Questions and Lies

Black Sheep Optimists - Questions and Lies

Maneikis, vocalist for Austin's "Black Sheep Optimists" featuring Daryl Uberoi (Van Aarde) and David Price, is a rapper and educator from Boston, MA whose mission is to use his platform to inspire the next generation to chase their dreams while living authentic, empathetic lives as conscious citizens of the world.  

Growing up, he was a shy child and found himself writing poetry at a young age.  He was fascinated by Hip-Hop during high school, but usually found himself as a spectator during the after-school cyphers.  It wasn't until his college years at BC that he shared his poetry with an audience, and he soon began working with his cousin, DJ Enlyte, to put those words to a beat.  After a few years of struggling to find his voice in the studio, Maneikis moved to Austin, TX and began performing at open mics to hone his craft.  It was at these open mics that he met many of his future collaborators (Jackie Venson, Clint Manning, Raul Ochoa, and Samantha Lee) and also discovered his lane in Hip-Hop.  What started as self-discovery turned into a life mission as Maneikis performed under the name RNAtheMESSENGER for 3 years rapping about love, friendship. philosophy, politics, and the art of writing itself.  After releasing his 2nd project, "Here Cometh The Dreamer", Maneikis teamed up Diego Lozano (www.diegolozano.net) to make music videos for his songs Mechanical Hounds (https://youtu.be/8iOkB4JIROE) and American Dreams (https://youtu.be/lwqspgcpRtA).  American Dreams has been highly lauded as one of the best rap videos ever made in Austin, TX and is the lead single from his album "American Subconscious". 

Maneikis has been compared to Blue Scholars, Atmosphere, Eminem, and Tupac, though his favorite emcees are Kanye West and Lauryn Hill.  His music will elicit strong imagery in the mind of his audience and will take you down a rabbit hole of self-reflection and outward awareness.

CONCUSSION is his third music video with Director Diego Lozano