Hailing from Southside Atlanta–Riverdale, to be exact– Lord Sand$ is a product of his environment, and we mean that in the best way possible. The 25-year old rapper ​has looked death in the eyes on multiple occasions, pronounced dead on the ER table twice in the same night as a child and has suffered from a rare and serious disorder of the skin, Stevens Johnson syndrome, that he shares with TDE emcee, Ab-Soul. The close call left him covered in scars and clinically blind in his right eye, but he still stands, so he’s making sure he stands for something, and above all, standing out. ​

It wasn’t only Sand$’ disease that tried to keep him down in this life. Before realizing his rap dreams, he was a college football player with a bright future, until an opposing player did him dirty, and a single play left him with four injuries: a torn ACL, MCL, PCL, and dislocated kneecap. With all the odds against him, Sand$ still prevailed and found his place in music.

The emcee’s eerily close calls with death may be the inspiration behind his rather grim sound & style. He actually used to rhyme under the name Big Grimm, releasing his first mixtape back in 2012, called The Taste Test, released on DatPiff. The mixtape secured around 3,000 downloads and nearly 9,000 streams. The Lex Luger-produced single, “Straight Drop” got the attention of DJ Kay Slay, who threw it in the rotation on his Shade 45 radio show. Quite an accomplishment for the new artist, especially considering it was only the third full song he had ever written in his life. Achievements like that, in conjunction with the fact that Sand$ has survived when he wasn’t supposed to, keep him pushing and striving in an industry where only the great ones make it.

​The same theme is prevalent in his current music, now under the moniker Lord Sand$. His latest single, “Trap Of Dreams,” is dark & menacing, ​with the eerie backdrop provided by MPC Cartel. Take a listen here and be on the lookout for more from Lord Sand$ soon as he plots his takeover of the rap game.

https://soundcloud.com/lordsands/trap-of-dreams-prod-by-mpc-cartel

While you’re browsing Respect looking for new music, make sure you take a look at Saba’s latest, “Soap Box,” and Rick Ross’s remix of Kanye’s “Famous.”

The post Lord Sand$ Invites Us To His ‘Trap Of Dreams’ appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.