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On the one hand, it’s a shame that Anthony Rian, the gentlemen who raps under the name TOPE, took off from his original hometown of Portland before he could hopefully catch the wave that is sweeping along artists like The Last Artful, Dodgr and Myke Bogan. But his new base of operations in the Bay Area has lit a fresh fire in this young rhymer’s soul as heard on his recently released EP Some Things Gotta Change.
That fire was nearly extinguished though. After moving to California, Rian has gone through a lot of trials, from a relationship break up to financial calamities to, most recently, having his laptop stolen with all of his new music on it. With far more strength than I could muster up, he headed right back to the studio to bring some of those lost tracks back to the life and write new material that documented the struggles of the last two years.
From the look and sound of this new video for his track “How I Know,” things are most definitely looking up for Rian. The sun is still shining, he can still spit rhymes like a fiend, and he’s still standing upright, throwing two middle fingers to the President. Seems to me TOPE is just getting warmed up.