Showjoe

For Showjoe, having big dreams is just a way of life. With colorful melodies, rapid-fire flows, and invincible self-assuredness, he makes bangers that are as stylish as they are aspirational. The Reston, Virginia native combines those gifts on “Hunter x Hunter,” a Nick Mira-produced single laced with infectious energy and a healthy dose of cockiness.

Bouncing across quirky keys, Showjoe flaunts a lithe tenor as he unloads dismissive flexes and spurts of faint falsetto for a decisive flex anthem. “Live from the gutter/Can’t see these niggas like Stevie Wonder/ Keep acting out, we putting him under/I’m on a mission like Hunter x Hunter,” he spits on the track. Blunt, playful, and unfailingly decisive, “Hunter x Hunter” pulsates with the electricity of an artist who’s just getting started.

Born Joseph Dagbe, Showjoe spent the majority of his youth oscillating between lofty childhood goals. Early on, he decided he wanted to be the best player in the NBA and the NFL. “I like to think very unrealistic,” he shares, reflecting on a philosophy that drives him to this day. “Like, what's the biggest goal I can shoot for then how can I get there?”

To that point, Showjoe began navigating his way to those imagined career benchmarks in grade school, and by the time he was a student at South Lakes High School, he was a certified star on both the hardwood and the gridiron. While he’d been writing songs on his phone, and his dad showed him how to operate FL Studios, music as a career path wasn’t in the picture.

When he wasn’t playing football, basketball or baseball, or doing other things kids his age jumped into, Showjoe would listen to the sounds of artists like Tupac Shakur, Nas and The Notorious B.I.G. By the time he hit 8th grade, he had discovered the neon, melodic stylings of Lil Uzi Vert, as well as other artists like Playboi Carti. Drake, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Juice Wrld, and Jay-Z also made their way into his rotation.

“A lot of those artists like to be unique and they make music that makes people feel good,” Showjoe says. By his sophomore year of high school, he’d set out to do the same thing.

The first song he recorded was actually a guest spot on his friend’s track some time in 2018. That began a ritual where Showjoe would meet at his friend Unodavid’s spot after school to record. Using a MacBook, a USB microphone, and some generic beats from YouTube, they’d record feverishly so they could be done before Uno’s mom got home. After months of practice, Showjoe dropped “Foreign Drip,” an Auto-Tune-laced track that solidified his penchant for melody. Showjoe knew he’d done something special when the song became so popular at school that even teachers grew to like it.

As the track accumulated over 100,000 streams on SoundCloud, Showjoe began contemplating making music a full-time job, even if he was still mindful enough to make rated PG raps to avoid repelling college football coaches looking to offer him a scholarship. “I didn't curse in my music for the first two years,” he remembers.

After traveling with Uno to California for Uno’s meetings with record labels, Showjoe’s ambitions began to grow, and he ended up earning thousands of streams with the release of projects like Showjoe Vs. The Yuniverse and Weirdo @Showjoe in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Filled with saccharine melodies, memorable boasts and tales of fractured romance, the projects helped crystallize his style, and a buzz that had been growing since his junior year of high school. After being picked up on TikTok, his 2021 single, “Batman n Robin,” also did numbers.

By the end of his high school career, Showjoe had earned a football scholarship to Long Island University. After one season playing cornerback at the school, he decided to leave in order to pursue music full-time. “It was that moment where I gotta put everything on the line,” he says.

Looking ahead, Showjoe wants to help shift the culture with his music while also proving the power of positive thinking. “Just because you're in a certain position in life right now doesn't mean you can't be in a completely different place tomorrow,” he affirms. “I’m recapping the journey of where I'm at, painting a picture and manifesting the goals of where I want to go.”

It’s a journey he hopes will take him down a path to shifting the culture. “I'm motivated to make my old, younger dreams come true,” he says. “Then do the same for some new ones, too.