Straight out of Daytona Beach, Florida, comes one of the most exciting, compelling, and unique hip-hop and R&B artists the world has ever known. His name is Matthew Tyler Musto, although his fans know him better as Blackbear. He’s put an entirely new spin on hip hop, playing jump rope with different genres that few artists have ever dreamed of mixing with hip hop & R&B. In some ways, Blackbear is known best as a producer, helping artists like Justin Bieber, Nick Jonas, Ellie Goulding, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, Machine Gun Kelly, Charlie Puth, and others create hit songs, even co-writing Bieber’s hit “Boyfriend.” But as great as Blackbear is at helping other musicians, he’s even better on stage performing his own songs, making it a treat for music fans of all genres to experience one of his shows in person.

Musical Roots

For an artist who dabbles primarily in the world of hip-hop and R&B, Blackbear has rather interesting musical roots. He was first introduced to music through punk and pop-punk groups like Blink 182, New Found Glory, Rancid, and Alkaline Trio. That’s not exactly a straight line to hip hop, especially since Blackbear was the lead singer of a punk band while in high school. He would eventually drop out of school to focus on music and then leave his band to launch a solo career. That’s when his punk roots started to transform into hip hop and R&B music, creating a sound that is completely unique to Blackbear that some have tried to describe as alternative rap, emo rap, or alternative R&B. But no matter how you try to describe it, Blackbear’s music is something special that demands to be heard in person.

On the Cloud

Not only does Blackbear bring a unique sound to the music industry, but he was also a trailblazer when it came to using SoundCloud to gain notoriety and make money as an artist. Several of his songs have received hundreds of millions of streams online while also putting him on the Billboard Top 100 charts. Blackbear has continued to use SoundCloud and the Internet to experiment with new sounds, giving his fans a chance to listen to his new material every step of the way. Of course, streaming music online only goes so far. For a unique artist like Blackbear, who has a long string of hits, seeing him perform live is the only way to truly appreciate everything he brings to the table musically.