Emanuel Da Prophet regularly reflects on his challenging adolescence, amazed that he’s even alive, let alone that he gets to live his dream as a rapper collaborating with some of the biggest artists in music, from Lil Yachty and Quaco to Rich the Kid and Rylo Rodriguez. He’s the first artist to come from the buzzed-about partnership between the recently-relaunched Tamla Records/Capitol and Encouragement Music, back by Quality Control and founded by longtime QC engineer/A&R Thomas “Tillie” Mann. Emanuel recalls that, like many young people in his small hometown of Jackson, Michigan, he didn’t think he had many options beyond a lifestyle littered with drugs, gun violence, and dead-ends. It was a dangerous game of survival until he was shot and he was given a major wake-up call with a renewed sense of purpose. Now, Emanuel Da Prophet is passionate about speaking to the same streets about the same situations he came from, only now with a message of inspiration that there is a better way.