Mars Davis
Flint, MI native, Mars Davis, presents his life story as a relatable soundtrack, delivering a motivational authenticity covering human experience and emotion. Davis’ lyrics prove to be brutally honest yet cathartic like on “Grateful” and “Me at the Zoo.” Davis’ tragedies turn into epics of triumph and celebration in tracks like “Feelin’ Good.” Packed with passion and purpose it is hard not to be moved by the melodic hooks and precise lyricism Mars Davis wields.
Mars grew up in the 90s on the northside of Flint. He was heavily influenced by gangsgta rap acts like Snoop Dogg, Dayton Family, Tupac, and GAN especially through his childhood. In middle school he took a special interest in Eminem, Ludacris, and Outkast.
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Mars would go on to rap with family and friends in middle school under the group name of Blackheart. The group would go defunct and years later in high school he revived Blackheart with best friend Corey "Ceno Evil" McKinney aka Infinite styles. Mars, going by the name M Davis, recorded several songs with Flint producer BuddonthaTrack.
High school was characterized by dissing the administration at his school's talent show two years in a row, recording with Ceno Evil with songs like My Life and We Riding. In high school one of Mars' mentors introduced him to Dead Prez injecting an Afrocentric consciousness into his rhyme philosophy reminding him of the empowerment lyrics found in some of Tupac's best songs.
He and Ceno Evil would slowly grow apart musically as he went off to school in Mount Pleasant, MI and Ceno Evil went to East Lansing and joined CEO Muzik releasing a solo project, Root of Evil.
While at CMU Mars discovered Nas, Talib Kweli, Little Brother, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and his content began to change. Tapping into his activist roots from Flint he could no longer rap the same. Mars went from gangster rap to conscious rap to Christian rap. In the midst of a spiritual revival and awakening on CMU's campus Mars came across a minister named G Craig Lewis who demonized hip hop and convicted Mars to stop rapping. However, after some time Mars was convinced that his talent should not go dormant and unused and should be used for God.
Mars went on to write again, but this time with a Christian fundamentalist reform tone. He would go on to make music on the campus of CMU and perform at talent shows and churches. He linked up with good friends Chris "Jedidiah Moon" Cadogan and Johnny "Zeal the Royal Priest" Jones who were talented rappers and vocalists.
While making this new music under the moniker of Mars, Davis coined the phrase woHin which he yelled at the beginning of each track. Zeal then turned this catch phrase into the group name for the three college students.
woHin would go on to perform at talent shows, showcases, music festivals and churches. After years of anticipation woHin released their first project, upside down in 2015.