Common stereotypes perceive the hip-hop genre as an art form separate from academia. But the hip-hop scene is far from underground at N.C . State. Thomas Easley is carrying out his life in rap and scholarship from his office in Biltmore Hall.
Easley, director of community diversity in Natural Resources, is also a rapper under the name RaShad . Soon he will release his next album, Transitions. His passion for music came from growing up with his grandmother. His parents spent most of their time focused on work, leaving him with his grandmother for the majority of his childhood.
“My parents were both from the time when civil rights was a big thing,” Easley said. “When integration came, they got opportunities to work, so they were extremely busy.”
Easley doesn’t see his upbringing as unconventional. He said he benefited from the experience, and is thankful for his strong relationship with his grandmother.
“[With] my grandma and grandpa, I enjoyed that environment a whole lot more,” Easley said. “I had great parents, but I think I had the best of both worlds. Growing up in the 80s and the 90s and being able to still have that old influence. I was the chubby fat kid growing up, [and my grandmother] always knew how to make me feel better. My grandmother just loved me the way I wanted to be loved.”
The influence of hip-hop throughout Easley’s life was accepted in his grandparents’ household. Noticing the rappers during that time were “talking what I’m feeling,” Easley found inspiration and began to write. After the death of his grandmother, he wrote for emotional exploration and catharsis.
“I started writing after she died—I was 14,” Easley said. “When my grandma died, I didn’t feel as if I had anyone to talk to, so I just started writing my thoughts down.”
Creating songs was not a hard task for Easley and his friends. Through sampling old gospel music he had heard with his grandparents, he was able to make his first beats. The art of sampling may have been for beat purposes, but Easley knew the underlying message from the Christian backgrounds in the songs they were using.
“We could take a clip from that song and make it sound like this and that,” Easley said. “We would take records and take small pieces. We were listening to the music for what it was made for, so we didn’t listen to it for what it was about, not in a bad way, but we wanted to make it for a different sound.”
Easley, also a deacon in his church, said he understands a radical approach to lyrics may not be the best way to reach out to others. He keeps the same respectable personality, regardless of what crowd he surrounds himself with.
“I call it ‘save your life’ music. What I want is when people hear my song is to take the jewels from them. I want them to enjoy them whether they’re Christian or not.”
Easley said he sees his music as a means to communicate is spirituality, but overall, it’s his way to express love and tolerance.
“Daily lessons are good for all religions,” Easley said. “Being an academic scholar, being a deacon, being a rapper—I put all of that into everything. [I give the] same message to different people in a different way.”