Some truth / inspiration from the youngin’ John River. When I see / hear what this dude is doing I just hope it somehow influences his contemporaries to also speak and think critically about things that are going on in the world. Woulda loved to have a kid like this as a guest on OTA Live…

20 year old rapper John River speaks about doubt, self belief, racism and the perceptions of high school dropout. Follow John at: https://twitter.com/johnriverftc

John River, born Matthew Jonathan Derrick-Huie was raised in Mississauga Ontario. John is a 20 year old, well-rounded and musically adept rapper/producer who not only conveys his own message and story through his music, but also that of his peers. John River broke into the music industry in early 2012 at the age of 17 when he released his first single, “Every Evening”. The song generated 50,000 views on his YouTube channel, making it the highest played video on his channel thus far. Since “Every Evening”, he has released 5 other songs and their accompanying videos, which have collected a total of 100,000 views on YouTube. John River’s first project, The Calm, released in November of 2012, was critically acclaimed and received positive feedback from various media outlets. John is currently working on his second project entitled The Storm.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

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