St. Louis is a mainstay on lists of the top cities for homegrown music and entertainment. Forbes and NPR Music recently made nods to St. Louis’ homegrown hip-hop talent, contributions to the genre and bustling music scene and ecosystem.
St. Louis hip-hop artist Muhammad "Mvstermind" Austin is focused on fostering growth in St. Louis’ music scene.
Austin has performed across the country as an independent artist since 2009. Ten years into his career, he started supporting fellow artists through performance workshops, instructing them on the lessons he had to learn through trial and error. He found that many people dream of becoming a star, but most can barely perform without losing their breath after one song, let alone get through a proper soundcheck.
Austin has hosted Mvstercamp for four years now. The intensive, six-day course teaches skills including guerilla marketing and techniques to maintain energy while performing onstage.
Austin told St. Louis on the Air that he first realized his own shortcomings while watching a friend conduct a proper soundcheck. “[When I did soundchecks] I [got] on the mic and [said], ‘Yo, yo, yo! All right, fresh. Sounds good!’” he said. “[When] I watched him do his mic check … [he checked] the sound projection, straight from him to the speaker, and knowing that, oh, he's standing in a very specific way.”
Mvstercamp participants won’t have to wait long to apply their fresh set of skills. The free workshop culminates at Music at the Intersection, a music festival hosted by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation in Midtown, where the artists will perform in front of festival goers on a pop-up stage.
Austin’s passion for sustaining local musicians led him to a position with St. Louis City SC as director of musical experience, a title that he was able to build for himself. He was inspired by Detroit-born, Grammy-nominated rapper Big Sean and his similar title with NBA’s Detroit Pistons.
“Seeing a sports franchise tap into the actual community, to really personify who their community is and how to interact, how to engage, how to be authentic … that was something that really clicked,” Austin said. “How do we set the tone musically to represent us for decades to come? Connecting with [City SC], we work together and we brought it to life. Every day it’s so many beautiful platforms that are being built for artists.”
For more on Muhammad 'Mvstermind' Austin’s drive to proudly represent for St. Louis and fellow musicians and how he manifested his role with City SC while journaling — years before St. Louis even made a bid for an MLS team — listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast by clicking the play button below.
Related Event
What: Mvstercamp 2023 applications
When: Applications are due Aug. 13
Where: www.mvstercamp.com
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production intern. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
