Poetic Justice: Rap group is on its way to success

Thomas Stoner used to keep quiet about his career aspirations of becoming a rapper with a major label recording contract because he didn’t think people would believe him.

“Everybody wants to be a rapper. That’s what people think. People think it’s about violence and drugs and denigrating women. People think that or they just don’t believe me,” said Stoner, who performs under the nickname “Classic T.”

As he sees it, he and his cousin, Rico McClean, who formed Poetic Justice four years ago, are in good company.

“It used to bother when people didn’t believe me. Then I thought of Jesus Christ. He performed miracles in front of people, and they still didn’t believe him,” he said.

Stoner isn’t putting himself and his cousin in the same league as Jesus, but says they are determined to prove the naysayers wrong. The group has recorded an album, “On Our Way,” had a photo shoot earlier this month in Baltimore for the hip-hop magazines The Source and Double XL, and is planning to meet rapper-actor-comedian Nick Cannon this month with the hopes of landing a contract.

Poetic Justice plans to make it big without glorifying violence and drugs, denigrating women or cursing, the cousins said. Their influences are everything they encounter daily, and their music reflects a similarly wide scope, with samples coming from Phil Collins, Twisted Sister and other non hip-hop artists.

“Our music tells stories. We want everyone to tune in, women, children, everyone,” Stoner said.

And most importantly to the 19-year-old cousins from Morris Hill, Stoner’s mother, Debbie Parks, wouldn’t allow otherwise. She raised the two together after McClean’s mother, who is Parks’ sister, died when McClean was a boy. The two call her and their grandmother, Joan Spencer, “ma’am,” and they jumped up to help Parks carry groceries into the house Tuesday and say grace before eating.

Even Parks was skeptical at first, she admitted.

“I said, ‘Why you gonna cuss? Don’t speak like that about women,’ ” she recalled.

But then she heard them perform and was amazed. She paid for them to record their first album a couple years ago and helped them again with getting the money to record “On Our Way,” which was done in three days.

She had hoped the two would pursue basketball, a sport she loves. But the cousins struggled with tryouts at North County High School, leading them to think of other interests, McClean said.

“In our house, you have to be somebody,” said McClean, who performs under the nickname “Ricola” and considers his cousin to be a brother. “We always rapped. I said to my brother, ‘What about rapping?’ He said, ‘Are you serious?’ ”

The two were watching the movie “Poetic Justice” at the time, although they said choosing that for a name has nothing to do with the movie, and so far, they haven’t heard from anyone about copyright infringements.

“We’re poets, and justice is supposed to serve. And we’re here to serve,” Stoner said.

Poetic Justice had two other members at one point, but those people left the group because they had a different vision of how they’d perform, the cousins said.

And it wasn’t until the two met producer Shawnta Faulkner of Glen Burnie that things really began to take off, the cousins said.

“I met his dad. He said, ‘This is my son, Rico. He raps,’ ” said Faulkner, who goes by “Protej.”

“I saw he had potential, but I said, ‘Who is doing your beats?’ I love how they sound. They have their own unique style to them.”

The group now has secured managers Meico Smith and Xavier Stukes, who have helped in landing performing gigs, recording “On Our Way,” and with the meeting with Cannon, as well as securing an attorney.

As a result of performances like Pumphrey Day last year and a Catonsville group home for children this year, “we find out we got buzz and we don’t know how we got there,” Stoner said.

“They’re already celebrities,” Parks said, adding some girls already have asked for their autographs.

The cousins said they feel grateful to their families and those who have helped them reach a wider audience, including Toni Bowie and Vernette Clark, who booked them for Pumphrey Day, and Mae Mosteller and Geraldine Lippman of the Cedar-Morris Hill Improvement Association, who have helped spread the word about Poetic Justice.

They also feel hopeful about their meeting with Cannon at the end of the month.

“I know a lot of people who sign a contract and never get anywhere because of no promotion. Nick Cannon seems like a good guy,” Stoner said. “You know the saying, ‘Blood, sweat and tears?’ This is blood, sweat and years.”

Visit www.youtube.com/user/Justus410 to learn more about Poetic Justice.

Source: Hometown GlenBurnie