Last Saturday, Kevin Liles and London on da Track partnered with Verizon looking for the next big freestyle artist. One week later, Verizon is happy to announce the winner is from Annapolis, Maryland and goes by the name of Tre’ da Kid. The competition was very tight, as there was some wicked freestyle lyricists in the competition. See if you recognize any of the following names from previous competitions or mixtapes; Tre’ Da Kid, 29, of Annapolis; Doughh, 25, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; D$G Dae, 18, of Alexandria, Virginia; Kelechi, 25, of Atlanta; Klee, 31, of Raleigh, North Carolina, and O-Slice, 22, of Washington, D.C. The only unfortunate part was that there could only be one winner.
After defeating the six other finalists, Tre’ walked away with a single deal with Kevin Liles’ Co Founder of 300 Entertainment, a $10K grand prize, a chance to go into the studio with London on da Track and see what kind of magic they can create. Now the good news for all seven finalists is that they will all have the chance to open up for a 300 Entertainment artist on a national tour within the next coming year. They were able to showcase their talent in front of some pretty heavyweight music execs and producers who’ve built credible reputations. At the judges’ table alone was music producer Nitty Beatz, Spotify’s Global Head of Hip Hop Tuma Basa and music executive Danny Su Griffin.
Winner Tre’ Da Kid shared the fact that he recently lost his mother, he was a finalist in BET’s “106th & Park’s” Freestyle Friday in 2011, and just two weeks ago he was posting a video to Twitter about entering the #Freestyle50 challenge.
Before the competition began, we got a change to speak with Liles to ask why it’s important to have these competitions. Liles expressed his gratitude to be able to partner with Verizon and stated, “The Freestyle50 challenge has given me the amazing opportunity to discover new talent.”
As we close out the year of 2016, I hope when you read about success stories like this you can appreciate bigger brands like Verizon and McDonald’s corporations who bring opportunity to the table; but it really boils down to you and every talented person out there seizing the opportunity and act on it by paying it forward. Making changes in your life to get the win all depends on how hard you believe in yourself and step forward, accept the challenge and act on it. Special thanks to Verizon, 300 Entertainment, Kevin Liles and London on da Track for your collaboration on this project.
The Verizon Freestyle50 Challenge was inspired by Verizon’s 7GBs for $50 prepaid offer exclusively at Walmart.
Check out the photo gallery, after the break.
