Conversations with Honasty Blade

Today we’d like to introduce you to Honasty Blade.

Hi Honasty , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started rapping, writing and recording at the age of eleven years old. My name was H2O. My two uncles and my older brother were my first influences. At the time, my uncles went by the names Lyrical Lord and Uncle Uno. My brother went by the name of Lil Weedy. My uncle Lyriko Lord was the first person to take me to a recording studio. This was back when we used a device called A DAT to save the files from the recording session.

Me and both of my uncles would write our verses before arriving at the studio. Once we arrived, we would wait about an hour or so for the engineer/producer to make a beat. Once it was completed, we would record our vocals. My older brother Lil’ Weedy never made it to the recording studio. He passed away at the age of 17, due to various medical complications.

At this time, I was 13 years old. After he passed away, I vowed to take music more seriously and I did. From that point on, I changed my name to Ace and began to record music more, perform live and participate in rap battles.

Around the age of 15, I met a barber through both of my uncles by the name of Eddie Hands. He owned a barbershop named Uppercut. He also rapped and made music. He became another one of my influences. As our relationship grew, he took a liking to me and he would take me with him when he would run errands. While with him, we would freestyle to instrumentals as we rode together in his car.

Through Eddie Hands, I met Skrill Gates, an artist from the group named Adrenalyn Rush. We all rapped together and made songs. We weren’t a group but moreso a collective.

Eventually, I learned that Randall Park Mall had a studio inside of it called 3D studios. I went there to record music and further develop my skills. While there, I met Drastic, a very developed and battled tested MC who had already won a championship belt for battling at a platform called Spitboxers.

I also met DJ Joey Fingaz, a production group named Chemical Kick Drumz, various other artists and the owner of the studio at the time, David Ford.

David Ford showed interest in me as an artist and wanted to place me in an artist development program. He met with my parents to talk about this but nothing ever came of it and. I’m not sure why.

At the other end of Randall Mall, there was a rap battle platform called Ground Zero. It was a rap battle event that was organized by a church. Every Saturday night, they put on the event. The contestants had to battle each other and win using no profanity. The winner of the night would earn $100 cash.

I won battles 15 weeks in a row and everytime I won, I would take my winnings down to 3D studios to record music. This helped me develop my MC’ing and recording skills.

Eddie Hands took me to Spitboxers where I met the legendary Suave Goddi. Spitboxers was an event where the most skilled MC’s would attend, perform their music and even battle at the end of the night. I remember meeting Osage, Imagination, RifRaf, King Dom, Superman, Chico and many more artists. I remember seeing Iron Solomon and Osage battle before I knew who Iron Solomon was. The Spitboxers scene was very influential to my development as an MC.

I never got the chance to win belt because at the time, I was 17 years old and the event would start around 10pm and sometimes would not end until 2am or 3am. I was living with my parents so there were times where I wasn’t allowed to come back the following Tuesday, which meant that I couldn’t defend my win from the previous week. It was a great experience, still.

As the years went on I continued to meet new engineers and producers, record albums, perform more, improve my stage presence and build my skills. There were many moments in my life where I could’ve lost my drive or creativity because of adversity or circumstances but I was not discouraged.

I will never stop making music. I feel it is my obligation to rap and make music, in honor of my brother Lil’ Weedy. He lives through me.

This is my story.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. When I was 17, I was a victim of a stabbing. It was a jealous ex boyfriend of the girlfriend I had at the time. I went to the hospital and got stitches. This was not directly related to music but it could have been a severe enough injury to affect my ability to make music. Thank God that it did not.

A separate struggle was me going to jail years later. At 27, I went to jail for fleeing and eluding the police. This was not characteristic of me. At the time, I was dating a girl I had met from Toledo and I was very naive to her character and how serious the circumstances were. I did not know her as well as I thought and I did not respect the fact of her having to heal her traumas that she had at the time. We had a passionate but very toxic relationship. We fought many times. This resulted in her calling the police on me and me going to jail. I was incarcerated for 4 months and during that time, I never stopped writing and rapping. My inspiration and motivation never wavered.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I currently am licensed in Health and Life insurance in the state of Ohio. In 2018 I became licensed as an agent to sell health insurance. I worked as an agent until I was promoted to a Quality Analyst. I now audit the enrollments of licensed Medicare agents to ensure quality and compliance to the federal regulations set by CMS and Medicare. I also am an experienced shoe technician. I worked at Cleveland Hopkins airport for many years and I honed the skill of shoe shining. After working at the airport, I invested in the equipment and supplies needed and started my own business called “An Honest Touch Shoe Care.”

I am proud of this skill.

I think what sets me apart from others is my character. I do my absolute best to be transparent and upstanding in all that I do. I am by no means a perfect person. However, character is important to me. I ensure that my character is genuine, positive and respectable to the best of my ability. I do my best to make sure that I am a person that both children and elders take a liking to.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success as simply accomplishing whatever I have set my mind to. It can be as simple as going to the store or opening a store.

Musically, I want to make enough income from my catalog of music to be able to support myself and my family. I am open to touring as well. Another avenue I am interested in is sync licensing. I’d like to have my music appear in TV, film and video games.

As I am now, I am tremendously successful. I have a beautiful family, a beautiful wife who loves me and I am healthy. The career and music ambitions are a bonus to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://honastyblademusic.bandcamp.com/music
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honasty_blade_music?igsh=MWZzbW52b29xdjNpNQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EjGabrss9/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@absolutehonastyblade?si=kRp83_XyVFWhmNdx