The Rap Game Has Its Eye on Grand Prairie's Alex Jamal

It’s no surprise that rapper Alex Jamal is catching the hip-hop industry’s attention. Fusing elements of rap and soul, Jamal, whose real name is Alex Jamal Crawford, is using his versatility as he enters a new chapter in his artistry.

Previously known as ALLNAMESTKN, Jamal had established a presence in the local scene through his scorching flows and bars and ability to ride a beat with ease. However, last year, a car accident changed everything. Jamal was involved in a wreck that left him hospitalized and temporarily wearing a neck brace. He has since recovered and has continued to put out music, but for his next chapter, he wanted to get a bit more vulnerable.

Earlier this month, Jamal released his new single, “God’s Hands.” Though he’s been performing for nearly a decade, this is his first single under his new stage name, Alex Jamal.

In the song, Jamal expresses gratitude for having survived the accident and that he can be around for his 3-year-old daughter.

“We all God’s children, but I feel like I’m His favorite / Because in every situation, he’s shown me I’m worth saving,” Jamal raps over a piano-and-percussion-driven track garnished with R&B background vocals.

Jamal had the beat for the song long before he dropped “God’s Hands.” But after such life-changing events, he completely reworked it. He performed the song live before taking it to the studio, which he says helped him channel the feelings of the events that inspired it — even if they were difficult to revisit. 
“I'm living my life twice,” Jamal says, “in the sense that I had another go around with life. I did the first performance just right then and there when I made it. I was in my project studio at the house and recorded it, but when we went to the studio to record the audio for the other vocalists, I did another take, and the take didn't have the same feeling. It was more, like, trying to be perfect. I redid my vocals and I really had to go back into that place I was in at the time of the wreck.”

In the weeks since the release, the song has earned a bit of recognition. It’s been placed on Apple Music’s “Bars,” “Flowetry,” and “Street Politics” playlists — coveted accomplishments for hip-hop artists, whether new or established.

As the song’s sound might suggest, Jamal grew up in the church, which is where he got his first appreciation for music. Though he didn’t imagine becoming a recording artist.

“I was just surrounded by it, and I was good at it by default,” he says.

Jamal learned vocal techniques and instrumentation, and about live sound engineering, which has come in handy as he’s produced his songs and performances.

“As I got older, music became part of my life,” he says.

“God’s Hands” precedes a new project. The artist can’t divulge too many details, but he’s already got some promising names attached. One of them is Grand Prairie native producer Miles “Super Miles” Franklin, who just earned a Grammy for his work on Doechii’s mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal.

While this will be a cohesive body of work, Jamal insists that this next project shouldn’t be called an album.

“Instead of an album, which is what it really is, it’s more of a time capsule,” Jamal says. “It’s going to touch on a lot of experiences and probably me at my most vulnerable.” Though, he says, “vulnerable” doesn’t have to equate to sadness or melancholy.

“Some of it is fun,” Jamal says. “I’m letting you see all sides of me now, whether it's near-death experiences, whether it's losing a homie or whether it’s things like growth — or me saying, ‘I'm really good at this shit, and that's how I feel about it.’”

Jamal teases that the project will be out later this year and that he already has a new single on the way. Though he doesn’t share a title for the track, he says he was inspired by gaming and taps into “player one energy” on this particular single.

“You’re the main character, you're the lead, you're the base of the game,” Jamal says. “You’re gonna run into a Bowser every now and then, you’re gonna have to overcome some stuff, but it's your game. You can't expect anybody else to pick up the controller and play.”

Having been in the scene for almost 10 years and gone through different monikers, Jamal has navigated several avenues for sharing music. He’s learned that artistry is always worth the risk, and even if the music doesn’t connect with everyone, it will always reach the right people.

“This is probably the hardest time and the best time to be an independent artist,” Jamal says. “Because of the tools that we have access to. We can all create music at our own pace at our home, we can upload it and get it to the masses. But I feel like because of how easy it is to get some music out there, people think it should be equally as easy to promote the music. I think if you focus on the people that do listen and give them an opportunity to support you and focus on that, that would do so much more for you. The hardest thing is just getting out of our own way.”