The Hook Whisperer™
Anthiny King (fka Anthony King) has always been surrounded by music. “I was never the same once I learned to record myself. From using tape recorders in high school to eventually upgrading to computer programs, I realized that I had a love for both music and the process of recording music. It became my purpose.”
Anthony J. Lezama Jr. is a native of New York City, of West Indian descent. Raised predominantly in Harlem, he began writing rhymes at the age of 14, influenced by a close friend in high school. His family also had a love of music, so the sound of legendary soul artists filled the air daily. After hearing Kanye West’s debut album, “The College Dropout”, he grew fascinated with rap music and thus started to study the art of Hip Hop. He was known as a frequent participant in “poetry slams” in school, and soon was self-taught in audio engineering and producing music. He decided to further his music education in college, and this is when Anthiny King was truly born.
In 2012, Anthiny King began to explore his creative abilities by incorporating singing into his music. These efforts would soon land him a feature on the single, “Live For Today” along with Jadakiss, Fabolous, Bun B and Rob Zoe. The single was featured on famed producers Sean C & LV’s debut album. In the years that followed, King could be heard on many collaborations, and also began to release solo projects to showcase his ever-growing style (which many praised as ahead of its time). He released his boom-bap inspired mixtape, “Black Cassette” which included a guest feature from legendary battle rapper Loaded Lux on the single, “On The Westside”. That song would later help influence the production of J. Cole’s song, “January 28th”, off his grammy-nominated “2014 Forest Hills Drive” album.
King released his next project, “The Mood EP”, another fan and critically acclaimed project that surfaced just before the emergence of the trap (element) style of R&B that is often heard today; a sound once again ahead of its time. As he continued his collaborations throughout the industry, King decided to try some experimental sounds, which led to his next project, “Suburban Low”. He was (and still is) determined to continue to grow and push his creative limits as an artist.
In 2019, he released his long-awaited debut album as an independent artist, “Parallels”. One of his most meaningful projects to date, all 11 tracks were recorded, mixed and mastered himself. It symbolized the parallel paths of artist/audio engineer and rapper/singer, as he got to fully control the overall sound and cohesiveness of the project. In February 2021, Anthiny King released a relationship-themed joint project with former Young Money artist, Jae Millz, entitled "Much Love". With multiple tracks under their belts as collaborators, it seemed like a natural progression with their music relationship. Both artists wanted to surprise fans by showing different sides of themselves with a more mature and “grown and sexy” project. “Much Love” has gotten many positive reviews and has become a highlight in the music catalogues of both artists.
Top wrestling organization AEW released a compilation album titled Who We Are: A Celebration of Excellence, Vol. 1 on Feb. 18, 2022 to commerate Black History Month. The 21-track album was intended to "bring to life the stories of more than twenty Black AEW wrestlers through the music of established hip-hop and R&B artists." Anthiny King was honored to be a part of the track, “Knockout: The Jade Cargill Story” in honor of the TBS Women’s Champion (as of the release of the album). The album was produced by AEW Music's Mikey Rukus and featured legendary musician Bootsy Collins. Proceeds from the album's CD sales went to the Boosty Collins Foundation. Anthiny King will also be included on the upcoming Who We Are: Vol. 2.
To continue his path in the Pro Wrestling world, he is now the host of “The Weekly Rap Up”, which gives a summary of Pro Wrestling shows, primarily AEW Dynamite. AEW Wrestlers and Talent give beat challenges to Anthiny King’s digital Avatar, who raps a summary of the events of each week’s show. Beat Challenges have included stars Swerve Strickland, Prince NaNa, John Silver, Brody King, Keith Lee and Darby Allin.
With over 200 tracks publicly available (including collaborations/engineering credit) to date, and many more ready to be released onto the world, Anthiny King has no intent on stopping.