New Orleans rapper Alfred Banks gets intense and personal for Vans Stage the Stage: Watch

[News]

Hip-hop can often be about release: from pain, from sorrow, from misery. For New Orleans rapper Alfred Banks, hip-hop has been a way to process. After losing his oldest brother to mental health struggles, Banks poured his soul into his critical smash, The Beautiful, a concept album that wrestles with the complexities of schizophrenia and existence.

“My music is about me,” Banks says. “It’s very personal.” Part of that economy derives from his passion, as he insists: “I want everything I do to be memorable and I take that same intensity with every single thing I do.”

That intensity will come in handy as he’s one of 10 artists competing for a chance to open for ScHoolboy Q at House of Vans Chicago on September 14th. It’s all part of Vans inaugural Share The Stage competition, which began earlier this year when over 150 artists traveled across the United States and Canada to get their voice heard.

Head to the Big Easy with Mr. Banks above and check out the rest of the Share The Stage finalists below:

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