THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay area music writer and artist Adam Cherry, also known as “Hot Rapz,” is in the ‘America's Next Top Hitmaker’ contest.
“The contest is run by Rolling Stones Magazine," Cherry said in an interview on Monday.
For Cherry, music has helped him through rough times and allowed him to enjoy life more.
“I always sang unprofessional wise when I was a kid. For instance, I sing in my house like a lot of people may do. I remember my mom one day saying, ‘Oh, your voice is so good.’
“She’d have rock 'n' roll play and stuff like that. I’d sometimes sing Rod Stewart.”
Cherry said before becoming more professional with music, he met someone who became influential in his career.
“I met a music artist by the name of Louie Rankin and he was known for a big hit called ‘Typewriter’ back in the nineties . . . We met just randomly one night.
“I introduced myself, he introduced himself and I was thinking, 'That name's familiar.’ I was talking with him. Then we just started hanging out and were constantly hanging out from 2013 up until his passing in 2019."
Cherry said on a drive together, he started singing and Rankin was “blown away from it.”
The America’s Next Top Hitmaker contest is entirely promoted by the artists that are competing in it, using social media.
“With it, they want us basically to promote ourselves. For instance, I just put out a couple polls and stuff like that to spread the word a little bit,” he said.
Cherry has advanced past the first round and is within the top 20. He is currently in the second round where he must finish in the top 15.
Currently, Cherry is in sixth place.
“Being sixth right now, I'm really happy, but some of my supporters are saying that I should be number one,” he said.
The contest is based on a voting system, Cherry said.
“With the contest, basically everybody can vote free once a day if they want to go online and sign up or otherwise, they can pay a charitable donation and then all those charitable votes are a dollar a vote.”
The winner of the contest will appear in Rolling Stone, win $10,000, and perform at Rolling Stone's Future of Music showcase in Austin, Texas.
To vote for Hot Rapz in the contest you can visit this link, where you can also hear his music.
The champion of this year’s competition will get a unique opportunity - an exclusive mentoring session with the iconic Busta Rhymes.
America’s Next Top Hitmaker operates as a fundraiser on behalf of DTCare, a nationally registered charitable organization. Funds from the competition go to DTCare, which will issue a grant to MusiCares after the competition ends.
