Above: MAKING MOVES: Seventeen-year-old Clarke Central High School senior Jeffery Blakely, also known as Kxng Blanco, records in his studio on Nov. 12. Jeffery’s uncle works directly with him to produce and mix his tracks. “He mixes everything for me, makes the song sound good, and now that’s how all of my music come out,” Blakely said. Photo by Zoe Peterson
The ODYSSEY Media Group will provide viewers with stylized profiles that center on people in the Athens community telling their own stories.
Clarke Central High School senior Jeffery Blakely, also known as Kxng Blanco, aims to take his rap career far into the future.
Clarke Central High School senior Jeffery Blakely prefers to keep to himself during the school day.
He has a couple of friends he talks to every day, but other than that he lays low and shows up to simply do his job as a student. What many of his classmates and teachers may not know about him is how he spends his time outside of the halls of CCHS.
Also known as Kxng Blanco, Jeffery is a rising Athens rapper, who dedicates all of his free time to perfecting his craft. Writing lyrics in the worn composition notebook he carries with him everywhere, recording in the studio with his step-brother and uncle and performing at Downtown venues like The World Famous and The Iron Factory are what stimulate him.
“If I didn’t go home and write music or listen to my own music, I’d just be bored and unhappy,” Blakely said.
This is why he’s glad he took the chance to rap in the first place.
After freestyling for fun in middle school and the beginning of high school, Jeffery realized he might have what it takes to further pursue rapping. He began recording in his friend’s closet and practicing more and more on his voice and lyricism, until one day his father caught him rapping. A rapper himself, back in the day, Jeffery’s dad heard potential and urged him to start recording in a studio.
Less than two months later, Kxng Blanco was born.
Currently, he’s working on his second mixtape titled “Wave”, a project that will be released on Dec. 21 to free music streaming site Spinrilla, where his first mixtape is available for listening.
With the support of his family behind him and a desire to grow as an artist, Jeffery knows there’s only one competitor going forward: himself.
