If you checked the Boston Music Awards ballot last week, it was damn near impossible to miss Cousin Stizz. Then again, if you’ve lived in Boston over the past few years, it’s been equally difficult to ignore the homegrown MC as he rises through the city’s music scene.
Now, the Dorchester product — nominated for four BMAs: Artist of the Year, Album/EP of the Year (for Monda), Song of the Year (for “Where I Came From”) and Hip-Hop Artist of the Year — has been given a national look by Noisey, which declares Stizz the “Pride of Boston.”
In the video below, the newest episode of Noisey Raps, Noisey goes to Stizz’s home of Fields Corner to talk about his upbringing, which involved busing out of the city and into white suburbs for schooling; his role in the city’s exploding hip-hop scene; and ongoing involvement with the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, which has plans to build a new in-house recording studio. The 15-minute clip centers around Stizz’s very sold-out show at the Paradise Rock Club back in July, and allows the musician to reflect of the death of his teenage best friend, Damone Clarke, who in January succumbed to cancer at the age of 17. Stizz’s recent mixtape, the aforementioned Monda, was named after Clarke.
Noisey even got OG Swaggerdick some screen time. Fire it up.