Rapper Skripture Returns to Tennessee State Studies

Skripture took a semester off.

Amid the changing landscape of urban music, one Tennessee State University student aims to stake his claim among the sea of artists claiming to “keep it real.” Releasing his third full studio album since he began at Tennessee State in 2001, Skripture seeks a place on hip-hop’s main stage with his new album, "Rumors."

The album arrives just as Skripture, whose real name is Mike Foy, returns to Tennessee State after a semester off working for the Walt Disney Co. as a "ride operation specialist" at Epcot Center. While in Florida, Skripture met music industry executives and producers who allowed him to gain more experience in the music that has become his passion.

“I love music,” Skripture, a senior majoring in mass communications, said of hip-hop. “I’ve been working to get my music out there to the masses. I had to move to another level to get it there. I made a lot of connections and I learned a lot.”

His stage name derives from Scriptures. "When you think of Scriptures, you think of memorable things, and I aim to say memorable things that are both interesting and inspiring," he said.

Returning to Nashville and Tennessee State last fall, Skripture was welcomed not only by friends but by a slew of untrue assumptions. Rumors about where he had been began to circulate among the student body.

“People were shocked to see me,” Skripture said. “I heard I had been shot, locked up, had to leave town and all kinds of mess.”

Skripture said the climate was both therapeutic and inspirational for the process of writing songs for his album.

The rumors "helped him get the concept for the album,” said Faheem Goree, a senior from Washington, D.C., majoring in speech communication. “He didn’t really tell anyone where he was going when he left town. I even heard rumors of him being dead.”

While the rumors surfaced, Skripture went into the studio to make sense of it all. They provided the fuel for the material as well as the drive to make an album he felt was better than any he had done before.

“I like the album,” said Kimberly Lester, a freshman from Chicago majoring in biology. “It’s different and that’s good. I get tired of everyone doing the same thing all the time. I bought it at the club and I love it.”

The independently released long play is Skripture’s attempt to make a mainstream name for himself as well as make money. All studio time, album production and general distribution is being handled by the artist himself.

“I was tired of dealing with other people regarding my career,” Skripture said.

Goree said, “In terms of production and money spent, this is his best album to date. It is very professional, not like a lot of independent artists out now.”

Skripture decided to push the album on the streets and place a few on consignment in record stores. Though there is new buzz, he still has to face naysayers.

“He did better on his production this time,” said a junior who wanted to remain anonymous. “I still don’t feel like he is a real [emcee]. Hip-hop is something you live, and I just don’t believe he lived it.” Skripture, who says he comes from Clarksville, Tenn., by way of Connecticut, is white and grew up living above the poverty line.

This album is Skripture’s most personal, and on several tracks he focuses on his own experience. He discusses personal issues with his family in the song "In My Life," for example.

The album has caught on so much that it has attracted online bootleggers.

“The bootlegging is kind of sad,” Goree said. “It’s hurting him because he’s losing money he needs, but in terms of publicity it's great because he’s getting his name out there.”

The bootleg versions are sold alongside albums by platinum-selling hip-hop artists such as 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg.

“I think I finally have something that is ready for mainstream listeners,” Skripture said.

Gregory Brand Jr., a student at Tennessee State University, is senior visuals editor for the Meter.

Posted April 18, 2005