Carlie Beard | Staff Writer
Rapper MoThoro, a Los Angeles native, has recently dropped his sophomore album titled ThoroLyfe: Execution.
Along with being a rapper, Morris Taylor, also known as Mo, is a fourth-year, five-year MBA major at Hampton University. He balances being both a full-time student and rapper in the industry. Mo shares a record label called “LFTFLD” with his long time childhood friend Rasul Shabazz, who is also a rapper.
ThoroLyfe: Execution has a total of 12 songs and took just shy of four months to complete. Artists such as Mare and Kai Ca$h the rapper, who are both HU students, feature on this album.
To kick off the release of his new project, Mo threw a listening party the night before his album was officially released. Throughout the listening party, guests were able to hear his new project and helped Mo celebrate the completion of the second installment to the ThoroLyfe series.
When it comes to his motivation for entering the music industry, Mo is inspired by two people: his father and rapper Kendrick Lamar. Growing up, Mo witnessed his father being an underground rapper and was exposed to hip-hop music pretty early.
Mo reminisces on a time he saw one of his favorite rappers, Kendrick Lamar, passing out CDs on the streets of L.A. when Kendrick was still an underground rapper. This helped him understand the grind that goes into the music industry.
He has gained more knowledge and experience with the rap game now that he is dropping another album. However, he didn’t start this way.
Mo began by rapping nursery rhymes in his school’s talent show. When he noticed the great response from the crowd, he knew he had a chance in the rap industry. In 10th grade, he started recording songs in his room and posting them on WorldStarHipHop’s site, receiving 100K views.
He has now branched far away from nursery rhymes with new songs such as the crowd favorite “Be About It.” When asked what his favorite song from the album is, he responded, “Choosing one song is like choosing your favorite kid; it’s difficult. I really like “Be About It” and I think the ladies are going to like it, too, because it’s relatable.”
Let’s get into the album cover. The cover art is not reggae related; however, green, yellow and red are colors that represent the Los Angeles city flag. It was only right that he paid homage to his hometown.
In reference to the significance of the “777” on the cover of the album, Mo stated that, “Seven is the number of completeness and perfection. My name, ‘MoThoro’ [is a play on the word] ‘thorough,’ [which] means ‘complete or to your best ability.’ I feel like the number ‘seven’ represents me as an artist.”
Mo mentioned that on this project, he challenged himself by stepping out of his comfort zone and singing more. He also was able to produce majority of the tracks on his album by himself.
So, what should fans expect next from MoThoro? He plans to continue working in the studio and to promote the album even more. Mo and Kai Ca$h are working on a project together, so stay tuned.
ThoroLyfe: Execution is available on iTunes, Spotify, SoundCloud, Tidal, Google Play and Amazon. You can also access MoThoro’s new album by scanning the QR reader below using the QR Reader app on your iPhone.
The Hampton Script 