Deondre Morris was just a teenager when he wrote a poem for a girl he used to walk home from school. “I tried writing because that’s what I thought girls liked at the time,” he said, with a laugh.These days he is perfecting his penmanship with rap songs, including his latest single ‘I’m Goin In’ — considered a “hustler’s anthem” of sorts about the value in working hard for what you want.The 24-year-old rapper has learned first hand how challenging it can be to build a career in the music industry, but he plans to persevere to take his career as far as it can possibly go.“My ambition won’t allow me to settle for less,” he said. “That’s why when I release something it’s always better than the audio quality of the last single was. My music also changes because I am always growing as a person.”Mr Morris grew up in a church environment and said his faith has shaped some of the messages in his music.He told The Royal Gazette: “I feel my music can touch anyone because I don’t just rap about living for God, but that usually comes up because that’s what I do. I live for God.“In my latest single I talk about Island life, hard work, dedication and motivation and love for my people. I just want to make good music for them all the time and make songs that they can all bounce to.“Our culture doesn’t really have anthems and we thought this would be something we all rally around and relate to.”The budding artist first got his start writing and performing when he joined a small rap group at CedarBridge Academy.He caught the ‘stage bug’ shortly after his first performance at church, especially after hearing the positive response from the crowd.Soon after that he could be found in the recording studio with a friend, who goes by nickname ‘DJ Frenchy’. His friend would create the beats, while Mr Morris would rap over them.“From there we released a three song EP [mini-album], called ‘Kingset Presents Da Pre-mix’. And after that I just kept working.“Then in 2008, I recorded another mix tape with producer Shondell Easton, of Just Platinum Studios, and we recorded a full mix tape in 2008.”One of the rapper’s goals is to show people the level of perseverance and determination that goes into becoming a success.He said: “I believe a lot of people think this industry is glamorous. And although we do get that time to shine, it’s only about ten percent of the entire workload.“When you see the video you see us in our glory, but you don’t see us when we are carrying the equipment to the shoot, doing all the phone calls and sending e-mails to get sponsorship.“There’s so much leg work and research we have to do. We have to study our craft so we know how to appropriately approach people and how to write and send press releases to get the word out about our music.“You have to build relationships with people and DJs, which is a process because there are always emerging DJs. I can’t tell you how much work it is, but what helps me is the ambition because I know this is my calling and what I was born to do.”Mr Morris said he wasn’t looking to impress anyone and just hoping to be true to himself and his fans.He admitted he was always happy to see young people “rocking to the music” and said it was encouraging to see he is able to have a positive effect on them. “Some children even keep coming to church because I am there,” he said.Still the young artist admitted he was hesitant to take up the label of ‘role model’ because it added too much pressure — and for now he just wants to focus on making good music.“If one day I slip up and do something, the next thing you know is people want to flog you,” he said. “I can’t keep my eye on the next man, I just try to do the best I can to my ability.”One of the biggest challenges in the business is trying to write about things that matter in life, while also trying to sell records.Mr Morris said: “Sometimes you do feel like it’s best to dumb yourself down because that’s what seems to sell. Grab a good beat, say some nonsense and put some effects on it. But I want to offer people something more.”He encouraged residents to get behind local artists like himself and support our home-grown talent.The video for his latest single ‘I’m Goin In’ is expected to be shot by Jacin Lowe and may be out in December or the New Year. The audio version of the single is available for download on: www.cdbaby.com/cd/Deondre3.To check out his other songs, you can visit: www.reverbnation.com/DeondreKMS2 or www.soundcloud.com/DeondreKMS2.The rising artist also has a Facebook page: Deondre KMS 2.