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Multiple award-winning New Orleans rapper Alfred Banks has garnered acclaim from some of hip-hop’s most esteemed publications. In addition to being named one of Complex’s 10 upcoming New Orleans MCs, Banks has been featured prominently on The Fader, HipHopDx, Okayplayer as well as DJBooth’s list of Top Indie rappers from Louisiana. Most recently, he completed three legs of a North American tour with the Grammy-nominated Tank & the Bangas. His 2019 collaboration with the internationally acclaimed powerhouse band The Soul Rebels, “Greatness,” was the televised NCAA tournament anthem. Burning Sands, the 2017 Netflix film executive produced by Oscar winner Common, featured Banks’ “UnderDogCentral” on its soundtrack.
In 2018, Banks was named “Best Hip-Hop Artist” at the Best of the Beat Awards, presented by New Orleans’ premier music publication, OffBeat. He followed that up with the 2019 Big Easy Award for Best Rapper, presented by Gambit. SaxKixAve, the duo he co-founded alongside Tank and the Bangas’ saxophonist Albert Allenback, was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2020 Best of the Beat Awards.
Banks’s notable live appearances include SXSW, A3C, Voodoo Festival, and BUKU Music + Art Project. He has supported tours from international bounce icon Big Freedia as well as NerdCore Artist MegaRan, former XXL freshman Mickey Factz and has led several headlining tours of his own.
Banks has also made headway in Europe, performing at the Reeperbahn Festival in Germany and starring in a Volkswagen ad campaign featuring his song “HomeComing.” His international reach extended with a 2016 interview with BBC Russia.
In 2017, Banks released The Beautiful, an album which debuted at #12 on iTunes’ “Rap/HipHop” Charts, #3 on Bandcamp’s “Rap” Charts & #79 on Billboard’s “HeatSeeker” Charts. The album features a conceptual approach dealing with schizophrenia and the complexity of identity. The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) & UnMaskNola both took notice of Banks’s music and its focus on mental-health awareness, and partnered with him on promotional efforts for The Beautiful.
A frequent speaker on issues relating to mental health, Banks has appeared at Loyola University New Orleans and elsewhere. His Recent Album, “One Guy Standing By Himself”, garnered a successful release as it Debuted #3 On iTunes “Rap/HipHop” Charts, Alfred’s Highest Debut to date.
