By Logan Lafferty
Murphy News Service
The jazz playing softly through the speakers at the Black Dog Café in St. Paul provides the coffee-drinkers a soothing environment. They either read or converse quietly with the others at their table. Then Joshua Evans walks in.
His appearance is immediately striking. A large stocking cap attempts to contain his dreadlocks. Large silver headphones hang around his neck. His boots have been hastily painted over in strokes of red and white. He’s wearing red-rimmed glasses and he’s smiling from ear to ear.
Evans goes by the moniker deM atlaS. He was signed in the fall to Rhymesayers Entertainment, an independent music label that was founded in Minneapolis in 1995 and has since become recognized internationally.
The personal history on Evans goes like this: Born in Ohio, moved to Minnesota at a young age; raised by a single mother .
In high school the started his music career as the front man of his band, The Argonauts. Then he took his talents solo and began performing shows in Dinkytown and around the Twin Cities.
“I was enjoying myself. When I was living over in Dinkytown during the summer, I’d play like three shows a week,” Evans says. “I’d bike to all these joints and just play shows all the time. It was a really beautiful time.”
Typically, it takes an artist several years to gain enough notoriety to be signed to a label, if at all.
Evans fast-tracked, taking just a little more than a year.
Kevin Beacham, a Twin Cities hip-hop fixture and Rhymesayers associate, was searching for new local music he’d never heard before. He posted on Facebook asking people what their favorite local hip-hop was. One name was repeatedly listed that he wasn’t familiar with – deM atlaS.
“In one of those responses someone posted the video for his song ‘Charlie Brown’,” Beacham said. “I watched it and was immediately hooked.”
He then sent the video to Rhymesayers co-CEO Siddiq. They agreed they needed to find Evans and ask him for more music. Beacham reached out to Evans and asked if he’d like to open up for Grieves, another Rhymesayers artist.
Several things stood out to Beacham after watching Evans perform. He’s a talented songwriter who is adept at technical rapping, but can also use his voice very melodically. He has a way of connecting with people and leaving a positive impression. He comes off as humble and genuine.
“Watching him perform or just hearing him talk, you get the sense that he really cares,” Beacham said. “He’s vulnerable and comfortable. He has an amazing amount of potential.”
Evans has begun reaching audiences all over Minnesota. Sam Calcagno, an aspiring rapper from Rochester who goes by the name Sam Phoenix, describes Evans as someone he draws inspiration from. “He’s got a style all his own and a sound that you don’t typically hear in rap,” Calcagno said. “The [Charlie Brown] samples he uses I like a lot, so I try to do similar stuff with my music.”
Evans is an incoming freshman among seasoned seniors within the Rhymesayers roster, . Toki Wright, a long-time Rhymesayers artist and community activist, is optimistic about the impact that he will have on hip-hop.
“I think deM atlaS is part of this new wave of really talented young people that are going against the grain,” Wright said. “You know, being original in themselves and not caring what’s acceptable or not acceptable. So much of our society is conforming to what’s normal, and we’ve got to break out of that cycle. People like him are important for that.”
Evans smiles as he sips his coffee and reflects on the thought process behind his style and his most recent EP “Charlie Brown.” He’s said in the past that he relates very much to Charles Schultz’s cartoon character.
“He reminds me of me verbatim,” Evans said. “The idea of Charlie Brown is really cool to me because he’s kind of a depressing figure. He’s always thinking, ‘Why am I not significant? Why do I feel so insignificant? Why do my peers make me feel so bad?’ He’s always getting so caught up and depressed.”
This aspect of the iconic cartoon character draws parallels to his own life. Being the youngest in his family, Evans often felt inadequate, overlooked and sometimes not seen at all. He said that he would feel like nobody would listen to him when saying something, and people looked through him rather than at him.
The passion that drives Evans is apparent when he talks about how much his life has changed since signing with Rhymesayers. After flunking out of Inver Hills Community College, Evans would sometimes just lie in his bed feeling depressed. He’d migrate to the basement of his mom’s house and write songs. Now he’s touring around the country and playing packed shows with his heroes.
His biggest performance to date was in May of this year at the Soundset Festival in Shakopee. It is an annual hip-hop festival put on by Rhymesayers that brings in big names in the genre as well as tens of thousands of attendees. One of the major performers at the event was hip-hop legend Nas, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his iconic album Illmatic. Sharing a stage with Nas has a very significant meaning for Evans.
“In high school I was really into art, and I made my favorite piece of art while listening to Illmatic,” Evans said. “I was going through a lot in my life and it was at that time I drew this piece of art that influenced and inspired the name deM atlaS.”
Evans exudes passion, and that becomes obvious immediately upon meeting him. The meaning behind the name “deM atlaS” is a duality that derives from his outlook on life in general. “Dem is, as the name sounds, the unenlightened. It is the human, the human aspect that makes mistakes. It’s trying to find where it’s at,” explained Evans. “Atlas already knows where it’s at because atlas is everything. Atlas encompasses all of dem.”
His philosophy can even be seen in the manner in which he presents the name, choosing to capitalize the letters at the end of the words rather than the beginning. This is in reference to the idiom that nice guys finish last. Too often do nice guys and gals finish last, and it’s “high time they’re given their due praise,” he said.
But the work, not the praise, is what drives Evans. “What matters is what you leave behind. You don’t do it to receive anything or get praise or whatever. You do it because you truly believe in your work and your craft. It’s not about awards or having your face on billboards. It’s about making your art last. I really believe in that.”
Logan Lafferty is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.
Joshua Evans
Stage name: deM atlaS
Job Title: Rapper
Label: Rhymesayers Entertainment
Age: 21
Birthplace: Ohio
Current: St. Paul, MN
Education: Eagan High School (2010)