Myron Reed On The Release Of New Rap Album, Black Lives Matter & His Homage To Muhammad Ali
Photo Credit: MLW
Myron Reed is one of wrestling’s most groundbreaking stars from an in-ring perspective, but the MLW Middleweight Champion also is looking to make waves for himself from a musical standpoint. Reed took a major step in that direction when his debut album, Bangers 4Ever was released on all major platforms last Friday.
In an interview with WrestleZone’s Dominic DeAngelo on the MLW website, the leader of Injustice talked about how his passion for music and wrestling were always neck and neck with each other and how he made the most of his downtime by finally getting his album pieced together. Reed reveals that not all the tracks were made in swift succession but over the course of longer periods of time.
“They were all made in such different times, like three of the songs were made like ‘Barely Livin,’ ‘Flames,’ songs like that were made last year so that was the vibe I had last year and then I was making more in between now and that time.” Reed does share some of the tunes that are significant to him on B4E, but he thinks “Skybox” will be the show-stealer.
“It’s going to catch a lot of people off guard because they’re not going to expect what they get,” he said. Reed makes it known that the album has less of the storytelling aspect in exchange for being more anthem driven, something that he finds useful in channeling energy before a big match.
“I love music. It’s what gets me going and what drives me and there’s certain parts of music in different songs that’ll drive you. It can change a whole mood, you know what I’m saying?”
Reed does happen to have several wrestling tees out, once of which features him the the classic position of Muhammad Ali staring down at a fallen Sonny Liston and Myron lets fans know that there’s more to that tee than what meets the eye as he and CEO Court Bauer worked together on it’s design.
“On the shirt, me and Court were kind of going back and forth on the whole Muhammad Ali thing because you know, he’s from Louisville just like me and my whole goal is just to be a big inspiration not only to the fans, but just to my city,” Reed said. “Like I want to come out and do something different because everyone from Louisville it’s what? Basketball players, rappers, like I want to be ‘that wrestler’ that came out of Louisville. You know what I mean? That blew up. If you look at guys like The Rock, he’s known as one of the greatest of all time, everybody knows his name. That’s my goal, That’s the goal in life.”
“Definitely had to pay homage,” Reed added regarding Ali.
#INJUSTICE‘s @TheBadReed is fired up after #INJUSTICE found themselves in #CONTRA’s sights. Grab the latest Myron Reed tee available at https://t.co/WI9aMQ4q6r and support the Young GOAT!
Young GOAT: https://t.co/UhkKQpw2Go pic.twitter.com/cdgw6ENyxj
— Major League Wrestling (@MLW) May 21, 2020
The other shirt Reed and his Injustice colleagues have out is one that features the MLW infamous #Injustice name tape that Myron always wears across his signature chest protector. The fantastic aspect of this tee is that 100% of the proceeds go to the NAACP. Considering society’s current climate and situation, the tee speaks very much towards Black Lives Matter and Reed gave some insight on to how the design of the shirt does so.
“My thoughts on this, I feel like the shirt didn’t have to be too much, you know, because this whole movement, it’s not a lot,” he said. “The simple things we’re asking for as black people in America, like we just want, we want equality. And it’s not something you have to look too far into, it’s just people being treated equally you know?
“I have to leave the house and when I leave my house everyday, I’m fearful of getting pulled over even though I drive like a normal person like I’m still fearful of being pulled over. I could easily just ‘fit’ someone’s description or I look like this person or ‘we look like the suspect’ or something. It could be anything. You just never know and it’s very scary.”
Reed loves that so many people are protesting positively for such an important cause, but he does get aggravated by the people who try to make it about themselves or have a different agenda that distorts the true message.
“It gets frustrating and that’s what we’re protesting. A lot of people are out here protesting equality and people are seeing through it or being selfish about it and it bothers me so I don’t really try to speak too too much about it cause I don’t want to get angry cause it’s shit I had to deal with all my life, you know what I mean? I’ve just pretty much become just like numb to it and try and move forward and be strong about it because my mom was a single mom and she was strong and I gotta be the same way. I gotta be strong not only for myself, but like my son, my girlfriend, my family, my fans. So like at the end of the day I’m just doing what’s best for me and the situation.”
.@MLW just dropped a new shirt with @TheBadReed and @TheJordanOliver to raise money for @NAACP. 100% of the profits will be donated to the organization.https://t.co/uimpgl0Mpe#BlackLivesMatter #INJUSTICE pic.twitter.com/hAiKWn9536
— Harry (@harryaaron) June 1, 2020
Despite so much of the tragedy being the reason for the protests, Reed does see something very positive coming out of it all.
“I’m feeling it too. I promise I’m feeling it too. In the beginning, when it was first starting out, it was just every night getting on and seeing people post like racist shit and it’s just like, ‘Oh my God, I gotta get off social media tonight. I can’t, I can’t. I gotta get off before I get angry,’ because I’d go to bed every night, like three, four nights, just pissed off. Like how don’t you see what we’re trying to say? It’s not that hard, it’s really not. You can’t really get your head out of your butt to see what is going on in the world? And the people that are standing behind us, and it’s mostly white people protesting. This shit’s amazing. I’m so proud of America for this, but I’m also not, you know what I mean? It’s baby steps but like shit’s working, like shit’s happening.”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
Reed and DeAngelo also discuss the new era of Injustice, Reed’s reign so far as Middleweight Champion and cap off the conversation with plenty of video game talk. Listen to all of the audio below.
WrestleZone · Myron Reed Talks His New Album ‘Bangers 4Ever’ & His Reign As MLW Middleweight Champion (Exclusive)
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You can listen to Bangers 4Ever below!
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