David LaChapelle’s Rize had just debuted in 2005, documenting street life in South Central Los Angeles and chronicling the events that led to an invention of a new form of Hip-Hop dance. A style so groundbreaking it influenced citizens of all ages within LA, as well as in its neighboring cities. A young City James was a part of this demographic. 

“I did a talent show in junior high, and the movie had just come out. I remember getting buck and just having fun,” he said. “It was my first time performing; everyone was hyped. Then I remember not having that anymore.” City had never felt so alive, but he would soon come to realize that this natural high induced by self-expression would be short-lived unless he did something about it.

“I went to high school in the suburbs, but wanted to be around people who looked like me, who were creative but still came from the same place,” City said. “My homies went to a charter school, but it was treated like a continuation school. Anyone who got kicked out went there.” But this school catered to something his did not – the arts. “I knew that I was different, but I saw what I was getting into. I got suspended a couple of times, I was having a baby at 15,” all of which led him to make a risky, yet ultimately worthwhile decision. “I forged my parents’ signatures and dis-enrolled from my school to enroll into the charter school. I came home and just told my parents ‘I go to a different school now.’”

The boldness in which City possesses steered him to uncover his true passion for the arts. “I fell in love with improv, acting and poetry,” he expresses. “But I still had this pull to hang out on the block after school,” he said. Though his intentions were just to kick it with his homies, gangs started to become more prevalent, and City found himself being scolded by the old heads in the neighborhood. “They’d say to me ‘What the f--- are you doing? You’re talented. Get off the block.’” 

A new opportunity would allow him to do just that.

Say Word’s Poetry Slam Team coaches, Simply Kat and Javon Johnson, were holding auditions to add new members to their team. Being a part of this became one of City’s focuses. He began the auditioning process, and though the odds seemed to be against him due to his current circumstances at the time, fate showed him otherwise. “I got arrested a week before competing to be on the team, and my dad and I were beefing about it.” He explains. On the day of auditions, City’s father kicked him out of the house. “I didn’t know where I was going to go.” Emotions high, and out of focus, he went up to perform, and was cut. Simply Kat approached him on his way out. “She said to me ‘Keep going, Ima see you soon.’” Not long after this encounter, someone was removed from the team for a rule violation and City was added. “My parents were loving and supportive, but it was a weird time for everyone.” City goes on to explain hardships within the family, regarding a repeated loss of loved ones. “I didn’t have any direction at the time. Javon and Kat really helped me and assisted me in honing my skills.”

Being a part of the Say Word Poetry Slam team opened City up to a new world of opportunities. One in particular included his participation in Russell Simmons’s Brave New Voices HBO – an international youth poetry slam festival. “We competed against hundreds of teams and came in fifth place,” he said. “It was dope and strenuous, and pushed me to sharpen my pen.”

After graduating high school in 2010, City spent a few years performing poetry across California. “I also had a couple residencies in London with the R.S.C. (Royal Shakespeare Company) doing monologues and renditions. I’d take their work and put my own swag to it,” giving it a modern twist. In 2012, he wrote a compelling piece for Inner City Arts that secured an invitation to be a part of the Marvin Gaye Tribute in Washington D.C.; he performed at The Kennedy Center for the then – First Lady, Michelle Obama. “John Legend played piano while myself and three other artists came out and spit poems at different times,'' he said.. Afterwards, City went back to school and received his bachelor’s degree in acting.

“Art is saving my life on a day to day basis,” City stated. Over time, the young artist has found different mediums to express himself – from poetry, to acting and now, rapping. A progression which outlines City’s intrinsic nature of telling stories. In 2016, he released his first music project, Fearrari. It’s meaning? Driven by faith or dragged by fear.

“I dropped it on SoundCloud, but didn’t promote it. I didn’t like the way it sounded mixing and mastering wise, but it taught me a lot. It educated me on how to make a song sonically pleasing at a universal level (which is what mainstream is), but still talk about what’s heavy on my heart. There’s definitely a science to it.” He’s applied what he has learned from his experience of creating Fearrari to his latest EP, From This Point On, a statement about who he is and who he does it for – his daughter, Mia. “I’m pouring out my heart and not apologizing for it.” City expressed. “I’m hungry, I’m dedicated, and there’s no looking back for me. There’s no question about whether I’ll stop doing art. I’ve had this dream forever. I have a daughter who I have full custody of. There’s no better way to show her she can live out her dreams than by living out mine.”

For City, inspiration is never out of reach. “God. That’s where it comes from,” he said. When asked if he ever finds himself unmotivated or uninspired, he responded profoundly.

“I definitely find myself surrendering to whatever life is throwing at me. It might suffocate my motivation or inspiration, but it is always there for me to tap into; to channel it through my art.”

His ability to surrender to life, look within and decide to continuously push forward, undoubtedly puts him in the position to always persevere. It makes him a force to be reckoned with. While he has a strong connection with divinity for his source for all things, he also looks to the people he has a strong admiration for – the women in his life. “The energy that women have been willing to invest in me inspires me.” City explains. “I grew up around women; and was raised by my mom, grandma, and six or seven aunties.” And since then, he has been blessed with his daughter Mia, and girlfriend of three years, Chauntice. His admiration for all of their love moves him, and it motivates him in ways that only a pure energy such as love could do. All of these aspects seem to accumulate an impenetrable power that drives him to achieve his highest goals and aspirations; ones that are made more meaningful because they include the people in his life, as well as the ones that may not be directly involved.

“I want to set up my family, and break the curse of financial deficit; to have property in my name and create a generational wealth. And I want to let people know that it is possible.” City explains.

City James’ heart is shown in every moment. It is exposed in the rawness of his music, it is demonstrated in the love and gratitude he has for his supporters, and it is seen in his journey through fatherhood and how he cares for the people in his life. It seems that all of these attributes will only amplify who he is as a being, and call for his art, in whatever form it be, to have that much more of an impact. We can endlessly expect greatness by his simple, yet promising statement:

“I will do whatever art calls me to do.”

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