SEATTLE — Hours before Seattle’s historic Showbox theater opens, fans are anxiously waiting to see the man on the marquee.
At just 23, Travis Thompson is in position to be the next hip-hop star from Seattle. It's a far cry from his days driving his parents crazy as a restless boy growing up in Burien.
"My parents are super cool. I grew up skateboarding they kind of had to let go. I was like, 12 or 13, this kid is on some other stuff and he's kinda crazy. They knew I had a good head on my shoulders. I was just kinda lazy if I wasn't super passionate about something." Said Travis.
What Travis has always been passionate about are words.
"I've been writing all my life poems and stories and stuff like that. And in high school, I started doing spoken word poetry in a program called Youth Speaks Seattle.”
That time behind the mike led him to start turning his words into lyrics.
"I just knew at my core I couldn't do poetry forever. I wanted to make music so like my senior year in high school I was all right I'm going to take this seriously."
Travis's talent is clear. But even talent needs training. Something he found at a program for promising young artists called The Residency.
"I learned a lot from it, but the best thing was just meeting other kids from the city that were on the same mindset I was."
Through his recordings and shows, Travis has built a loyal following. But trying to make a name for himself hasn't been easy.
"As soon as thing start going well is when things in your head can start crashing down at the same time, know what I mean?” said Travis. But like every day I'm kinda like learning more to let go and just be and let things happen how they're going to happen."
And now things are really happening. Earlier this year Travis signed a deal with Epic Records and released his first album with the label called Reckless Endangerment.
"It's crazy they're just putting us in front of people who we've never been in front of before and things are really starting to like move."
Travis Thompson knows there's still grinding ahead. But this skater kid from Burien hopes his hip hop ride is just getting started.
"There's obviously goals that I have and things I want to accomplish and things I want to do, but I feel like if I can just do this on a higher scale every couple of years for the rest of my life that's a pretty good life man."
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