Fresco Kane effortlessly weaves melodic vocals and solid rapping over hard-hitting production, but be careful about comparing the St. Louis native to his fellow MCs.

"I don't want people to put me in a box as just a rapper," the 26-year-old phenom tells The BoomBox, "No. I've literally been doing all of this stuff since I began doing music."

Kane's been playing instruments since the fourth grade, starting with the clarinet and moving on to the saxophone, drums and the piano. Singing was second nature to the young musician and once he started rapping, he found that it would just be easy to implement the lessons learned in music class so he started creating his own beats.

Despite his considerable talents, the road was rough, and Kane entertained the idea of quitting quite a few times. "Hell yeah [I thought about it]!," he admits, "Every other week."

Earlier this year the rapper worked his way into the industry ranks, signing to the So So Def imprint under Epic Records. As he prepares to release his new mixtape ESTL in mid-December, Fresco Kane is set to prove that he's beyond compariso.

Kane met Jermaine Dupri while pushing a joint project with fellow St. Louis rapper Murphy Lee earlier this year. After playing Dupri a few tracks from the mixtape, Fresco says he saw an opportunity to promote his personal brand as well. "[JD] was like, 'Aiight, I gotta go,'" he recalls, "He was headed to the club or something, but I was like, 'Hold up! I wanna play you one record.' I played him one called, 'They Do.'"

According to Kane, that was all the motivation JD needed to offer him a spot on the roster a week later.

Watch Fresco Kane's "Loud Pack" Video Feat. Murphy Lee


ESTL is a banger, based on the tracks Kane played for The Boombox last week. The tape features the strip club anthems and hardbody, bass-heavy tracks for hardcore hip-hop fans.

"I'm the type of person that after I make the beat, I hop in the beat," Kane reveals. "I may not sound the same on this song as I sounded on that song, because I'm doing what the music tells me to do."

Kane even has a love song on ESTL, entitled "Righteous," on which he croons about travelling the world with a special lady for one night.

"I think it's just one of those 'notice me' kind of tapes," he shares, "I just wanted to touch every aspect of what I can do to show people that I can do it."



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