User:Johnte' Davis

Meet Johnte Davis. A 17-year old from Rocky Mount, North Carolina who splits his time between high school and working as a pharmacy technician at CVS. But like many other kids who have grown up in the hip-hop culture, Johnte is an up-and-coming rap artist who has caught the attention of some of the industry’s most influential tastemakers, and without any support, landed his rap video, “Red Monkey Jeans” into rotation on BET’s 106 & Park.

“ ‘Red Monkey Jeans’ are a fashion statement. They are denim jeans that have intricate designs, that are hand-stitched…I think you can only get the jeans online,” he says of the subject of his song. “I first started playing [the song] around town to see if they liked it and I got positive feedback. My dad got him some numbers from BET and sent the video to BET, and they told him to send a package, bio, CD, a little information and that’s what he did. BET...started to put my video into rotation and that’s how it really got out there,” says Johnte.

And in this day and age of hip-hop fashion, Johnte is savvy enough to know that being fashion conscious in hip-hop is the way to catch people’s attention. “Hip hop has a big influence on fashion because kids nowadays, they see the superstars or hip-hop artists in certain clothing and then they want it. They are basically modeling the jeans for the people and getting the images into the people’s heads,” he says.

And according to Johnte, his song has helped the denim line appeal to the urban consumer. “The clothing company knows about the song. They told me that they really liked it. They’ve done a lot of things for me after hearing the song,” says Johnte.

The video for “Red Monkey Jeans” is currently playing on BET, but that hasn’t stopped the up-and-coming rapper from aspiring to become a doctor. That might be part of the reason why he’s decided to take a different approach to the genre. “I bring a clean aspect to the game. I’m like the only person really doing it to the fullest potential, no cursing, no vulgar images against women.” He adds, “You are basically branded by what you do, so you have to tread lightly.”