I’m back again with a new artist review, and please believe this is an online exclusive! I did my research, and went straight to the source for all facts and information! As far as I know (based on my research), this is the first published article on LA based, Mexican-American rapper, The Natural.

The Natural, A.K.A Joshua Keith is a 26 year old, Mexican-American rapper that resides in Downey, California. He is dual-talented, and uses YouTube for both his music and for comedy sketches and V-logs (Video logs).

“They say you can’t make someone happy if you ain’t  yourself. ..”

-The Natural

And that’s just what he did; as of two months ago YouTube and pursuing his career in music became his full-time job. The Natural has been rapping for 8 years now and first started out on MySpace; this was his main promotional tool, as well as doing small gigs. He managed to juggle his dream and his job at the same time; his 9-5 roles were an insurance agent and a tax preparer.

Prior to writing this article, I hadn’t listened to every single song of his, so I made sure I had heard both albums (plus a collaboration project with Eric Ochoa; haven’t heard the name? Watch this space); and his free mixtape. Out of all four, I was drawn to his mixtape, titled: “A Love That’s Passed Tense; a clever play on words with a metaphorical meaning. This was mixed excellently by DJ Certified.

“This is a mixtape filled with my life long story of love and heartbreak. Compiled of songs dating from 2007-2012, you get a timeline of events. As for the cover and title, you ask? This represents an idea of a recurring situation where a love that was put in the “past” continues to find its way back to the surface. We’ve all been at a point where our relationships reach a tension level that is so overwhelming that “tense” cannot even begin to describe the feeling. It’s beyond that. This is…

A Love That’s Passed Tense.”

-The Natural

Based on the theme of love and heartbreak, you would expect the typical cliché song titles and content, with this mixtape, this was not the case. As each track progressed, I wanted to listen more and more; The Natural cleverly talks about his experiences, through the use of sampled tracks. My favourite tracks on this mixtape are “Give You The World”, “Lost In Love”, and “Walk Away.” The music and lyrics speak to me the most; listening to The Natural’s distinctive voice gets me lost in his storytelling. He has assertiveness and a slight roughness to his voice; but at the same time a nice mellow tone. It’s very difficult for me to explain, but his tone of voice soothes me, and he has the perfect balance overall.

Obviously I am a fan, so I may sound biased, but he truly is talented, and has collaborated on tracks with Traphik (Timothy De La Ghetto), and SuperEeego (Eric Ochoa). Again, if these names don’t ring a bell, stay tuned!

So how does this unsigned artist fund his lifestyle and his projects? Previously The Natural had performed as a solo act at a number of clubs in the L.A and Orange County area; he has also appeared as the supporting act at concert venues for artists such as: Chris Brown, Big Sean, Talib Kweli, Too Short, Wiz Khalifa and more.

As I said earlier, The Natural is dual-talented, as he also uses his comedic skills to entertain his audience on YouTube. He has two channels, one of which he established recently for random, ranting Vlogs; his main channel is used for his music and his comedy sketches.

The Natural (Jkeith112), performs these sketches singularly, and often alongside two other popular YouTube personalities; YoMuscleBoii (Josh Leyva), and JRMun0z (Jorge Munoz). Collectively they are known as J(3), pronounced J-times-three. I highly recommend that you take a look at all three of these guys, as their videos have a variety of characters and situations throughout them!

The Natural’s current project is his upcoming album “Love Overdose”; he is currently working on this, but has released the first single “Me and You”, featuring Jonn Hart. This single can be purchased on ITunes now; and expect the album to be released on ITunes, during the late summer.

Now, I have some exclusive information for you! After contacting The Natural personally, I was told that he is currently in the production stages of a 6-episode online series! I have no clue what it is about, but expect more information on this from him in May.

At the moment, his official website is under construction (itsthenatural.com), and will divert you to his official YouTube page, which is currently at over 1 million views!

I feel that The Natural is about to blow up; so you can thank me for making you aware of his talent before he does! I’m going to wrap this up by urging you to check out The Natural, via the following routes listed below. Enjoy listening guys!

YouTube: “Jkeith112” (main channel).

YouTube: “Thenaturalrants” (second channel).

Facebook: fb/thenaturalmusic

Twitter: @TheNatural