“I don’t see celebrities or people in Hollywood as stars. It’s about seeing the star in myself and everyone that listens to me. Those seemingly unattainable things that are attained everyday, those are stars.” Duran, Nov 2011 With an early start in Waldorf, Maryland and the likes of DMX and Nas to motivate him, Duran has proven to be a poet, emcee and lyricist whose storytelling rhymes transcend his listeners to a world with no limits, only dreams. In the beginning, this curious child of the east coast was just exploring Hip-Hop and organically learning about rhyme flow, skill and pattern. At 12 while most of his peers were chasing skirts, Duran was on the school bus bumping tracks like ODB’s “Baby I Like It Raw”, a move while brash, he attributes to two very important people. “My stepbrother is 4 years older than me, he used to freestyle. My aunt was a teacher and she used to give me words to spell. I fell in love with words, I was amazed to find their meaning and see how they could be broken apart. They both ingrained the knowledge of words to me.” Over the years he’s taken that knowledge to new heights, releasing a collection of thought provoking projects and opening for the likes of Big Sean. And while in other subjects his attention span has dwindled, rap has continued to be his one and only true love, the one thing he’s never given up. “I can’t stop. When I was a kid I quit everything. I quit football, baseball, ROTC, wrestling; I quit that after two weeks. I can’t stop writing music. It’s stuck with me since I was six years old, I can’t help it.” Now based in Atlanta, Duran’s kept a low profile but a high energy, dedicating hours to the studio and perfecting his knack for melodies and concept rap. A self-described dreamer, his ongoing motto remains the same; “I see stars”, a euphemism for the endless pursuit of a dream. “I see stars is a double meaning. For me I believe that when you see stars, you see your dream. That dream and the things that you want to do hold your purpose. The more you pursue your dreams, the closer you get to what you were made to do. Dreams are very elusive and they seem very far away. What makes you different than the five million people who want that exact same thing? Your dream, your star; see your star.” With no signs of slowing down, Duran plans to keep listener’s ears open and his eyes to the sky, each day bringing him closer to his star, his dream.