Mark Steele Is Vowing To Gain Your Attention. He’s Prepared at Every Turn (Video)

As a former pupil in 9th Wonder’s Hip-Hop in Context 101 class at North Carolina State University, Mark Steele is quite literally a student of the game. In fact, the North Carolina MC has already collaborated with his former professor, as well as Rapsody and Cory Gunz. Perhaps best recognized for his ESPN “Sports Center” anthem “Greatness,” Mark released his latest album Almost Time in October and it’s arguably his most important to date. Featuring Rapper Big Pooh, Raheem Devaughn, and others, it’s home to “Turn Around,” a Neo-Soul-inflected record featuring singer Nivam.

But rather than being a love song, Mark takes the smooth stylings of the beat and rhymes about trouble and obstacles finding him every time he turns around (“every time I turn around, cops killing Blacks”). As he shared with the Source, the song is a dedication to Keith Lamont Scott, a Black man shot and killed by Charlotte police last September.

In the video, a series of frustrating scenarios unfold as he goes about his day, from a bus’s closing doors to an interaction with the police. Through it all, he just wants to do somebody a kind favor, but life’s curve balls make it nearly impossible for him to do so. All he wants is your attention. Is the video enough to make you turn around?

About Ready Or Not: “Ready Or Not” is Ambrosia For Heads’s platform for showcasing new videos and having you, the people, decide whether they are ready for primetime. Each week, AFH will showcase music from artists on the verge, looking for their seat at the table among Hip-Hop’s elite.

#BonusBeat: Mark Steele appeared on Statik Selektah’s Shade 45 radio show and kicked a freestyle.

Click here to hear more music from Mark Steele, including his Rapsody collaboration.