Orangeburg rappers win big at SC Music Awards

Two Orangeburg rappers are still reveling in their recent double wins at the SC Music Awards.

Justen Glover and Brian Raines, known as Roc & Yella, took home awards for Best Album and Group/Duo Of The Year.

“It is a blessing,” Roc said. “To finally be noticed on a statewide level, it was like everything was starting to pay off.”

“We were so amused and amazed,” Yella added.

Roc & Yella’s winning album, “Ain’t No Loyalty,” was produced by DJ Burn One. Winners were selected by online voting. The album tracks are meant to be relatable and motivational, Roc said. “You can party to it. You can get out of bad emotions. It will uplift you.”

The songs cover topics like relationship problems, losing friends to jail, and “what we go through on a day-to-day basis,” Roc said.

“I want somebody to feel touched and feel like I’m with them, like I’m going through what you’re going through,” Yella said. “There’s something on the album for everybody.”

SC Music Award co-producers Shera Bass and Marcus Housey said the Best Album and Duo of the Year recognitions were well deserved.

“I have personally watched them for the last six years. I can honestly say these two gentlemen have put in a lot of work. They are exceptional artists,” Bass said. In the nine years of the SC Music Awards, Roc & Yella have been nominated but never won until this year, Housey added.

The two rappers, who are cousins, grew up together in Orangeburg and started making music when they were 12 years old.

“We always knew we wanted to do something that got us attention. We were always standout guys in high school, from the way we dressed to how we cut our hair,” Roc said. Music became a way to garner more attention and make a name for themselves, but they found the path was not obstacle-free.

Both contend they found little support from the music industry in South Carolina.

“It’s like people want to see you do good, but they don’t want to see you do better than them, so it’s like it’s crabs in a bucket out here,” Yella said.

There were successes, like their songs getting some play in Africa and Japan. And rapper Yo Gotti tweeted positively about their music, they said.

“We just pushed and let our work speak for itself, because home is the first to hate you and the last to love you,” Roc said.

Following the duo’s SC Music Awards wins, they said they plan to continue working on their music, traveling to and from Atlanta for shows and collaborations, as well as continuing to develop their own label, Money Gang America.

“We want what the world has to offer,” Roc said.