Stemming from the oft-overlooked city of Tacoma Washington, hip hop artist King Leez is bringing his momentum to the rapidly growing Seattle hip hop scene. Growing up Leez started to learn song structure from watching music videos with his mother, and listening to his brother’s old cassette tapes of Wu-Tang, Ol Dirty Bastard, Too Short, E-40, and more. His passion progressed from freestyling on karaoke machines to headlining local parties. After realizing his potential to profit from music he decided to take rap serious, and started with the name Leezy Soprano. “On the streets, people call me T-Lay so Leez stems from Lay,” he explains.

West Coast luminary Kokane has been an influential mentor to Leez, appearing on songs with him and Kurupt, spearheading his movement past the Northwest. However Leez's journey took an unexpected turn when one of his rap partners got shot. He sadly recalls, “I just took a break. I was going through it for a few years.”

Now Leez is all in. The past year he collaborated with Pusha T, Kevin Gates, Smoke DZA, and opened for Dej Loaf. Recently after developing a genuine relationship with Raz Simone, Leez partnered up with Raz's Seattle based Black Umbrella company. His latest project "Supreme Being" is available for free download on http://www.kingleez.com/.

jmarz89@ is following