Parker Edison
Local hip-hop artist Jack King, better known under his stage name Parker Edison, has established a new art collective called Meridien Art. King describes it as “sort of like an artists’ guild,” and includes a network of musicians, artists, filmmakers, writers and even accountants. Together, their goal is to help develop and foster young talent, particularly in the hip-hop scene. King says in a phone interview that because San Diego has little to no infrastructure when it comes to hip-hop, so he thought it was important to be able to use the combined experience of veterans in the scene to help those who are coming up right now.
“Some of the cats I hang out with, we started this as a way to help support the projects we do individually,” he says. “There’s no staff or support for rap artists here, we kind of use our scholarship and expertise and experience to help out other artists.”
Some of the projects Meridien Art is involved in include video projects, one for King’s own band Parker Meridien, as well as business-related ventures, including a distribution deal with Smoke Break Records for the Bittersweet Mystery mixtape. A lot of what they’ll be doing will involve smaller local artists, however, with some specific goals in mind.
“We’re doing three things that are really important,” he says. “We want to do projects that make money, so the art pays for itself. At the same time we want to help artists fill in their rolodex. And we want to make it cool to have intergenerational events, so you have old-school heads teaching these younger cats.”
King says that the business aspect of music can be the most difficult thing for an artist to learn. However, the reason for that locally, he says, is mostly because of San Diego’s unique geography.
“I do think it’s the hardest part, but I think it’s because we’re L.A.’s little brother,” he says. “So nobody here wants to brag. We want to use our collective knowledge to help more of us to succeed.”