Shawn Chrystopher is back and creating a buzz with a new EP entitled The Audition.

The Inglewood, CA–based hip hop artist was musically inclined since he was a child inspired by the likes of Tupac, Kriss Kross and Diddy. It was during his time at the Foshay Learning Center in Los Angeles that he learned the fundamentals of music, and had a run in with music-industry executive Tom Sturges.

Tom, the head of Shaquille O’Neal‘s record label, TWisM, at the time, visited Shawn’s school to meet with a student he was mentoring. While there, he caught Shawn performing at an assembly, recognized his talent and began developing the budding star.

Shawn continued to hone his MC skills, and also started producing. But this artist was more than a wiz in the studio—after completing high school, the ambitious young man was awarded a scholarship to the University of Southern California in 2003.

As he stated on his Facebook profile, “The era of the ‘regular rapper’ is almost done. Soon people are going to be asking ‘well we know you can rap, but what else do you do?’ There are many musicians who write and produce their own music, however in hip-hop, being one-dimensional was accepted. That won’t last for too much longer.”

Shawn released his critically-acclaimed debut mixtape, I.W.G.: I Wear Glasses in 2008, after graduating from college.

We were on to Shawn’s talent way back when we featured him DrJays.com Live in November 2009 and discussed his debut LP, A City with No Seasons. Peep his interview with Boss Lady, below, where the up-and-coming artist chats about when he started writing music, being “co-signed” by LRG and more.

Also, check out “No Snitchin,” below, from The Audition. You can download the full EP by clicking HERE.

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