Turner Jackson

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]M[/dropcap]aking art is all about sharing a personal journey, and no one has captured this better than local Denver rapper Turner Jackson. His latest record, Red Plastic Cup, is all about growing up, and the changes that come with maturity.

“My music has definitely grown over the years, and has kind of formed an identity of its own, as has the Denver rap scene” he told CULTURE. “When I started rapping in Denver it didn’t really have an identity and was only backpack rap west of Colorado Boulevard and gangster rap east of Colorado Boulevard. I love the hip-hop community and supporting it, but I don’t know that its necessarily the style I am trying to take on. Red Plastic Cup is not so much a hip-hop album; I’m rapping and stuff, but it’s a pop record, and has more mass appeal rather than specific genre appeal. I do more work with people who aren’t hip-hop artists than anything else.”

“To me this record, the theme of it in my brain, is like a coming-of-age movie,” he continued. “So like any song that could be in Superbad or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, anything like that, that’s the sound of this, Red Plastic Cup. Different albums I’ve made have different sounds, but this is more along the lines of what I’m trying to get into—you can place where each song is supposed to be in your life.”

Turner is all for legalization, and attributes cannabis’ creativity enhancement as one of the reasons freestyling comes so easily.

“I love to freestyle—that’s one of my favorite things—and after I smoke it has my brain working a little bit better,” he laughs. “The reds are more red and the blues are more blue—I’m able to make better freestyles and rap songs. It enhances the creative process.”

“I’m the kind of person that if I’m gonna smoke weed I’m gonna smoke,” he added. “But it’s good that the taxes from it now go to funding schools and positive things. I can see where it has definitely had an effect on different socioeconomic groups as far as legalization goes. But I’m all for people having access to it, especially little kids who have cancer and things like that, and that’s amazing.”

However, Turner differs in one key way from other cannabis smoking rappers—you won’t catch him writing lyrics focused around cannabis use.

“I don’t rap about sex and I don’t rap about weed—only because its cliché,” he explained. “I rap about maybe smoking, but not like a weed song. It may just be part of the scenery of the situation.”

Check out Turner Jackson’s most recent record Red Plastic Cup, out now, and look out for his appearance at local shows during the upcoming months.

IN CONCERT

May 20 @ Cervantes with Lil B and Joey Purp