A Bermudian rap artist’s dream of becoming an international star moved one step closer to reality last night, after he took part in a talent contest on US television — and won.CedarBridge Academy student Jeremiah Steede flew to New York to take part in BET’s American Hip Hop video contest ‘106 & Park’.Competing against a US rapper for the prize of a recording contract and $5,000, Jeremiah, whose stage name is Lil Quan, performed one of his own compositions, ‘Fly High.’Once the show had aired live, Jeremiah had an anxious wait while viewers called in to the programme to vote for their favourite performer.Before the result was announced, the 16-year-old told The Royal Gazette: “It went really well. I think I put in a great performance and really took the show.”That confidence was clearly justified. Several hours after the polls had closed, Jeremiah was declared the winner with a 52 percent share of the viewing vote.“I just feel really, really good, and so do my backing singers,” a thrilled Jeremiah said after his victory was confirmed.“We’re very excited — it’s just brilliant.”Although Jeremiah has ambitions to study law, he is hopeful that his victory could pave the way for a career in music.“This has given me massive exposure and the experience of performing on live television was really good — I wasn’t nervous,” he said.Jeremiah plans to return to New York in the summer to take part in a ‘Best Of’ version of the show when he will compete against other winners.He was selected to take part in last night’s contest after coming out on top in Bermuda’s ‘Can You Rip It?’ competition against five other local students.The event involved students competing over several weeks to learn various aspects of the music industry, public relations, interviewing skills, branding and music history.Contestants were required to create two original songs for a live competition held at the Berkeley Institute, with the winner representing Bermuda on the cable network show.