Crazee and Confuzed
Rapper Stack$ makes his debut with CraZee and ConfuZed

By Joe Walker

Stack$ is one cool, rich rapper. One day while kicked back on his yacht enjoying the relaxing swoosh of the water, the Miami-based rhyme-spitter got an idea for a video.

“I have a song with Fat Joe and Trina called ‘That’s The Way’; the video is me floating around on the water with a bunch of women on a yacht, like on a Sunday,” he says matter-of-factly. “That’s something that happens regularly in my life.”

What is reality for Stack$ is fantasy for most. Many wish they could live such a privileged life; soaking in the sun during a breezy ocean visit, juggling ideas for a video. Aspiring rappers hope for a future with such rewards.

“I can think of the whole scenario, the different scenes and the story, just from the daily [stuff] that is my life,” he says.
The current recording situation for Stack$ is pretty dreamy too. Signed to SoBe Entertainment, his debut album CraZee and ConfuZed is executive produced by multi-platinum beat maker Scott Storch, who also produced the majority of the albums’ tracks. Heck, he and Storch were yacht-cruising together when they agreed to work with one-another. And with an album title that suggests uncertainty, the popular 20-year-old has no confusion about his present or his past.

“That’s my life now, but back then my life was completely different,” he says, before laughing. “I was kind of a nerd, to be honest. In high school, girls didn’t really look at me. I was really sheltered the majority of my life, but it brought me who I am. I’m a different person now, and these two different people going together come to play on my album. Chilling on a yacht: that’s a cool setting; I can do a whole album with that.”

Lack of money and finer things is not an option for Stack$, which he confesses on single “Money Ova Here” and throughout the album. Born Yannique Barker, Stack$’ life was different from most would-be, could-be rappers. His father, the founder and owner of SoBe, and a successful aerospace company, made a very good living, so there were no financial troubles to be cured by street employment. The only “hoods” Stack$ dealt with were those attached to his designer sweatshirts. Cereal was consumed with a birthright silver spoon. Stack$ says he grew up in reverse of the hip-hop profile.

“When you rap, you’re supposed to come from poverty, in impoverished situations and go through struggles,” he says. “Okay, well, I wasn’t born poor. I was very fortunate to be blessed. But somehow you don’t realize that when you do have money, there is a struggle that comes with it. It’s a struggle that I’ve been going through for the past five or six years.”
For Stack$, it has been a struggle to hang on to genuine friends and gain acceptance in hip-hop’s inner circle

“The friends I started out with, are not the friends I have today; most of them don’t even believe I’m the same person,” he says. “With the DJs here, I have to make those people believe I’m a real person before they’ll even listen to my music or consider playing it.”

Having no problem getting doors to open, his struggles as a rapper came from within the industry. Once he moved from his former residence of Maryland to the Miami area, Stack$ opened a nightclub in South Beach that became a lucrative hot spot. Stack$ says rappers native to the area and beyond became jealous of his success. They tried to ignore his skill as an artist. Stack$ says he remained persistent of his drive to be a respected rapper, and soon the right people began to notice him.

“Recently, Swizz Beatz — who I just did my second single with — wanted to take me on tour with him for the summer,” Stack$ says. “For Swizz Beatz to believe in me and take me on tour is a big thing. So, I live a blessed life with girls and chilling on yachts and owning a club, but I’ve had my struggles. My album is the story of my life, and I think it’s a story hip-hop has never heard before.”