Twin Cities rapper Lewiee Blaze wants to give you goosebumps

By Joely Kelzer | Carbon Sound

“I was born into music,” said Lewiee Blaze, Twin-Cities born and raised rapper. “My father was a blues musician, at the age of five I started playing the drums, so that was my first introduction to music.”

Now 25, he has continued pursuing music. He describes his sound as an intersection between blues, hip-hop, and R&B. He recalls making his first song on a Macbook he got from his elementary school, teaching himself GarageBand in the process. By high school, he was recording in a live music production studio at school at MTS in Minneapolis. He continued to further his music career by teaching himself how to engineer, mix, and master his music.

When it comes to his musical process, Lewiee Blaze focuses on storytelling. Minneapolis and the issues the community faces are very close to his heart, telling his community’s stories through music is what he believes his purpose to be. His album “Freedom Fighter” explores feelings regarding the 2020 Minneapolis protests following the murder of George Floyd.

“It features two of my very good brothers and mentors. Mike Burrell, who has a very powerful story, was wrongfully convicted at 14 and spent 18 years of his life in prison,” Blaze said. “I had the privilege to have him come to my home studio to record. I also had another good brother named Kevin Reese who also has a story of being a survivor of the justice system and now does great work with his organization ‘Until We Are All Free.’”

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Using his music as an outlet to speak about issues he cares about is an important part of why he makes music. “It’s important for us artists to utilize our platform to push a message, to stand on certain principles and core values. Some of mine are truth, love, peace, freedom, and justice,” said Blaze.

These values spread into all aspects of his life, not only his music. When he isn’t busy working on music, he spends his days working directly with his community, “I work with young people who are justice-involved, or currently incarcerated,” said Blaze.

He works with individuals and families who are impacted by gun violence and the justice system. “I, too, am a survivor of the juvenile justice system. I do a lot of mentorship. I work with groups of young black men who are on probation or currently out of home placement in some kind of detention facility. I want to be the change I wanna see.”

He has big dreams and keeps busy in his day-to-day life, revealing, “I don’t live too much of a simple life, I have a lot going on.”

He shared that the last song that made him cry was the song “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd,

“Before my mom passed away, she told me that it was one of my father’s favorite songs, and she played it for me. She passed away like a week after that happened,” Blaze said. “Every time I listen to that song, I’m balled up in tears, just thinking about my memories with her, my great memories with my father, and listening to the message of the song as well, which I feel was very timely.”

Blaze aims to invoke that same sense of emotion in listeners of his music. He paid compliments to his influences like Tupac Shakur and KRS One, talking about how their style of storytelling continues to inspire him in his own music. Strong storytelling and authenticity are some of the most important parts of his musical process.

“When an artist is able to give you goosebumps, right, make your hair stick up and even make you cry, you just really feel something in your heart — that’s what moves me the most,” he said.

He is connected to the community through every aspect of his music, he expressed the most love for Minnesota artists and talked about drawing inspiration from them. “I’m a huge fan of the Minnesota scene, especially the hip-hop scene.”

He talked about collaborating with people like Mickey Breeze, “He’s a talented producer, DJ, engineer, songwriter, everything is just phenomenal, you know, young as well– just turned 21, he’s great.”

Blaze is passionate about showing love to his community, especially the music community. He continued to show love for the Minnesota scene, shouting out other artists like Prince Riley, Jay Plaza, Nate Millions, Kaleem The Dream and Juice Lord.

The love for Minnesota music didn’t stop there. He shared his love for Prince, “I’m most definitely honored to be in the same home state as somebody as legendary as Prince. Now, those are some big shoes to fill,” Blaze said proudly.

He joked, “If you live in Minnesota and you don’t like Prince, you need to move.”

Prince’s song, “When Doves Cry” was sampled for his most recent release, “4 The Culture.” With his next album being an R&B album, we had to talk about his love for Prince, “He’s multi-talented, but to remain true to himself is his true talent, right?” Blaze said. He hopes to create that same authenticity with his next release.

To keep up with Lewiee Blaze, you can follow him @LewieeBlaze on all platforms or text “Blaze” to 33777 for access to all of his music.

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“I’m a lover boy at heart,” Blaze confessed, expressing his excitement for his upcoming release, “A lot of people have heard me spit bars but not too many listeners have been able to hear what I can do with R&B, so I’m looking forward to releasing this in spring.”

When it comes to creating music, he likes to get in the zone by clearing his head and meditating before starting his process, keeping that energy for his live shows.

“I’m heavy on, you know, positive healing vibes. When you walk into a Lewiee Blaze show there might be some candles lit, maybe some incense burning,” he said.

Live performances by Lewiee Blaze are usually supported by his live band, “I have a five-piece band, we got a drummer, guitar player, piano, violinist, a saxophone player, and a bass player, so you can expect a live presentation,” said Blaze.

Community is the most important thing to Blaze, especially at his shows, “I’m heavy on feeding my community, so there will always be some free food.” You can expect him to even share the stage at his shows, “I even have a part of my set where I allow anybody in the audience to come up on stage and freestyle with me, you know, just end it with fun.”

Whether it be through a song that makes you cry or a song that makes you dance, Blaze strives to make music that uplifts listeners, “A lot of my music has positive messaging and I know I can inspire others as well. You know, having a message of unity, self-worth, and power. Music is what I pride myself in, it’s a real passion.”