Bio

Moses Soweto-Tsali (born October 18, 1985) is a Jamaican-American rapper and entrepreneur from Washington, DC. While Moses has maintained deep ties with the District of Columbia throughout life, he was raised on the West Coast. Aside from the island of Jamaica, Moses’ family came to Washington DC from Georgia and Virginia. He grew up in a conservative and well educated home, torn by violence, but reinforced with West African, Arab, Hebrew, and Native American culture.

Moses learned how to rap at a young age. He didn’t get into the rap game to be a world hip hop star. Rather, it was a love for music that drove him to hone his skills. For Moses, the culture had always been bigger than hip hop charts, Rap City, and Yo MTV Raps. Disgusted with the direction of the rap game, Moses decided to use his voice to infiltrate the industry from Hollywood to WorldStarHipHop.

After havivng survived the crack epidemic and murder capital era of the early 90s in DC, Moses was sent to California in hopes of keeping him away from the gunshots and drug game. He soon found himself coming of age in Los Angeles where colors meant life or death and the police was the biggest street gang.

It was in Los Angeles where Moses founded the nuAi (new eye) hip hop crew with his best friend from high school, Aaron. He and Aaron spent countless hours perfecting their rap lyrics. Aaron quickly introduced Moses to Rahten 5Star, grandson of legendary Latin Jazz percussionist Willie Bobo, and years later Rahten went on to join nuAi.

Beyond hip hop music, Moses’ musical influences include blues, reggae, jazz, folk, and country. His diverse background has inspired him to transcend the confines of rap. Moses’ style was influenced by such contrasting acts as the Freestyle Fellowship of Project Blowed, Tupac Shakur, the Living Legends, and Lil Wayne. Through rap, Moses is able to channel the spirit of his favorite musicians from Bob Marley to Bob Dylan. Moses especially enjoys narco corridos, the ballads sung for Mexico’s drug lords that bear an uncanny resembelence to gangsta rap when translated into English. Moses has been infatuated by the violent Drug War and has traveled to Chiapas, Mexico to learn from the successes of drug-free Zapatista communities first hand.

Moses has witnessed too many loved ones go to jail or die young. This is his motivation for staying on the straight path as he uses his prominence and life experiences to help guide at-risk youth. He knows that the majority of people where he is from never had the chance to follow their dreams, and so many of those who did have the chance were too afraid to try. These are the driving forces that inspire Moses to devote his music to spreading critical thought and awareness.