All photos are provided by Jonah King
Local rapper Mini Horse released his second album Whatever It Takes under his independent label, Stable Records on Monday.
Mini Horse a.k.a. Jonah King is well known among the USFSP community. He has been passing out his mixtapes and performing for the campus since his freshmen year. He first started making music as far back as five years ago when he decided to turn his poetry into something more after he was motivated by Eminem’s album The Eminem Show.
While an infamous class clown from high school coined the name Mini Horse for Jonah, he has embraced it and turned it into his confident persona you see today.
King describes his style as personal and honest, but he also uses other popular artists as inspiration to his sound.
“…their lyrical play, their production, and little things here and there and put my own spin on it. If I look at how I did my vocals for this album, to me if I may ever be so generous, is a mix and play on Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West” says King.
King says that while there isn’t a specific theme for the album, the name of the album came from NFL Receiver Andrew Hawkins. Hawkins wrote a 2-part story in The Players’ Tribune that inspired King.
With help from close friends and three featured vocal artists, he recorded this album using a program called FL Studio. In any quiet place he could find, King recorded and produced this album which took him a little over a year to complete.
His favorite song off of Whatever It Takes is called “Fairy Tale”.
“‘Fairy Tale’ means a lot to me because of what I was writing about and going through at the time. I love creating and telling stories. I also love when music accentuates and speaks almost as much as the actual lyrics and I feel that with ‘Fairy Tale’,” artist King says.
Things weren’t all so easy for Mini Horse though. When he started to make music he had to learn the basics through an intro program called Music Maker 16 which he claims was awful. Throughout the years, he has learned more about music and himself.
“It’s been very grassroots though, I haven’t felt confident in my music until now where I can put it out and expect a more genuine positive reaction because now I feel like the quality and flashes of brilliance are there,” says King.
Whatever It Takes is available for listen and download on Bandcamp: https://minihorsejking.bandcamp.com/
HCXOXO
Alana Long