If you have been following the ascending career of seventeen-year-old Louisiana sensation LiBand. In that case, you know his heartfelt style of hip hop is heavily influenced by one of his idols, the late and legendary Tupac Shakur. Both emcees’ writing style involves dense soul-influenced lyricism catered to make listeners feel certain emotions about life. 

To show his eternal love for one of his idols, LiBand hops on the timeless beat of Tupac’s classic diss track “Hitem Up” and delivers a clever freestyle in which he flexes serious rapping prowess for his young age. The single is exclusive to YouTube, in which a simple, crisp action-oriented music video accompanies the grit LiBand displays on the track.

A couple of topics Liband addresses on the track is the theme of loyalty and his home state of Louisiana. Few emcees, in general, can hop on an all-time great instrumental and flow with the production so gracefully like LiBand.

“The love I have for Tupac is one of a kind,” he said. “I had to hop on one of my favorite tracks and show the world my talent as a rapper. On the track, I make heavy references to my home of Louisiana and the theme of loyalty.”

The Shreveport native TKA LiBand has been making a name for himself recently with his hit single “Due Date” and an authentic story style of hip hop. Even at a young age, he understands that music is meant to touch people’s lives spiritually, such as the late Tupac did.