A collage of feelings and perspectives, emotions and ego, hope, menace and all of the Black inbetween. Shades of Black comes as a semi-reflection of displacement - of being away from home for two years, of nearing return - particularly the last few months where a lot of extremes, good and bad, have manifest.

The Black Marshall Scholar

Deshawn McKinney is a rapper, poet, writer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A champion of not sacrificing the important pieces of yourself to accomplish your dreams, he carries all aspects of what shaped him into his music - from the northside to his degrees to his travels around the world.

Be all parts of yourself, by which I mean never let the world tell you that you aren't made of multitudes, by which I mean be free. Welcome to the Free Wave.