Napoleon Da Legend - Marathon

〈napoleon da legend verse 1〉
Foreign accent eccentric was born in paris
Normal parents who split up and divorced the marriage
No horse and carriage both their course went separate
Stayed in maryland the cross i had to bear it
Music was my heart i played pick up at the park
Tim hardaway handles i used to pick em apart
Stick shift up in my car
Most people couldn't drive those
Would channel hulk
Lifting weights getting bulk like costcos
Listening to rae nas and ghost
Struck a pot of gold
To me that was the gods gospel
I felt my knowledge grow
Once a week i spoke to moms yo shе missed me
Doing what i did survive
I kеpt it discreet
Trip to new york, la back to philly
T doogie nom and kane
Stuck together like a ball and chain
Growing pains label meetings that's the game
Louis west playing music for reggie osé
Rest in peace king
What a blessing life taught me things
Jewels laid out in front of me
I took em like offering
So much baggage i would carry from my childhood
Insecurities my first demos didn't sound good
Anytime i tried to quit would start hearing voices
Would keep me up at night
Was a sub-par boyfriend
Also bad choices when it came to women
I push some away tried to shake my demons but i couldn't
Had my days where my laziness would paralyze me
Woke up to nightmares of failure that would terrorize me
Would meditate and take a run outside
The sweat purging out the toxins had to think out the box
Self-sabotage i had to outfox myself
The negative inner-self talk
I had to stop myself change the narrative
One day at time baby steps
Stand tall like the logo on the hood of a mercedes benz
〈napoleon da legend verse 2〉
Blood sweat and tears
I was here for it all
Success money rap career i'm prepared for it all
The good and the bad
The worst and the great storms and earthquakes
At the epicenter had to move to its birthplace
Since the first grade struggled with language that was a hurdle
Brought real bars to the essence fest that was heard of
My belief system was to keep my visions at their peak wisdom
Fuck realistic i see different
Keep distant
From the bad minds i'm agile
Soldier keep my moves kosher like a rabi
Ambrosia closer to my dreams like goapele
Old wounds closing up as my blood coagulates
Old school habits i shaked off and laced y'all
I don't wanna be a star i'm a quasar
Great scars lost my dad lost a few friends
Watched some new trends had to tie up some loose ends
Could never blend with the other folk i'm on other mode
Carrying the genome my father and my mother wrote
You can be here then disappear in a puff of smoke
When life's shoulders turn cold like winter up in buffalo
I took the high road keyboard warriors never mind those
My shine rose got off my high horse and god knows
It took awhile for these lessons sink
And do the opposite a pessimist thinks
I had to exit the ring
No longer struggle now i ease by
Live for the now no longer rewind made a switch like batista
Leave a tip for the barista hop on the train
A rain drop hit my forehead
It made me stop and wait
How you enjoying what's around you when you always running
The fear of failing's a constant had to overcome it
Today i woke and seen the sun beaming
Big smile on my face
Iime to make it happen kid
I'm done dreaming

Napoleon Da Legend - Biography

Bilingual, Hip-Hop/Afrobeat artist, Napoleon Da Legend transferred his skills on the basketball court to the wax. Before that, he had to teach himself English. He kept his ears glued to the radio.

Paris-born, to the Comoros Islands, then Washington DC raised, the son of an immigrant family, Napoleon is a Brooklyn-based artist who uses his voice as weapon of hope, social-critique, conquest, and joy. After an untimely split, his parents left the U.S. and went their separate ways leaving the 16 year old to fend for himself in the DC / Maryland area, which helped him develop his hustle, instinct and work-ethic. NDL’s song “Black Privilege” led him to be featured at the Essence Festival in 2017. He was then invited to perform live on FOX 5’s Good Day DC.

NDL’s message of empowerment, community, and self-determination through music doesn’t stop there. He also works regularly with youth, running hip-hop workshops in Brooklyn’s toughest schools and Rikers Island’s juvenile programs.

Following the release of his “Steal This Mixtape” series in 2016, Napoleon headlined his “Steal This Mixtape” European Tour. He’s been featured on Statik Selekta’s Show Off Radio Show and Sway Calloway’s Sway in the Morning. To top all this, he graced the stage at the final Rocksteady Crew’s 40th Anniversary show at SummerStage in Central Park. In 2019, NDL performed in Europe’s biggest Hip-Hop Festival Hip-Hop Kemp in Czech Republic as Supa Kaiju with rapper/producer Sicknature.

2018 was yet another prolific year, without a doubt. Napoleon released 10 projects- including four albums, four mixtapes, and two EP’s released through various indie labels (Chopped Herring, Media Pop, Copenhagen Crates and Tuff Gong Records). This was followed by eight appearances in 2019 at Harlem Week’s main stage. He then became recognized for his fusing the world’s of Hip-Hop and Anime with albums Dragon Ball G (Dragon Ball Z), Bronze Saints (Saint Seiya) and King of the North Star (Fist of the North Star) in a feature article on Bandcamp (How Napoleon Da Legend Made Anime-Inspired Rap an Artform).

Since then, NDL has released 12 more projects, including the afrobeat/hip-hop fusion projects, “Afrostreet” & “Afrostreet 2”. After creating a few anthems (“Poulet Maafe”), which became popular with his French speaking audience, NDL decided to put his French powers into high gear. In September, 2019, he gave his first in interview in French with Mediapac (Watch it here), garnering over 100,000 views in less than a week. In May 2020, NDL featured on elite French rapper Akhenaton’s (IAM) “Asteroïde” project, trading verses in French and English on the innovative song “Storytellers”. In 2021, NDL was invited to adapt Akhenaton’s 19 minute song “La Faim de leur Monde” in English. They later collaborated on a 3-part EP series called “The Whole in my Heart” produced by Akhenaton on his label La Cosca.