Brandon Harris knows how to feel a vibe and drop a beat.
The University senior is double majoring in film and philosophy while curating a dream he’s had since he was in third grade.
“I remember my first rap was me just changing like five words to Ludacris’ ‘Get Back,’ but that was it for me,” Harris said. “I felt I had created something.”
The Chicago-born rapper has expanded from rewriting Ludacris to having his own songs on SoundCloud and performing at the 2017 Fall Fest. His performances are energetic stemming from what he describes as a need to be real with the audience.
Harris’ main focus is to create something, whether good or bad, as long as it’s truly original.
Salvador Dali is Harris’ artistic inspiration — “a true creator,” he said. Harris considers Dali’s work a success because he exhibited the fact that he was an artist.
“When I’m writing something, I just try to make it as tight as possible,” Harris said. “It’s definitely a flow, but each moment I’m performing I’m expressing my happiness from being up there and that comes through as the energy the
audience feels.”
He will graduate in May and plans to go on tour with a friend from Atlanta. Harris has been preparing a reel to send potential venue hosts by compiling videos of his Live performances and using his SoundCloud account.
No venue is too small for Harris. His first show was in local thrift shop Here Today Gone Tomorrow with his Baton Rouge Magnet High School friends for their former band Roasted Snow.
“It was perfect because we weren’t old enough to get into any other place that was 18 and up around town, but I mean saying it out loud it seems kind of weird,” Harris said. “It didn’t matter though, we were just performing.”
His stage name and SoundCloud identity, Brandon Pari$, is what he calls “Google famous.” In other words, he doesn’t feel like he has reached a point of undeniable notoriety. However, he does find comments and articles on the internet about his music, which makes him want to create even more.
His raps are focused on discussing what he feels and putting his emotions into words in a way that other rappers might not be able to, Harris said. Rapper Young Thug expanded Harris’ perspective on lyricism and songwriting, because Young Thug makes audiences feel something without saying a word, he said.
Harris hopes to reach that level some day, but he isn’t concerned with fame. The knowledge that people are enjoying the music he puts out is enough for him to keep growing as a rapper and as a person. He intends to provide that same growth for his listeners by using catchy beats and passionate lyrics.
Harris said he loves when people are able to rap along with him or quote his lyrics, because they felt what he was feeling and identified with it. By rapping, he believes he is doing his part to better the world, so when people are able to understand what he is saying, they too are opening themselves to new ideas.
“I believe we can be Renaissance men and women as a whole, you know, we can learn things and expand our minds, and then apply what we have learned in order to grow and make the world better,” Harris said.
