Vincent Ponce

Goes by: Vince Isley

Grade: Senior

Genre: Rap

Inspiration: Travis Scott, Young Thug, Lil Yachty

Find his music on: Soundcloud (Username: Vince Isley)

This summer, Vincent Ponce rarely saw the sun. Every day he would wake up at 4 p.m. and go to the studio, work on his music all night with his friends, and then go home and back to bed around 5 in the morning.

Ponce is part of a budding rap scene in Kingwood and one of several rappers and musicians enrolled at K-Park. In 2013, Ponce and Jermaine Oppong began to meet in the back room of Seth Crowe’s home, where they would rip beats off of YouTube and make rap over them.

Soon, the group met Cesar Lozano, who graduated from K-Park last school year. Lozano has a music studio in his home, where  they were able to mix and master their own beats. They became serious about their craft, rather than treating it as a pastime.

While the rappers in Kingwood have close ties, each is an independent artist. Ponce described the music he has made previously as not very deep, really just existing for the purpose of sounding good. But as his name has spread and he’s become more serious about his work, he’s begun to make music with more serious themes, less of just songs for parties.

“A lot of people in Kingwood are making music,” Ponce said, “and we have something going on really.”