Cousin Stizz with special guest Big Leano in Concert
Venue: Old Dominion Ballroom (Squires), Blacksburg
Organizations: Big Leano, Cousin Stizz, Virginia Tech Union
Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Time: 7:00 - 10:00 PM
Event Types: Music
Cost: Free
Description:
The Virginia Tech Union presents Cousin Stizz with special guest Big Leano in concert on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at the Old Dominion Ballroom located within the Squires Student Center on the Virginia Tech campus.

Cousin Stizz is an MC with a direct, laid-back flow and confident lyrics about his life experiences. Experiencing rap fame doesn’t happen where Cousin Stizz is from. Raised with his sisters by both of his parents in the Dorchester area of Boston, Massachusetts the 25-year-old MC didn’t have dreams of becoming the next Jay Z or Nas, he preferred being in the streets with his friends.

His pursuit of paper stemmed from his rough upbringing in Boston, where there would sometimes be less heat and more drama in the household. In his mid-teens, Stizz found a family outside of his home where his closest friends whom he calls his “brothers” encouraged him to pursue a music career.

He met his manager Tim Larew, videographer Goodwin, as well as rapper Michael Christmas in 2012 at a local event called the “12 For 12” cypher series and began turning his freestyles into a future. That’s probably why his 2015 debut mixtape Suffolk County -- home to the standouts “No Bells,” “Fresh Prince” and the Drake-approved “Shoutout” with millions of listens on SoundCloud -- takes a sound trip through Stizz’s city.

Before rapping full-time, he took on the name Cousin Stizz after his childhood friend gave him the name at 12 years old. Stizz was also known as the friendly kid around the neighborhood. “You acting like everybody’s cousin,” his friends would tell him.

Once Stizz started picking up the pen, real-life experience fueled his rhymes, eventually sharpened by life’s lows and highs. “Every single thing I do is real-life experiences. I wish I was one of those people who can just pick a pen up and start talking about anything but I’m not,” he adds. “I’m one of those people who literally thrives on life. If things aren’t going on around me, I probably wouldn’t be able to make really inspiring music.”

Links:

• https://www.facebook.com/cousinstizz
• https://www.twitter.com/CousinStizz

Big Leano is a Boston, Massachusetts rapper.

Links:

• https://soundcloud.com/bigleano
• https://www.facebook.com/bigleano
• https://www.twitter.com/bigleano
• https://www.instagram.com/bigleano/

Admission is free and all are welcome.

Doors open at 7:00 pm and the show starts at 7:30 pm.

To view the event flyer, visit: https://i.imgur.com/I8SwIZn.jpg.

For more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/125642801436314/ or https://www.facebook.com/thevtu/ or http://www.vtu.org.vt.edu/index.html.