Once-Homeless Rapper’s Song About Living Out of His Car Goes Viral

We’ve covered some pretty impressive “novelty” rap lately — like 16-year-old Indonesian rap god Rich Chigga and Epic Rap Battles’ badass Alexander the Great vs. Ivan the Terrible battle. But up-and-coming rapper Old Man Saxon doesn’t need gimmicks to grab our attention — just real, raw honesty about tough times.

Old Man Saxon, whose music is available on Spotify and iTunes, spent some time living out of his car. His new song and video, “The Perils,” tells his story.

His video reached the front page of the popular subreddit /r/HipHopHeads, where users compared him favorably to ScHoolboy Q, Earl Sweatshirt, and others. That post led to an interview in Mic where he goes into detail about how he recorded this song to raise awareness of the realities of homelessness. The whole interview is worth a read, but here’s an excerpt:

“I always liked hearing rappers speak about their homeless life in two or three words, but I always wanted to hear more about that,” Saxon wrote. “Poverty is always spoken in past tense. But on ‘The Perils,’ that reality for me is where the real story is. I want to move people, not impress people.”

Like what you’re hearing? Here’s another song of his:

What do you think? Did Old Man Saxon’s video touch your heart? Let us know in the comments below or @WhatsTrending on Twitter!