Pittsburgh rapper and entrepreneur Blacc Cuzz moved from behind the scenes into the vocal booth after switching gears from running his record label to making his own songs. Steely lyrics about street life, drug dealing, and incarceration made up the rapper's dense, trappy singles and culminated in his first mixtape, 2019's Stretch It. Blacc Cuzz was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and originally applied his love of music to supporting other rappers with his label Dream Big Empire. After a few less than prosperous business ventures, he found himself slightly disillusioned. He tagged along on an 8Ball and MJG tour and was inspired to start rapping himself. In 2018, Blacc Cuzz's first songs materialized, comprised of hard-hitting trap beats, inventive sample manipulation, and lyrics about the glory and pain of street life. After releasing singles such as "I'm Rich," "All on Me," and "Thug Cry" throughout 2018 and early 2019, he issued the seven-track project Stretch It in the summer of 2019. ~ Fred Thomas