Photo by Matt Marcinkowski
When Muhammad Austin chose the name MVSTERMIND for his hip-hop performance alter ego, he was on to something. Arguably it’s not so much an alter ego as it is an extension of the 26-year-old’s personality. He’s not shy about noting his skills at updating “a dry-erase board at my crib. It’s all about keeping up with my monthly to-do list, then my weekly, then my daily. Then I’m constantly rearranging those for my three- and five-year plans.” It’s not a humblebrag when he says, “Planning is all I do.”
Those plans recently resulted in an EP, “Cusp.” “I’m approaching another tier,” he says. “I put this one out as a prelude. This is who I am now.” With that EP out in the world and an album-length release coming into focus, he’s spending his days “working on branding, everything relating to my aesthetic. In between, I’m just doing a lot of different demos. I’m getting comfortable with who I am, what I want to express.”
Though Austin’s played a variety of shows and executed a few sharp-looking videos with director Mike Roth (a.k.a. Louis Quatorze), MVSTERMIND’s real introduction to the St. Louis musical community comes this month, at LouFest. The timing of his induction isn’t lost on him: He was able to make a living as an emcee and creator of licensed beats for a couple of years—and then...
“That email caught me at one of the most peculiar times,” he says. “For the first time in two years, I was signing up do something that had nothing to do with music. It was just to make money. I wasn’t feeling that step but needed to accumulate some funds after being self-sufficient for two years with just my music. It was a confirmation and, well, a tear did drop from my eye.
“Things are so connected in my life, and it’s all about being present and feeling really present with who I am and where I can go. Luckily, I got to see that sign, and I was ecstatic.”
Austin’s not concerned with the challenge of performing at a festival; he’s putting together a band that, he hopes, will join MVSTERMIND at LouFest and on the road in the future.
His music, he feels, “grabs everybody, man. It plays to every side of the spectrum. I’m really going to put my name out there… I’m just ready to execute it, prove what I can do. Ultimately, no one knows what my 100 percent is except me. I’m ready.”
Catch MVSTERMIND on LouFest’s Bud Light Stage at noon September 9.
And don't miss
Other STL artists performing at LouFest:
18andCounting & TheOnlyEnsemble: The ferocious live-instrument hip-hop group is fronted by the compelling Stan Chisholm.
Mathias & The Pirates: The veteran St. Louis hip-hop act, tied to the FarFetched collective, is diverse in terms of both material and the acts it appears with.
Beth Bombara: Bombara delivers—as guitar and voice, in a duo, or in a talented large ensemble—with her thoughtful folk-ish rock songs.
Starwolf: The digital presence of this new electronics-tinged band provides humorous (and often false) bio/background bits but only traces of sound.
Jack Grelle: Grelle’s gotten a foothold in country music, but his lyrics, on social and political concerns, are just as powerful as his solid songwriting and talented rotating backing band.
