The Beast
Philadelphia, PA
www.Myspace.com/terrellroper
The Beast, aka Terrell Roper, fashions music out of the beats and experiences of life. Born and raised in a rough neighborhood in southwest Philadelphia, Terrell is now a student at Lebanon Valley College where he is currently an English Communications major, focusing on radio. He also co-founded a production company, SIN Productions (SIN=Struggle is Necessary), with his brother and James Yanisko, a fellow student.
Terrell creates music out of words that come right from life layered over carefully crafted beats. His songs are sometimes light and fun and taken from something he sees in life, or they are deep, coming right from his soul about life, love, and loss.
Terrell is a hip-hop artist, but does not consider himself tied down to any one category. It’s not gangster rap, but at the same time it’s not all love ballads. His lyrics span almost any subject matter, but the most important thing is that they are an expression of him. Once he has lyrics in his mind, he might sit in front of a computer with ProTools (or Fruity Loops less often) to create a drum pattern. After that pattern is cemented, the rest of his back beats come into place. His influences include Naz, LL Cool J, 2 Pac, and from outside the hip hop realm, Stevie Wonder, amongst others. Terrell listens to and appreciates a wide variety of music including Maroon 5, Kanye West, Ludacris, All American Rejects, basically any music which he can relate to it.
Whenever he performs, Terrell caters to the crowd. Like any artist, he feeds off their energy. If someone is paying good money to see a concert, then they deserve the best show. That’s how he feels. He started performing in his church choir. Members of his family were very involved in choirs, and they toured all over. His first solo performance was actually in church, before he started writing for himself. He was nervous and the words were going in and out of his head, but like any performance, you can’t stop. You have to keep going. People started standing up and were really energized. “The crowd’s reaction was amazing,” he said. People wanted pictures and autographs, and “I wasn’t even famous”… yet…
Terrell writes because he wants to get through to people. Some of his songs talk about some deep and personal subjects. It was tough growing up for Terrell. He compared the style to 2 Pac, where a man can come through struggles and not give up; he avoids being a product of his environment. Though right now he is focused on radio and marketing, and trying to figure out what stations are looking for in their hit singles, Terrell continues to write and perform. He has the goal of some day being signed to a record label, like Atlantic or Universal, where their marketing team would really work with him. He hopes that in the coming year he will put out some mix tapes and possibly a DVD.
You can listen to a sampling of music by The Beast at www.myspace.com/terrellroper. Keep an eye on the site for updates on performances and new music!