The May 14 competition, held at the LEAF Retreat, will be judged by a panel of Asheville-based music industry professionals.

Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, Coppa Stone is a father, artist, writer, educator, scholar, and a self-proclaimed day dreamer. His earliest musical memories are of Roots, Rocksteady and Dub, mixed with Reggae and a touch of Rock, R&B and Soul. Upon relocating to the U.S., his love for music continued to grow alongside this thing called Hip-Hop. During the day, he plays the role of a mild-mannered Education Director at a nonprofit, but at night, he changes into his alter ego, a Hip-Hop & Reggae music artist.  

Here’s a bit more about Coppa, in his own words, from an Islandstagemag.com interview:

I am definitely a product of my parents creativity. My mother sings, and my father plays both the piano and organ, so it could only be natural that music and art would be an active part of my life.

[My inspirations range] from the Beatles to the Maytals, from Peter Tosh to Bob Marley to Nina Simone, from Colin Channer to Edwidge Danticat to Jack Kerouac, from Kamau Brathwaite to Saul Williams, from Roots Manuva to Mos Def to Tanya Stephens to Protoje to Lauryn Hill and straight back to The Roots…the list goes on and on.

Growing up in school, my teachers would always encourage me to pursue a career in writing, because they believed I was a naturally good writer. I started out writing short stories, then gradually poetry, which then later developed into lyrics and rhymes. It wasn’t until I went away to college that I was brave enough to actually share these rhymes and lyrics with others. So, my musical journey as an artist began in Gainesville, Florida, where I was a member of an underground collective called 101 Vibes.

Stay tuned for more about Coppa, including a music video.