From the streets to the booth this up and coming recording artist has ambition to make it to the mountain top.
“To3tagga,” born Antory Cooper Oct. 24, 1991 in Shreveport, is not only a rapper but a student at Grambling State University.
Cooper has been active in events throughout campus such as participating in the lyrical quest shows and he was chosen to be one of the opening acts for Wale and August Alsina during homecoming last November.
Life for Cooper was not always easy but instead very challenging.
He was born in nearby Shreveport but raised in Dallas most of his life. Tragedy struck Cooper in 2005 when he suddenly became homeless.
”Dallas is a drug city and during the time a lot was going on, my parents ended up falling victim to the streets and drugs,” Cooper said.
He has always felt the need to stay by himself and not get too involved into the crowd or the streets.
”I never actually stayed in the hood, I never was a gangster or a troublemaker, I stayed to myself and by doing that I believe people gravitated to me,” Cooper said.
After going to multiple schools and always being the new guy, Cooper settled back in Shreveport in 2010 where he graduated from Fair Park High School.
Before rap, Cooper was a rawer and he considered himself as a poet. He used this at the time to bring out his creativity and to talk about his struggles during his life.
”Growing up was a struggle, and I love to show my creativity, I wanted to express what I seen for instance my mother played both roles and for most of my life my father wasn’t really in the picture until I was 18,” Cooper said.
During the middle school and high school years, Cooper found his love in music. He found himself making music during the rough times throughout his life.
”Once I was in the 11th grade, I had a cousin that really saw my talent and she pushed me to go further and to pursue my dream”, Cooper said.
Cooper remembers his first recording titled “Making moves”, he strongly believes he has come a long way.
”The first time I recorded a song I has a computer microphone and I taped a sock around it, everything was horrible but this was a great wake up call to do better,” Cooper said.
Local Shreveport artists heard the track and from there he had been featured on a couple tracks from the artists.
Cooper created a buzz in Shreveport and started going by the name “To3tagga”.
“I chose this name because it stuck with me, I feel it is original and it has no meaning and I feel I can market this name,” Cooper said.
His first mix tape was called “I am” and according to Cooper it was unwritten. This tape talked about his personal struggles and relationship issues at the time.
Cooper also appeared on the “318 cypher” in Shreveport and this freestyle elevated his popularity even further.
“The 318 cypher is where everything really started to come together, I give special thanks to Kristi Woodard because she helped me to market myself and she helped me to learn how to really battle rap,” Cooper said.
After graduating from Southern University at Shreveport, cooper attended GSU.
“Since I’ve been at here at Grambling I went from doing shows to every two months to doing shows every other week,” Cooper said.
During spring fest 2013, Cooper was very determined to show well known artist Ace Hood his skills on a demo tape.
“I decided to sneak into the concert, I took a lot of preparation and scoping to plan how I was going to get away with sneaking in, coach P caught me but let me in because he saw how determined I was to get in,” Cooper said.
He gave his tape to Ace Hood at the end of the show and he quickly said, “You have a CD called starvation and I am hungry and I’m trying to eat too.”
“Epiphanated” is the new up and coming mix tape under the name To3tagga. This tape has a mix between the 90s flavor and the new beats. The album producers who worked on the tape are Arcadium, digital beatz, fallout beats and more.
“This mix tape will show creativity, originality, and it will make you think when you listen to the lyrics,” Cooper said.