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"Far too Young to be Wisdom"

Nigel Marsh once said, “There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.”

Newton’s Third Law states that when a first body exerts a force on a second body, the second body exerts a force on the first that is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Markus Evans is that second force.

When we are young, we are told that we can be anyone and do anything, that every dream we have is precious and must be protected. Our potential is vast and immeasurable. What we want to do when we “grow up” is the subject of every conversation. We believe in ourselves as future doctors and dancers and NBA players and astrophysicists. Then slowly, subtly, barely noticeably, our dreams become less important. With every average grade or lost game or missed opportunity, our “potential” is reduced. People stop asking what we want to be when we grow up because they think they know what we’re capable of, or not, for that matter. Some people tell us we can’t succeed, so we blame them. We believe in those people, and stop believing in ourselves. Our concept of our potential dwindles down until we trade our dreams in for “practicality”, for security, for nothing.

Few of us are brave enough to walk through the wreckage of a failed dream, to pick up the pieces and start again. Markus is one of those few. “I was recently asked what I want to do when I grow up, which is something I haven’t been asked in a long time. For the first time in my life, I answered it from a completely new perspective—a perspective you can only gain after having lived a number of years. I want to serve as proof that dreams really can become reality. If you want success as badly as you want to breathe, there’s nothing that can stop you.”

The humble beginnings of Markus’s dream started much like any other hip hop artist: in his fifth-grade bedroom with his best friend, simply rhyming. Since then, that simple act of rhyming has evolved into a lifestyle dedicated to pure creation. But he never could’ve anticipated just how far his pursuit would take him, or just how much of himself he would have to give up.

“My grandmother once told me that the key to finding happiness in a career is to do something you would do even if you didn't get paid. Music is that thing. Of course she didn't mean to drop out of school to rap… But that's what I did." In January 2008, Markus dropped out of Colorado State University, and in the two years it took to gather the resources to return to school for music, he launched a moving company, ran a landscaping business, and did construction, roofing, and tiling, all the while second guessing the weight of his dream. With every swing of the hammer in that muggy, scorching Carolina summer, with the threat of heat stroke always on the horizon, his ball and chain got tighter and heavier. "I knew it wasn't what I should be doing, but I had to do it to get to where I wanted to be. I seriously questioned whether I'd be doing construction for the rest of my life, and there was a period when the people closest to me were openly skeptic about my ability to make it and constantly questioned my goals and desires." Then Markus did what many of us never have the courage to do: he revolted against what people expected of him. But he didn't just revolt, he delivered a counterattack. He embraced everyone's negativity, everyone's skepticism, everyone's qualms, and used it to fuel his fire.

He enrolled in Full Sail University--a school with outrageous tuition for a degree that hardly guarantees a job, let alone success if you're lucky to get that job. He went from being a below average student at CSU to the kid with all the answers at Full Sail. He graduated at the top of his class, winning multiple awards along the way, including the most prestigious award Full Sail bestows. Immediately after graduation, he landed an unpaid internship with Blue Note Records in New York City. "I was living in the projects in west New York, sleeping on a stained futon…" (Which wasn't nearly as bad as the concrete floor he would be sleeping on six months later.) "In an entire year, I slept in a bed one time, that one time being when a girl invited me over." Too bad she didn't invite him over more than once.

After the internship ended, Markus turned down a paid position at Blue Note Records in LA in favor of yet another unpaid internship, this time at Fifth Element--the official retailer of Rhymesayers Entertainment, his favorite record label, in Minnesota…in the middle of winter. Enough said. "I turned down other opportunities to make money in favor of something that had an intangible value outside of a salary. I took a leap of faith and moved to Minnesota with no job, and no place to live." But instead of feeling like he had taken a step backwards, he was confident he was one step closer.

"You have to be willing to sacrifice what you are and what you have in order to become what you want to be. Some people can't imagine living life without job security, a bed, TV, a car, a place to live, etc. I've given up all of that and more. Once you bounce back from pain and realize failure will only shape you into what you want to become, sacrificing is no longer a compromise, but a necessity." For every sacrifice that chiseled off a little bit of "Markus", a little bit more of "WhizDumb" fell together. WhizDumb is an identity that represents more of an idea than anything else: the idea that you can creatively manifest your own future. Hip hop is his vehicle in doing that. "Hip hop is unlimited creativity, pure innovation. It's the exploration of the human mind as it relates to society. Hip hop has the power to communicate a message in a way that is unparalleled to any other genre of music. It's the voice of our generation."

"I'm not trying to revolutionize hip hop or 'change the game.' I want to develop an outlet for dynamic talent to successfully pursue their dreams, a community of likeminded people--likeminded artists--who have an overwhelming drive and desire to accomplish something at all costs. I think artists are some of the strongest people in society. We constantly have to overcome insecurities and have to learn how to cope with vulnerability in the public eye. We deal with rejection and discouragement on a daily basis, people who tell us to get 'a real job', that we're dreamers and nothing more. There is no Plan B for us. Plan B is to go back to Plan A and try again."

What separates WhizDumb from other rappers is his objective balance in viewing himself as any other artist on his startup label, and any other artist he's working with. He is able to separate himself from ego and from self-centered goals. Just last year, he was managing Myke Charles, and in a spectacularly short amount of time, he secured MC a television segment on PBS, an interview with XXL Magazine, placements in Colorado Music Buzz Magazine and The Westword, radio exposure with WKRP Trevor Rocks Denver, and a booking at the EMI Artist Lounge in NYC for a private showcase with Capitol Records and Blue Note Records. WhizDumb poured all of his effort into establishing an artist when he wasn't even established himself. That's unique. WhizDumb is currently working on his debut album and further establishing his record label--Organeyes Rhyme. The inspiration driving him is the goal of creating a new community within the hip hop culture that allows for additional expression of its collective participants, and making really, really good music, of course.

The latest manifestation of this dream is his music video "Take The Turnpike." "When I look at the song, in all honesty, it represents a high level of collaboration. The beautiful thing about this video is it's the first time I've brought together so many people's individual talents for one song, to make it entertaining for people to watch. There are a lot of people who helped me out, and too often artists take all the credit for their music. I'm just the messenger. It's still very explorative, and we're still trying to figure out our own sound; I'm sure in five years it'll be nostalgic to look back on." He laughs the laugh of someone who realizes his best efforts are still a work in progress, and knows those efforts will be judged, but was willing to take the risk anyways.

The song is a reflection of a greater trend in his music that explores the truth that lies somewhere in between polar opposites that share a common thread. "Take these two opposing statements: 'the time is now or never', and 'it's never too late.' Neither of those statements holds any ground. My music, and this song in particular, is about discovering the parallel universe that exists in that 'gray area.' It's not always so black and white." When we reject what we think we know, we can reach a greater balance, a higher state of being. "WhizDumb is about achieving your higher self, while also being humble. People often ask me why I spell 'WhizDumb' the way I do, it's because I'm far too young to be 'Wisdom.'"

Markus Evans lives for that moment--that moment when Newton's Law has never held more truth, and you know because you're living proof, because for every person that has pushed you down, you're pushing back, just as hard. It's that moment when you remember what it was like to be a child, when you could have had the whole world if you wanted it. It's that perfect, weightless moment when the beat vibrates through your heart and the lyrics reach out and grab your soul and time stands still because every single second you put towards that moment, you realize, is worth it. It's that moment when your dreams come true.

What are you waiting for?