his second album “Guilty Pleasures” for free on his website. At this point he still had a minor and mainly local following.

Then in 2011 His video “Pale Kid Raps Fast”, a —- rap over a Busta Rhymes beat for “Break ya Neck”, blew up. Gaining 4 million views in two days.

A week later he was performing a modified version of it on Ellen.

The next year he released yet another free mixtape. For this tape he went on his first official tour with fellow California rapper Dumbfounded. He toured the United States and even had a tour stop in London.

Another year and another album meant another tour in 2013. Which led him even farther across the globe. The album Cardboard Castles topped the itunes hip hop charts in Canada and the United States partially due to a social media campaign. Fun fact! At London Warped Tour in 2013 Watsky jumped 35 feet off the rigging and injured himself as well as two audience members.

Watsky has always been what I would call a real rapper, or a thoughtful rapper. He raps about your mindstate, as well as issues he finds with politics. It could be argued that he got in the game at the wrong time, when most mainstream rap is focused on partying and flexing his thoughtful meaningful poetry isn’t the type of music that seems to get as much radio play. But he has always had a devout fan base. He announced yet another album in January of 2014. Which was released as “All You Can Do” later on in June. This album led to him being listed as #51 of New Media Rockstars top 100 channels.

Watsky beginning and continuing his career in poetry, has always had a passion for words. His book “How to Ruin Everything” had the honour of being in the top ten New York Times Bestseller List. It is a collection of essays he has written over the years on overcoming failures and embarrassment. As well as his own path to success.

Two more Albums focusing on mental health, the advancement of his career even further and rejoining with his alternative band were all things on the horizon for George Watsky. Events I’ll be covering in next weeks blog post. The Continued Story of George Watsky.