Unsigned but far from unseen, Richmond’s own Alexander Mack is pulling over 35,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, with standout tracks like “Young Man” crossing 1.3 million streams. On YouTube, his video for “Cucumber Cool” has racked up over 367,000 views in just a few months. No label. No co-sign. Just well-produced, thoughtful music, rooted in rhythm, story, and soul.
So when he steps on stage at this year’s Richmond Jazz & Music Festival, it won’t be just another gig. It’ll be a full-circle moment for an artist who’s been steadily building a world of his own.
“I’m extremely excited,” he says. “I’ll be on the same stage as T.I. and Marsha Ambrosius, but also people like Kirk Whalum, somebody my dad used to play all the time growing up. So it’s this mix of people I grew up listening to, either riding home from school with my brother or just hearing it in the house.”
Mack’s sound is hard to box in. He’s a rapper. A singer. A keyboardist. A producer. His work draws from jazz, gospel, hip hop, and soul, but also sneaks in funk, Afrobeat, and house when it needs to breathe differently. Think Lupe Fiasco’s curiosity, early Kanye West’s structure, a little Anderson .Paak groove and a lot of Herbie Hancock spirit.
“I’m inspired by so many different genres,” Mack says. “Jazz and gospel is what I found first, and then I found hip hop after that.” His jazz references run deep: “Definitely listening to Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Miles Davis – those were huge for me. With Herbie, definitely the ’70s. With Miles, the ’50s and ’60s – that’s my favorite era of Miles.”
But he’s not stuck in the past. “I’ve been really big on modern stuff too,” he says. “Anderson .Paak, Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Lucky Daye… even trap, like T.I., who’s playing the festival too. It’s a myriad of different music. Everything’s fair game.”
That eclecticism started at home. His father was a working musician in the ’80s, sharing stages with groups like Cameo and Slave. “A lot of the stuff I’m really inspired by, I actually heard while he was cutting my hair growing up,” Mack says, laughing.
His storytelling instincts come through strongest in how he builds projects. “I like to consider myself an album artist,” he says. “That’s true legacy and longevity. I want to bring people into a world.”
And he means that literally. “Even down to the sound bites. A lot of those are just real-life recordings from my phone. I want people to relate to it, to feel like it’s real.”
His 2019 debut album, 91 Two 40, took that philosophy seriously. The beat-up station wagon on the cover wasn’t an aesthetic choice, it was his actual car at the time. “It had been in my family for years and years. Growing up, I always hoped it would die,” he says. “But when I started driving it, I had pride in it, I drove it like it was a Mercedes. And other people respected it too. That became the concept: using what you have and making the most of it. If you do that, people will respect you.”
Now, he’s finishing up a new album, a dance-influenced project that pulls from jazz, Afrobeat, house, and the unpredictable rhythm of real life. “The album is without a period—about six-ish years of my life,” Mack says. “It’s different experiences… hanging out with friends, going to parties, just enjoying the smaller moments we usually take for granted and kind of get lost in the shuffle of everyday life.”
He wants the record to sit with you, not speed past. “A lot of times, we’re chasing the next thing so fast that we don’t stop to appreciate where we are. I want this album to live in those spaces.”
Even during COVID, he never lost that creative drive. “I was always kind of isolated while creating anyway,” he says. “It was always me in my parents’ basement. If anything, COVID gave me more time. People had to sit with themselves, really find what they enjoy doing.”
But Mack is clear-eyed about the new industry landscape. “Man, I would say yes, it’s the easiest it’s ever been to make music,” he says. “But the biggest challenge is cutting through the noise.”
He remembers a different era of discovery. “You used to have the blog era,” he says. “A blog could just instantly break an artist. They’d set up their newsletter for the week, and that’s how people found new music.”
Now? “It’s really about knowing how to market yourself,” Mack says. “You’ve got to actually grab people’s attention and stand out.”
That’s forced artists like him to do more than make good music. “You have to be a content creator. You have to be a brand director. A creative director. A marketing expert, almost. You’re really having to do so many different things especially as an independent artist.”
And you have to do it all well. “It’s hard to play all those roles and do them at a high level just to be seen,” he says. “That’s the biggest challenge right now.”
Photo courtesy of Alexander Mack management The MSQ Shop
Still, Mack says the Richmond music scene has shown him nothing but love. “Especially in 2025,” he says. “From the legends playing me on the radio, to working with people like Skillz, and doing the MC Lyte show with Lonnie B. It’s surreal. There’s real access here. It’s a smaller city, but if you put in the work, people notice.”
He’s flown to New York. Met with Sony. Dropped records independently. Grown his fanbase organically. And yet, he still carries that local humility with him. “As an artist, you want to be in the best position to sign the right kind of deal at the right time,” he says. “You never know who’s watching. That account with no profile picture? That might be an A&R. The internet’s changed everything.”
What hasn’t changed is Mack’s focus: tell the truth, build the world, stay consistent.
“I just want to make the best album I can,” he says. “And if people want to live in that world with me? Even better.”
Main photo courtesy of Alexander Mack management The MSQ Shop
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Curious about local hip hop, rap? Here’s a Richmond playlist.
