Novato’s Rap Scene

By Jackson Talbott
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Novato High is known as a school filled with creative and talented students. Not to be forgotten are the young, up and coming rappers around campus. Noah Mohan and Chris Lindsey are contributing to the new wave of local hip hop artists.
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“Novato’s desperately lacking dedicated musicians,” said junior Chris Lindsey, who goes by the rap name BRUHMANEGOD. “I’ve been writing music for about 3 years, but I never really started producing and recording until about half a year ago.”

Both Chris and Noah started making music in various genres but were soon drawn to hip-hop.

“Beforehand, I wasn’t even doing rap or anything like that,” said Lindsey. “I was mostly focused on doing rock and metal but that fell short. Honestly, it’s the energy that drew me to rap music.”

Lindsey’s music is different than a lot of mainstream rap. It is evident that he’s heavily influenced by rock music and iIt’s almost as if rock and rap styles are combined in his songs.

“The artists I’m most influenced by are System of a Down, Eric North, Shell Sport, everyone from Team Sesh and SpaceGhostPurrp,” Lindsey said. “Those artists are very independent thinkers and have always gone against the grain and I identify with that a lot.”

Rap and Hip-Hop give students a way to express their emotions and it gives creative minds an outlet. Both artists experiment with creating new sounds for rap music.

“People are too impressed by mediocrity, and are just as quick to shut out any new, experimental, musical, sonically brutal [expletive],” said Lindsey. “Overall, I want people to be uncomfortable with what I’m making. I don’t want to stick to what people are used to because that [expletive] is wack.”

Mohan and Lindsey both sent different messages.

“Music is a universal language that everyone can understand but in different ways,” said Mohan. “I want the songs to relate to everybody in some way.”

Lindsey, on the other hand, has a different approach. 

“My message is basically exposing the music culture as a whole for what it is,” Lindsey mentioned. “I want people to be uncomfortable with what I’m making. I’m trying to be someone people don’t idolize, but someone people definitely take note of.”

They both enjoy the creative process, but a major part of music is spreading the message. Noah is not simply trying to share music around Novato. Rather, he is aiming to share his music around the globe. 

“I recently got a manager who will be helping me alot with promo and getting shows and overall get me to the place I need to be,” explained Mohan. “I plan on releasing my second mixtape and we are planning on putting it on iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud.”

Lindsey and Mohan combined have over 53,000 plays on Soundcloud. Look for them to put out new music in the future.
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