North Carolina rapper and Cult Rap leader Deniro Farrar presents an unflinchingly real-life perspective delivered with a gruff rasp and old-soul wisdom influenced as much by 2Pac and Bob Marley as Sun Tzu and Angela Davis. His taut lyrical execution and honest accounts of true-life issues imbue his songs with gravity and self-aware substance akin to Vince Staples and Kendrick Lamar. With his Cult Rap philosophy that encourages balance of body and soul, Farrar promotes meditation, physical activity, and literary discussions via his Cult Rap book club, which examines works like The Alchemist, Are Prisons Obsolete?, and Things Fall Apart with his audience. Born Qushawan Farrar in Charlotte, he debuted in 2010 with the sprawling mixtape Feel This (Black Flag Records). In 2012 he issued a pair of LPs (Destiny Altered and Kill or Be Killed) and the Cliff of Death EP. The next year he released The Patriarch; its sequel arrived months later. Signing with Warner Bros., he continued his prolific output with 2014's Rebirth, which featured Child Actor, Lunice, Denzel Curry, and DuRu tha King. Cliff of Death II was released the year after and Mind of a Gemini in 2016. The two-part Red Book EPs continued his reflective examinations of social issues and hope. ~ Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi