Blxst is one of R&B’s most exciting rising stars in the past few years. In 2022, his debut studio album Before You Go saw him ascend to new heights. With features from Arin Ray, Rick Ross and Zacari, the LA native displayed his incredibly soothing voice as well as he ever has. The rest of the year, he found himself being featured on songs for other huge R&B and rap stars. Icons like Kehlani, Burna Boy, Babyface Ray, and even Kendrick Lamar recruited Blxst for tracks in 2022.
He outdid himself so much on these guest appearances, that it landed him at 2023’s Grammy awards in early February. Nominated twice for his contributions to Kendrick Lamar’s recent album, Blxst shined on the red carpet. Their track “Die Hard,” also including Amanda Reifer, was one of the best on the whole LP. Mutually beneficial relationships like these that Blxst has created have only helped him in the industry. So much so, that he is becoming a household name in West Coast music and is now being booked for speaking gigs.
Blxst Shares Wisdom
On Feb. 8, Blxst was welcomed onto the Loyola Marymount University campus. He showed up to be a guest speaker for “The Marathon Continues: Building Brand Through Culture” course. This marketing course was founded by late LA legend Nipsey Hussle. According to the LMU website, it is taught at the College of Business Administration and is taught by Hussle’s former business partner David Gross. Joined by his manager Victor Burnett and entertainment lawyer Karl Fowlkes for the panel, Blxst gave advice about the music industry and building your own brand. Additionally, he touched on starting his label EVGLE with Burnett and Fowlkes and making sure you have agency over what you create.
“I will say, at some point, you have to take accountability,” he said. “We have information out there — we got so many examples of our legends that don’t even own a percentage of their whole culture that we built. How many times are we going to watch the same story continue? For me, I’m leading by example. You got to be the change you want to see. I feel like the label situation is all predicated on how you want your future to be. I want to be self-sustainable … and that’s what I want for my people as well. Ownership is everything.”
Students were also able to ask Blxst and his associates questions. Best was the second of three guest speakers for the panel at LMU. The first guests were Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, and the last guests will be NBA players Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson. Nipsey Hussle was always a proponent of sharing wisdom with younger generations. So, it’s nice to see Blxst and others do so at a school in Hussle’s hometown.
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