A Very Merry Michael Christmas
You can’t miss Michael Christmas with his quirky demeanor and light-footed gait, he enters Starbucks, zipped all the way up in his turquoise Columbia jacket, chilled to the bone. If he misses anything while in Los Angeles, icy Boston nights won’t be one of them. His halo of an unkempt Afro is full of more secret genius than Gretchen Wieners could ever dream of.
Growing up in Roxbury, Boston has always been home to Christmas. Allston parties and Newbury Street shopping are nothing new to this native. Although Boston is not exactly considered as the hub of music or hip-hop culture, Christmas is easing his way into the limelight and bringing Beantown with him.
He was able to record his first song thanks to an after-school program in the seventh grade. The inspiration to pursue a rapping career stemmed from not only his innate musicality, but from the fact that he felt as if he “sounded like Soulja Boy.” Let’s be frank, no one can deny that back in
2007, sounding like Soulja Boy was the only validation one needed. Some of his other rap idols included the Cool Kids, Dom Kennedy, and Red Man. After countless nights in his uncle’s studio and a poorly timed mixtape drop titled The Golden Toilet, Christmas began learning the rules and ropes of hip-hop. Despite the poor outcome of The Golden Toilet, from then on he has continued to work, record, and perform for the sheer joy he finds in it all.
His upward spiral to success has been smooth sailing thus far, which almost makes Christmas tentative. Having received nothing but support and motivation from his family and friends, he tells me, “You hear all these stories growing up about how rappers don’t get love…I almost feel like I’m doing something wrong, because I have not endured the amount of hate that people talk about.” This tightly bound support system about his career move comes as no surprise. The people he’s chosen to surround himself with have only the best intentions and the highest of hopes for him. Usually, making the career choice to become a rapper is quickly belittled by a parental figure. Thankfully, Christmas’ mother, father, and friends couldn’t be more encouraging of the adolescent artist.
Last year, Christmas headlined at the Middle East in Cambridge. Te crowd was packed with soulful hipsters, lax vibes, and the scent of stamped-out cigarettes. His family, friends, and fellow rappers filled the stage. Not only did the audience bounce in sync to his funky rhythm, Christmas cracked them up in between sets. If he decided to stop rapping, comedy could easily be a backup career for the curly-haired kid. He says, “performing is my favorite thing to do, period. I like to make people laugh and make people turn up.” With an infectious smile and intrinsic positivity, he does just that. Te crowd went wild when he proudly spouted one of his iconic lines, “I’m the overweight Drake in every single type of way.” With the ease and comfort Christmas has with the crowd, you’d think everyone present were a bunch of his close friends.
Michael Christmas’ career began and continues to be based off of his pleasure in creating music, and performing it with his family, friends, and, of course, his fans. His most recent self-debuted album Is This Art? is the perfect pregame playlist you’ve always wanted and never had, until now. Songs like, “Taco Truck” revolve around the everyday debauchery exemplary only of the millennial generation in the digital age. His beats bounce between the earthy tones of A Tribe Called Quest with the raw energy of Odd Future. Christmas provides the perfect middle ground sound that allows for both getting hype or getting high. Most of Christmas’ music revolves around his experiences in his everyday life. The young rapper says he’s “trying to make something that inspires people that are like [him], with nothing really in life” while simultaneously
capturing a sound that makes everybody want to dance and sing. So far he has begun to accomplish this both through his lyrics and beats. His lyrics are not only accessible but hilarious, relatable, and realistic. His smooth grooving beats allow for anyone to get down.
Within the past year, Michael Christmas has grown exponentially as an artist. He has been featured in blogs and magazines such as The Fader, Complex, Pigeons and Planes, XXL Magazine, Hot New Hip Hop, and Hypetrack. Now, Christmas is taking a big 3,000 mile step to the west coast to live in Los Angeles. This move is one that Christmas is extremely excited and prepared for, that is, once he actually packs his bags. While there, he’s aiming to create the best project of 2015, and this is a very plausible reality for the young up-and-coming artist. He plans on achieving this right by putting in 100 percent of his effort, utilizing all of his resources, and making the best possible music that he can. The new and improved Michael Christmas
has become tedious and purposeful with his work, in the best way possible. He says, “I’m building music... I’m taking my time because I know that the people that are doing the best in music, are taking their time. I’m getting to that point where I sound like Michael Christmas.” This soon-to-be hip-hop star is making leaps and bounds by the minute. He has big plans, and everybody should be watching to see where this silly, humble, and talented young man goes. As he takes his first footsteps into the warm embrace of Los Angeles, expect nothing but the best from Christmas in 2015.
Photo courtesy of Michael Christmas' YouTube Channel