Maxo Kream

The art of storytelling flows through Maxo Kream. Tales pour out of him like steam, taking you through the family history, natural disasters and street escapades that made him. Born Emekwanem Ogugua Biosah Jr. in Houston, Texas, in 1990, Maxo grew up in the suburbs surrounded by a family of intellectuals. But at the age of 12, his father was locked up, and Maxo’s whole life changed. His family moved to the hood. He joined up with the Crips. He went from listening to the 2Pac his mum played around the house to seeing himself in street-oriented MCs like 50 Cent and The Game. He struggled, and he brought that struggle into his work. Maxo’s complicated relationship to his lifestyle and father ties into his music—on his thrilling 2016 breakout The Persona Tape and his serrated debut album Punken, but most prominently on his soulful 2019 release Brandon Banks. On “Bissonnet”, the sombre second track off the latter record, Maxo breathlessly recounts the day his father was taken away by police, describing feeling like a bastard and sparring with his mother. You also hear his regional influences—the locomotive style of Southern pioneers like Bun B and Project Pat bleeds into Maxo’s flow, giving his writing the texture of a diary entry. These moments of vulnerability pervade his catalogue of trunk-rattling music, a dichotomy that captures Maxo Kream, Southern street poet, in full.