Photo credit: Armonie Hamilton
King Ameas
King Ameas has always admired hip-hop’s ability to drive the conversation. “You see it all the time, artists being the driving force of what’s going on socially and what everybody is talking about,” the Milwaukee rapper marvels. “You’ll hear an artist say something on an album or on a song, and then everybody else will be talking about that, too.”
With his new album, C.R.E.A.M. City, Ameas elbows his way into that conversation. He originally conceived the project as a compilation showcasing Milwaukee talent before reframing it as a solo album. Despite the project’s change of direction, its emphasis on documenting the city remained. “Basically, I just wanted to talk about the things that I see going on in the city, the good and the bad,” Ameas says. “I wanted to share that just in case people outside the city might be listening and might not be aware of what’s going on.”
The good, as Ameas sees it: a thriving rap scene and an inspiring new Milwaukee Bucks arena, which he poses in front of on the album’s cover (“That’s one of the greatest things going on right now,” he says. “It’s definitely creating new jobs.”) And the bad? Well, there’s a lot of it. “Car theft is a big problem,” he says. “There’s a lot of car theft. And then there’s the drugs and shootings. A lot of young kids are getting hit by stray bullets. I feel like, as an artist, you kind of have to address these issues, because you don’t want to be in a position where you have a bunch of people listening and you’re putting out music that isn’t addressing what’s actually going on,” he says.
Ameas grew up in the 2000s listening to artists like 50 Cent, T.I., Fabulous, Jadakiss and Jay-Z, rappers that brought a semi-traditional, lyrics-centric approach to the sounds of the day. He says he began writing his own raps around age 9—mostly kid stuff about playing basketball and hanging out with friends—and by his teens he was recording them using instrumentals he downloaded from mixtape sites. But he’s come a long way from recycling other artists’ instrumentals.
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C.R.E.A.M. City features an array of luscious, jazzy production from some of Milwaukee’s top producers—including Mike Regal, Rich P, Derelle Rideout and CameOne—as well as guest verses from Sharrod Sloans (aka Pizzle) and Mitch Pe$oz. Ameas raps in a craggy, deliberate flow, choosing each word carefully while giving each verse plenty of breathing room. The result is an unhurried vibe somewhere between J. Cole and Isaiah Rashad’s recent albums.
While Ameas isn’t quite in the inner circle of the city’s rap scene, he’s close enough, and he likes that he can’t be easily pigeonholed. “I think my audience is people who have a love for the actual art of rapping,” he says. “I get a lot of people who enjoy listening to a lot of wordplay and things of that nature; those people tend to gravitate toward my music. But I also get a little bit of the streets, because I do talk about the struggle of growing up on the streets in my music.”
And even though his style doesn’t always neatly overlap with the sounds coming out of the great Milwaukee rap scene, he’s taken inspiration from the city’s work ethic. “I think artists are working harder now, at least from my perspective,” Ameas says. “They’re starting to realize that the more work you put in, the more you’ll gain from it. I also think artists are learning the industry better. We’re starting to see more people promote themselves properly, and they’re learning how to maneuver through the business side of things.
“When I was in high school,” he continues, “I always felt like there was no way possible that you could make it as a rapper being from Milwaukee. But over the years, that mindset has changed, and that’s been inspiring. It definitely makes me want to go harder, seeing what you can gain if you’re willing to put in the work that’s necessary.”
King Ameas’ C.R.E.A.M. City is streaming on Soundcloud. It’ll be available on other streaming platforms, including Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music, later this summer.
