Digging deep into the archives of old rhythm & blues and reggae as a base for the tracks, an SIUC student strives to get a record deal with his rap music.

Larry SHOTYME Clark, a junior in radio and television from Chicago and urban music director for WIDB radio, said that since the sixth grade, rap has been who SHOTYME is and a way of life for him.

Clark said SHOTYME is more than just his stage name. It means:Surely, hip-hop, oriented, three years of musical endeavors.

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Currently, Clark said he is finishing his demo, preparing to send it out to major record labels.

My goal is to be the first rapper from Chicago to sign to Def Jam record label, Clark said. There are artists from Chicago out, but they haven’t reached out to larger labels.

On each single, Clark said he searches for other songs that have not been sampled to make his music unique from other rappers.

Clark said he has been listening to hip-hop music all his life. It is how he expresses himself. He said that as he grew up, he used it as a way to fit in with the in crowd.

My father used to play for a jazz band, and he had boxes and boxes

of 45’s, Clark said. When other kids were getting G.I. Joes, my father was giving me turntables.

If it wasn’t for L.L. Cool J, I might not have been rappin’, Clark said. I heard him freestyle one night on an underground radio station, and he was hitting me hard with what he was saying, and I want my music to do that, hit people everywhere, like Michael Jackson.

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Marselle Caston, Clark’s producer, said he is hard-working and believes he can succeed.

Larry is very professional to work with and he knows what he wants, Caston said. He never complains and he takes constructive criticism well. He will reach his goal no doubt.

Saturday, Clark will shoot a video to his single, Who Rocks the Mic?

I have the resources and the people who are willing to help me shoot the video, so I decided to take the extra mile and use it when I shop my demo, giving the record companies something visual, Clark said.

Paul Cotter, a graduate student in cinema and photography, will shoot the video.

Clark has opened for the following rap artists:Black Sheep, Common Sense, Das Efx, Black Moon, KRS-1, Smif & Wesson, Tongue Twista and A Tribe Called Quest.