Deshawn White

Deshawn White (born July 3, 1986) is an American rapper and singer-songwriter from Johnson City, Tennessee. He has released three albums, an EP, and several singles since 2007.
White was raised in Johnson City, Tennessee. He began his music career writing music for mass audiences, but later became a pastor and shifted his music to Christian audiences. By 2017, White had a family of his own and moved from Johnson City, Tennessee, to Umatilla, Florida to pastor at Victory Church. White made the local news for being the first African-American pastor at the church. He stayed less than a year and moved back home to Tennessee to promote racial reconciliation in his old home with a team of pastors, law enforcement officers, and other leaders.
White has also received nomination for Independent Music Award for Best Song - Rap or Hip-Hop.
==Discography==
Album 	Year	Record label
My Story 	2007	Deshawn White
E.T. Phone Home 	2010	Cash Money / Full Grind
Hold On (single) 	2011	Deshawn White
Before the Ceiling Falls 	2015	
Dance Party (single) 	2018	323 Records
Power Trippin 	2018	323 Records
Good Thing 	2020	Deshawn White
Trayvon (single) 	2020	McArthur Deshawn White
Blood in the Water (single)	2021	323 Records
=== Side projects and other releases ===
*Run This featuring Kaliah (single) (2020, Deshawn White Music) 
*Sauce Inme featuring Kia Shine (single) (2020, 323 Records)
*Control (single) (2021, 323 Records)
==Early life==
White was born on July 3, 1986 in Johnson City, TN. He was raised in Johnson City and had developed an early interest in a diverse range of musical genre. Through his childhood, he largely influenced by Linkin Park to 2 Pac, he literally listened to every single songs from them. The life turned upside down and inside out, when he first heard the late rapper DMX, his raw, violent sound that helped him to express some of the mental turmoil he was experiencing. It was tough for him to grow up in the Carver projects, but music served as an escape for him.
==Music career==
White began his career seven years later recording his first song on a karaoke machine. In 2007, his first recorded single, "Drop It To The Ground" was played on a local radio station and quickly gained early popularity. It helped White to gain recognition and started taking his music career seriously. In November of 2007, shortly after releasing his first studio album titled My Story, he began opening for all the major artists who visited the Tri-Cities, Tennessee area, his popularity grew quickly, and he landed a single on a local radio station. The second song from this album, "East Tennessee," was a huge hit in East Tennessee and swiftly rose to national prominence.
Bryan "Birdman" Williams, a rapper from Kingsport, Tennessee (15 miles from White's birthplace), was one of 16 persons arrested and charged with possession of marijuana on November 29, 2007. It was one of the most unfortunate events for Williams life and career. The Full Grind production crew, which was formerly associated with White's production company, was able to tour Bryan and his team about the region as they awaited their hearing, thanks to a series of circumstances. As a result of this, Deshawn was able to go behind the scenes with Cash Money Records and gain valuable experience. In 2010, while on tour with Cash Money Records, he recorded and released a mixtape titled "ET Phone Home." "What Up," a single from the mixtape that featured Memphis rapper Yo Gotti, was among the tracks on the project which was produced by Hot Rod, who is also a native of Memphis.
After a few months, White decided to quit the music business in order to "discover himself." In the course of Lil Wayne's "Americas Most Wanted" tour, he had an experience that he deceived as "a God moment." He returned to Johnson City and embarked on a spiritual quest that included studies of Islam and Christianity.
Influenced from his spiritual learning, "Hold On" was his first Christian song, which he released in 2011. In 2015, he released his first full-length Christian album "Before The Ceiling Falls". In 2018, the rapper formed his own record label, 323 Records, and began carving out his own niche in the music industry by combining an inspiring type of music with a pop sensibility. "Dance Party" and "Power Trippin," his first two songs, received national and international recognition when they peaked at #84 on the Digital Radio Tracker top 150 independent airplay list and #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
In May 2019, he released an EP titled "Power Trip," which was influenced from politically charged. The EP includes the singles "Dance Party" and "Power Trippin," which both reached the top of the charts. An unexpected single from the EP "Blood In The Water" would, however, be the one that catapulted his career to the next level a year after its initial release. The single had received over 2,000,000 Spotify streams and was continuing to gain popularity at a rapid rate that he has not expected. However, the track, as well as the rest of the "Power Trip" EP, would eventually be scrapped due to a sample that had been accidentally left in the mix. Although a new version of "Blood in the Water" was made and re-released, it failed to get the same kind of attention as the previous version. As of 2021, he has not yet released a new version of "Power Trip."
Following the success of "Power Trip," he released an R&B/hip-hop EP named "Good Thing" in March of 2020. The body of work would find a home in the R&B music charts on iTunes, where it would debut at #8. Considering that the R&B EP was a big departure from the rapper's previous work, he immediately followed it up with a hard-hitting single named "Trayvon," which is a song that emphasises social justice. He also released the cheerful single "Sauce Inme," which features Grammy and BMI award-winning composer and producer Kia Shine. While working on his full-length album, he released a tribute song for Spider-Man: No Way Home on November 5, 2021, which was published while he was still working on his full-length album.
==In the media==
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==References==
==External links==
* Official website
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Category:1986 births
Category:American Pentecostal pastors
Category:American male rappers
Category:Rappers from Tennessee