Creativity is a surge of truth and the urge to make things better where it seems to be all bad. Being creative doesn’t mean to focus on society’s hope and desires for a person but to rally against it and make a story for yourself. Artist Marshall Cottrell also known as Sk Da Sensei focuses on this aspect as he works on his craft and building up the Dojo he put his blood in.
Sk Da Sensei is a south side Chicago artist from the Auburn Gresham area. He grew up when Chief Keef had his start and saw this as a chance to make something different for himself instead of becoming a statistic in society. With various artists from Playboi Carti to Lil Wayne being his influences you can depict Sk Da Sensei’s versatility as an artist. He can go from being a lyrical hypnotizer on his song Dark Knights, to showing vulnerability in Butterflies ft. Noire, and go straight to reminding everyone he’s on top with Cappin’ ft. El Rell. No matter the style and the message he is putting across he makes sure nothing is fabricated. Along with his music he focuses on his way of living with the Dojo.
The Dojo is a way of life Sk Da Sensei established in 2018. Dojo represents a movement of people bettering themselves in whatever avenue of life that you want. Not only is a Dojo a movement but a group of friends that rap and much more. They aren’t like the Migos but more like Odd Future. Music that comes from these artists within the Dojo like Sk Da Sensei himself are versatile. Rappers in the Dojo are Sk Da Sensei himself, N8TE, Mari Mix, NOIRE, J Larro, K-dolla, Tokio, and Kyoto. To enhance the production of artists’ music there is Ezekiel and Thaddeus while Jared entertains everyone. The Dojo is very unique and isn’t similar to other groups out today.
Although Dojo has a major impact on Sk Da Sensei music it isn’t the only thing he’s focused on. As mentioned before he is a rapper and has various projects out. Two of his most important projects are “The Test of Time” and “Reflection of Me.” Both of these projects gave him the chance to step outside of his comfort zone and give his audience more than expected. With “Reflection of Me” Sk Da Sensei didn’t want it to be like every other project he’s done before. He wanted to show everyone that he is more versatile than what they thought and he succeeded just that. With that being in mind he embodied the way of the Dojo by showing people never set a limit on an artist because you don’t know how they can better and expand themselves.
With the Dojo being a way of life Sk Da Sensei focuses the purpose of the Dojo in his music. Sk states, “ I want my music to inspire people to keep grinding and working their ass off. I feel like in this day and age people don’t think they can attain their dream but I want to show them that it’s still possible in this fucked up world.” Overall Sk Da Sensei wants people and artists to follow their dreams regardless of what people say. He wants people to keep pushing and moving forward because you never know what will happen.
This won’t be the last you’ll hear about Sk Da Sensei. He has a bright future on his hands and a positive message to spread through his art and the Dojo. Recently the Dojo did a show at the Canopy Club on March 13 and if you weren’t there you truly missed out. Even if you missed out on that performance there are many more projects to come like Dojo’s group EP called The Wave coming soon. To hear more about Sk Da Sensei you can find him on Apple Music, Spotify, and SoundCloud under his name; Sk Da Sensei.
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