Fresno rapper Fashawn's CD earns broad praise

For much of the past year, Fresno rapper Fashawn has been building the résumé of an emerging hip-hop star.

He's toured internationally. Garnered acclaim from the hip-hop press. Made connections with superstars.

It's all led up to this week -- the biggest week of the young rapper's career thus far.

His debut album, "Boy Meets World," will be released internationally on Tuesday via One Records. Major retailers such as Best Buy, Amazon and iTunes will sell the disc.

Fashawn, who is currently touring with hip-hop heavyweight Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan through mid-November (an opportunity for him to get in front of the fans of a well-respected rap veteran), is taking a day off Saturday for his biggest local show -- a CD release concert at Tower Theatre with guest Talib Kweli.

Oh, and on a personal note, he turns 21 on Tuesday.

All this was playing in his head last weekend as he left town on a 5:30 a.m. flight to meet up with the Ghostface tour. It was the first time he'd actually flown out of Fresno, or even been to his hometown airport.

"It was very surreal," says Fashawn, born Santiago Leyva. "Just looking at my whole city from a bird's-eye view, thinking about everything I went through. I never saw my city from that high up. Just to know where I was going, it made me feel amazing."

Boy meets blogs

Around town, Fashawn was first known as "The Phenom," a teenage rapper who had both the verbal ferocity of a young Nas and the down-to-earth appeal of Common.

After growing up mostly in Southeast Fresno, he released his first mixtape (a collection of tracks sometimes given out free for promotional purposes) at the age of 15.

He put out a total of seven mixtapes including his most recent, "The Antidote," with sought-after New York producer The Alchemist.

Fashawn made the usual local rapper steps, performing locally and collaborating with well-known Fresno rappers such as Planet Asia and Diego Redd.

But the Internet is really where he made his name.

"The Antidote" -- offered for free on hip-hop blogs -- ended up getting downloaded more than 50,000 times.

In fact, much of Fashawn's recent success can be attributed to the hip-hop blogosphere -- a growing alternative to mainstream radio, TV and magazines.

Despite his successes, Fashawn still hasn't received support from mainstream radio (even locally), which caters to more pop-oriented acts. That's why the Internet is important to help under-the-radar artists like him build momentum.

In Fashawn's case, many hip-hop sites have promoted the release of "Boy Meets World," (which is entirely produced by sought-after Los Angeles producer Exile) for the better part of six months.

Sites such as Nah Right, On-Smash and 2 Dope Boyz have jumped aboard the Fashawn train, blasting out songs he released and news about the album.

"I'll guarantee you see me on the blogs more than you see me on MTV," Fashawn says, speaking from his hotel room in Tempe, Ariz., before a show that night. "Everything we do -- they post it. I appreciate that. The blogs are definitely very important. I can reach New York and Tokyo at the same time."

And it's paid off, according to early reviews online. Blog comments and Twitter messages are calling "Boy Meets World" hip-hop's album of the year.

One blogger who has been pushing Fashawn is Legend of onsmash.com.

For him, it wasn't only about Fashawn's music, but about supporting a fellow local guy. Legend (aka Mark Iraheta) lives in Kingsburg.

"I knew he had dope material," Legend says. "I knew he was an excellent artist, and, for me, he was from my city, why not try to push him? It's definitely good to see people from your area win too, especially since you believe in the music."