Ozone

Who is Carlos Cartel?

It’s said that art mirrors life. Deliberate entanglement of perception and reality has always been there in the case of Hip Hop. Naturally, fans have expectations of their MC’s relating to reality. The realness of their music draws them in. However, when it’s to the point where the realness is over stressed, is when it becomes fake and unappealing. That is where Carlos Cartel steps in.



Born Carlos Brown (he's so nice his momma named him twice) in Charleston, South Carolina. Ranked the 4th most dangerous city in America those streets formed Carlos Cartel. The second oldest of four children, Carlos Cartel was raised by a single parent mother. Growing up, his mother didn’t want any of her children listening to hip-hop. So it’s no shock that at age 10, Carlos began exhibiting the rebel nature that speaks through all his music early by defying his mother’s wishes and committing himself to the hip-hop culture. By the age of 11 he was performing songs by other artists like Kriss Kross'. Soon there after, Carlos began to write and perform his own songs. "I use to wait late at night to watch soul train so that I could see the performances and learn how to perform on stage". After his mother married a man in the navy, the family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee. While living in Memphis, Tennessee, Carlos picked up on a fast style of rapping that was pioneered by Three 6 Mafia, Skinny Pimp, and more. Spending three years in Memphis inspired Carlos to pursue hip-hop as a business, "I remember they use to come up to my high school selling CDs out the trunk of their car". Later his family would move again, this time to Newport News, Virginia. All the while he continued to write rhymes, ready to take his chance at spotlight the first chance he got. He would get that chance. Walking through a mall on a Saturday evening with an old friend, he ran into founder of Cash Money records and artist Baby. He would later invite Carlos to a show after hearing him rap." I was 16 at the time and went to the club I told the security I was invited to the club by Baby, and they told me I was too young to get in the club".

After waiting across the street for Baby, Carlos fell asleep and woke up to a missed opportunity on pursuing his dreams. Amazingly, 8 months later a family moved into the same apartment complex where Carlos lived. The family consisted of two boys and a father whom grew up with Cash Money owners Baby and Slim. One of the sons was also into rapping. After Carlos put together a CD with the son, it was presented to Baby and Slim. Soon after, Baby invited them to come to shows and had them rapped for him. "Baby would have me and another dude rap for him and Lil Wayne back stage before they performed. They liked it and told us to keep practicing." That small set-back did nothing to stop Carlos Cartel from moving forward and reaching the goal he set for himself when he was 10 years old. "I was on a Greyhound traveling from city to city, rapping for damn near anybody who would listen.” After winning a few rap battles on a radio station in Jacksonville, doors soon began to close on Carlos. He soon lost his ambitions to rap and headed back to the streets. While on the streets, his lifestyle at the time led Carlos to add Cartel to his name. Finding himself back in his hometown Charleston, South Carolina, Carlos decided to give his life long dream one more shot. He dropped the album "Soulja Stories" and his buzz got heavy in the streets. The rest is street history! To date with no manger, no publicity, no major artist co signing him, and no label behind him, Carlos has been featured in over 35 magazines including Ozone magazines, Hoods Mag, and Geechee One Magazine, appeared in over 10 major DVDS across the nation and has recorded with the likes of Lil Boosie, and more. The Ozone Magazine nominee is only at the beginning of his re-birth. Watch him grow as an artist and represent for all those in the streets with dreams just like him.



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