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Meet Baltimore’s Hunit Stackz 

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Hunit Stackz has been making noise for over a decade in his hometown. The Baltimore-born and raised recording artist has been a standout who is well respected in his city. It was his experiences growing up in this town – living in the hood, escaping his childhood reality with anime – that have been as much an influence in his music as his original inspiration: DMX and the LOX.

 

Stackz found his love for rapping one day when some of his friends were having a cypher in the living room. He jokingly jumped in, but his friends were serious about how good he was. From then on, Stackz’s main goal in life was to be an artist. He released his first project, F**k it – which was later changed to self-titled – in 2011. He quickly garnered attention from some very credible industry names as well as press mentions.

 

His love for music eventually dimmed when he realized things were becoming repetitive and recording no longer seemed fun. That changed, however, while attending the film release of a new Dragon Ball Super movie. Stackz was excited to see how much the anime community had grown. It was at that moment, surrounded by mobs of people who loved what he loved, he decided to incorporate his first love – anime – into his music. This is how his album/manga series The Black Saiyan Saga was born.

 

Anime was Stackz’s escape as a kid. From as early as 6 years old, his childhood was fraught with traumatic events. His home was riddled with bullets while he hid under the bed in his mother’s arms. He watched his father appear on America’s Most Wanted before being imprisoned for life, and his wonderful weekends with his grandmother changed when her house was hit by a Molotov cocktail.

 

Watching anime as a child was a way to block out his reality and live somewhere else in his mind.  At one point he was ashamed because it wasn’t cool in his neighborhood to be into anime.  Fast forward to today, and Stackz is embracing it and it is adding new wind to his recordings. He found viral success with the Naruto-inspired rap song iTachi with protégé Detox The Kid, which racked up more than 9 million streams and more than 120,000 TikTok videos.

 

At this point in his career, Hunit Stackz is benefitting from the success of the hit single iTachi and the more recent release Bounce, which is a more New Orleans Bounce type of record. Stackz is a huge fan of the New Orleans sound and created this tune in homage to all the dope artists from N.O. that he feels gets overlooked.

 

Stackz was intent on working with New Orleans natives for the recently-released dance video, which is a collaborative effort with Anthony ‘AJ Twerks’ Jackson, a choreographer from New Orleans. The video also features New Orleans native dancer Diamond Lynn. Stackz has taken in a wealth of knowledge over the years and turned it into his own independent label, Saiyan Music Regime. Fans can expect a new merch line and several music releases this summer. Hunit Stackz is not letting time judge his music career at all. Just like his latest record, he is always going to bounce back and return stronger than ever!

https://www.instagram.com/hunitstackz/

Music journalist based in ATL but from VA. Connect: @tracymitchellva

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