Another Kickstarter Campaign Worth Your Attention: Marcus D's Melancholy Hopeful

The popularization of Kickstarter has been noticeably beneficial for local hip-hop. In February Macklemore raised over $18,000 from more than 400 fans to film visuals for "Wings," and more recently the Blue Scholars "signed to the people" via the fund-raising network and financed their third LP Cinémetropolis with $62,000 contributed by 2,200 backers. Now following them down that path is Seattle University student Marcus D, the pianist and producer of mellow, jazzy, Japanese-styled hip-hop beats that earned him a record deal overseas--who's looking for $6,000 to finance his sophomore LP Melancholy Hopeful.

In true Kickstarter form, donation incentives include exclusive unreleased material and early access to the release--or, for the high rollers, a beatmaking or piano lesson ($200) and a lunch/record digging trip ($1,000).

Marcus's 2008 debut producer LP Revival of the Fittest featured appearances from notable national names like Royce Da 5'9" as well as local favorites like Blue Scholars' Geo, Grynch, and Brainstorm--but considering his age and the taste from last October's Shoshin EP, a lot of progress happened in three short years.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.