LANSING, Mich. — Inside of the Lansing Public Media Center, you'll typically find James Gardin moving and grooving to his own beat.
"I'm a local rapper from Lansing, Michigan," Gardin said.
Music has been his passion for the last 19 years.
"Music helped me find my voice. I was a really shy kid. And so I was able to like create a moniker and create a new character through art," Gardin said. "And then once I did that, I was like, Oh, I can be confident and speak to people in this way. And it kind of translated to real life too."
Artists that inspired him include Kirt Franklin, Anderson .Paak and Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover.
He's had a couple of his songs featured on other platforms.
"I had a song in a Tommy Hilfiger ad. Apple did like a campaign on social media, they used my song StateFarm ESPN," Gardin said. "And then, Square had a campaign where they use one of my songs."
But out of all of those, his favorite one just happened recently.
"My song Damage got placed in the episode of Queen Sugar. It was about a 47-second part of the episode that you can hear it through the whole scene," Gardin said. "It's like a metaphor of that we can sort of change the world by working together."
He works with a company called Marmoset based out of Portland, Oregon.
"They're a music licensing agency. And so basically, when I write and record a song, I submit it to them. And then, the music supervisors are looking for music, they go to Marmoset to see if they have anything that fits for them."
When someone sent him the clip at about 5 a.m. one morning, he was excited.
"I was like, 'Oh, wow, that's crazy.' I've been a fan of Queen Sugar since the first season, so I was really excited because I've had other placements. But this is like the first show that like I actually watched and actually enjoy," Gardin said.
He says it's cool to have his song licensed for the show, but he's excited to have more people listen to his music.
"It's just a different avenue to get new ears to my music. There's a lot of people who watch TV, they may never look me up or try to find out who I am. But they'll discover me through that way," Gardin said.
With his success and the work he does with the youth, he's hoping to make a difference.
"All the above Hip Hop Academy, we're based in Lansing, Michigan. We're a nonprofit where we use hip hop as sort of a tool to mentor," Gardin said. "I think there's one thing to like, tell people and give them advice, but if you can show them and be an example, it's kind of giving them a clear pathway of what they can do as well."
But most importantly, this is a new opportunity for the community.
"It's another chance for Lansing to get on the map," Gardin said. "I would love if there was more artists in Lansing doing the same thing. Because it'd be really cool if every time we go to the movies, we hear Lansing artists and every scene and every ad we watch."
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