Before 2003: Early life and career beginnings Curtiss King grew up as a shy child, particularly while attending Curtiss Middle school, he found ways to combat his insecurities by listening to music and getting lost in 90s sitcoms; giving him his stage name Curtiss King. From the beginning, with the help of a high school friend,
YouTube, and a library card, Curtiss King set out to teach himself how to produce, engineer and write his own records, edit his own videos, design his own album covers, script his own websites, and build his brand from the ground up.
2003–2008: Notorious Scholars and The Storm on Mars Shortly after graduating High School in 2003, Curtiss began creating and circulating numerous mixtapes to his Cerritos college classmates. After joining Myspace in 2005, he began to gain local popularity for his self pressed projects. In 2007 his production demand got a huge boost when he got a placement on the
Vans Downtown Showdown Skate DVD as well as
Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) artist
Ab-Soul's first project
Longterm with the song "Watch Yo Lady" featuring K-Dot (
Kendrick Lamar). Later that same year Curtiss King signed to Rocstarr Entertainment, an up-and-coming independent label run by producer
Tae Beast and producer/engineer/songwriter Starr Lab based out of
Inglewood. Under the imprint he released two well received street albums
Notorious Scholars and
The Storm On Mars which boasted features from Ab-Soul and Young Rook as well as production from Tae Beast. After a few years Curtiss and Rocstarr Entertainment parted ways, and once again he found himself having to grind it out alone. While working a part-time job, King soon began to attend
Orange Coast College in
Costa Mesa where he eventually earned his Entry Level Marketing Certificate. Shortly after his collegiate accomplishments, he lost both of his grandparents to Cancer. Seeking a brand new start, Curtiss eventually moved to the
Inland Empire with his mother. From spitting acapellas at local poetry venues to entering beat contests, he made it a point to engage himself in this vibrant music scene.
2009– 2010: Black Cloud Music, Snick @ Nite and Jet Pack On E In 2009, he saw his fanbase and production demand skyrocketed after collaborating with and producing for highly acclaimed artist
Noa James on his
Sounds of A Monster and Ab-Soul's
Longterm 2. Shortly after these collaborations, King's work eventually caught the attention of engineer/producer/rapper Jynxx, who approached King about signing to his independent label,
Black Cloud Music. Under the Black Cloud Music imprint Curtiss began to gain nationwide exposure as an artist with the release of projects such as
Snick @ Nite, and
Jet Pack On E. In 2010, King's production began to take on a worldwide exposure when he was invited to compete in the
Red Bull Big Tune Beat Battle. Curtiss would also see additional exposure when he scored his first major label placement on
Glasses Malone and
Mack 10's album
Money Music.
2011–present: Paid Dues Festival 2012, Atychiphobia In July 2011, King released his highly anticipated EP
DIY (Do It Yourself), hosted by Ashley Outrageous. Boasting indie favorites such as "Sinbad," "21Sev7n," and "PCC" with features from Dirty Birdy, Noa James, Faimkills, and Sean Faylon,
DIY was the tipping point for Curtiss King's career. In late 2011, King was given the rare opportunity to produce for a live action video game trailer for the popular computer game
APB: Reloaded. After putting together a 97-day campaign to get on the lineup for the 2012
Paid Dues Festival, King was officially invited by hip hop artist
Murs to perform on the Dues Paid Stage at the festival, ending a successful campaign. Shortly after performing at Paid Dues in April 2012, King made more noise a month later after producing Ab-Soul's single, "A Rebellion", featuring Alori Joh, from his highly anticipated album
Control System, which went on to be number one on the
iTunes Hip Hop Charts. On April 3, 2019, King released "Ratchets Still Jockin" as his first official single from his debut album
AtyChiphobia – The Fear Of Failure, released during the summer of 2019. In 2020, King produced the entirety of Murs and
Dee-1's 11-track album, ''He's the Christian, I'm the Rapper'', released on September 18, 2020. ==Personal life==