In a musical era where mainstream rap seems to be taking over, true creative hip-hop still lingers in the shadows. Local musician Mohammad Sabri, who goes by the stage name Mo Sabri the Overnight Classic, has recently experienced national acclaim and success.

The 19-year-old university honor scholar and native of Johnson City is a pre-med student at ETSU as well as a hip-hop artist hoping to make it big.

Sabri’s Youtube videos are currently pushing about a half million views. Sabri says he is about taking his musical career as far as he can and credits his interest in playing a variety of musical instruments as the real strength of his music.

“I play all of the instruments that are recorded with guitar, piano and bass and I produce my own music,” Sabri said.

When it comes to classifying his music, Sabri does not settle on one genre.

“I would say it is hip-hop with a lot of different elements because I listen to all different types of music from rock and rap to techno and dance,” he says.

Sabri’s current release, the Alter Ego Mixtape, can be downloaded for free on iTunes.

On the mixtape, Sabri samples tracks such as “What’s My Age Again” by Blink 182, “Kids” by MGMT and “Love” by Elton John. Although his previous works include songs by other artists, his debut album comes out in March and will feature music that has been written, produced and performed solely by Sabri.

“I am basically approaching this album like a person writing a rock album would do,” Sabri said. “I compose all of the music on guitar and then change up the instruments and play different things while on a track.”

Sabri says he believes that he has found himself in a very different category considering that most hip-hop artists are very hands off with the instruments and concentrate solely on their lyrics.

Sabri says he wants to be involved in both sides of the making of a track.

“I come from a musician background and I have always liked to rap, but I didn’t do it seriously until around a year ago,” Sabri says. “Basically, I do all of the stuff you see and I still have a long way to go, but I would not have come as far as I have without being able to do it all myself.”

Sabri has had the opportunity to watch his music spread virally across the web through Facebook and YouTube.

“I made a video in the studio for my Kids remix and put it up on Facebook, it just spread from there, and now it’s got 150,000 views,” Sabri says.

Sabri composed the theme song for the Science Hill Hilltoppers and credits his hometown for a lot of opportunities that have come his way.

As an aspiring musician, touring has been one of the most rewarding experiences Sabri said.

“I’ve played many big shows including the House of Blues in Dallas, University of Texas, University of Kansas and University of Connecticut,” Sabri says.

“All of those shows were sold out and the House of Blues was probably the biggest one with about 1,000 people there.”

Sabri has been approached by major record labels and is hoping to tour England some time this summer.

Sabri recognizes that his journey to success will continue to be hard work, especially as he works on finishing school.

Sabri says that during his times of touring, he would be doing school work during the week and traveling and performing on the weekend.

Sabri says he hopes to continues to develop as a musical artist.

“Most people are searching for a record deal, and although I am not opposed to a record deal, I am going to take this as far as I can because things have been moving on their own.”

Sabri will be performing in Johnson City toward the end of April. For more infor0mation on Sabri and his music, visit these websites: youtube.com/overnightclassic, and itunes.com/mosabri.

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