As another long, brittle, Minnesota winter evolves slowly into spring; one artist is as hot as ever, fueled by an undeniable and fiery passion for his craft. Lucien Parker, the emerging rapper, singer, and songwriter from the Southside of Minneapolis, found his passion for poetry and spoken word at a young age, making a name for himself throughout high school as a competitive slam poet, twice invited to be a member of Minnesota International Slam Team. This earned Lucien acceptance into the University of Wisconsin’s First Wave Program, a Hip-Hop and spoken word scholarship for young artists.
While in college, Lucien engineered recording sessions for other artists out of his dorm room to fund his own projects, eventually opening his own recording studio. During the summer of 2016, he released his debut full-length LP entitled Black Sheep to critical acclaim from his peers and press. In 2017, Lucien released three EPs (Chapter IV, Chapter V, and Chapter VI) containing 3 singles each. Each EP told the story of a different chapter in Lucien's life. Throughout 2017 he toured steadily around the Midwest and was invited to Amsterdam to play his first show overseas, developing a reputation for being a captivating live performer.
Currently, Lucien averages 50,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, while his 2017 hit single “Impossible” has nearly a million streams. He has garnered buzz from major blogs and playlists, toured internationally, and shown his versatility by supporting artists like Ab-Soul, Ali, Alex Wiley, KAMAU, Waka Flocka, and Kweku Collins. "Music is a tool that can be used to change the world,” says Lucien. “It can be used as a platform to help eradicate a system that is hell bent on trapping people of color. I may only be a piece of the puzzle, but I will continue to make music that will uplift my children, and their children after them, transcending the boundaries of time and place."
2018 is already shaping up to be a big year for Lucien Parker. In January, his music was featured in a sneak peek for Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger. And, that’s just the tip of iceberg. Not only does Lucien plan to release new music every month, he is working closely with Grammy-nominated producer, Bizness Boi, writing for television and film, and touring around the U.S and UK/Europe. Most importantly, perhaps, Lucien will continue to push the boundaries and redefine the sound of modern hip-hop, R&B, and pop music.
