Warning: Some of the songs mentioned in this article contain explicit lyrics. 

By Emily Merchant

Fleming at the base of the Lee Monument on Monument Avenue. Photo credit: Zuri Fleming.

Zuri Fleming (‘19), also known as 10k.zuri, is a rapper and aspiring artist from the Richmond area. She attended Collegiate from kindergarten through twelfth grade and is now a sophomore at Old Dominion University (ODU), where she is currently studying communications.

She found her love of music through her mom. As she was growing up, they would always listen to music of all different genres around the house. Her grandfather also shares a deep love for music, and her uncle raps as well. She grew up surrounded by all kinds of music, with her favorites being a range of R&B, rap, jazz, and pop, and she also enjoys older music, such as “Maroon 5, Britney Spears, Taking Back Sunday, Nirvana, Red Hotel Chilli Peppers.” She also loves J. Cole, Brent Faiyaz, and Erykah Badu, and if she was given the opportunity to work with any artists in the future she would choose these three, with rapper Nas as an honorable mention.

While she had a love for music and song writing from a young age, she never really thought anything could come from it until around tenth grade. Over time, working with fellow Collegiate students and musical artists such as Tyler Tunstall (’18), Teonne Smith, and Nathan West (’19), “helped build my confidence up to be able to perform.” It was after she released her music and found that people really enjoyed it that she realized it could be something she could actually make a career out of. 

As far as her song-writing process goes, Fleming says finding inspiration for her songs really comes from “any- and everything,” whether it’s “just in day-to-day life” or something that’s “inspired by the world.” She also draws inspiration from emotions such as “pain and any difficult situations I’ve been in.” A few artists she looks to and takes notes from, “more so stage presence wise, are J.Cole and Michael Jackson.” She says, “they both have different styles, but their performances always draw me in.” But as far as the actual writing goes, she finds it difficult to actually sit down and get through a song.

When it comes to writing and producing music, her favorite part of it is that she is able to connect with others and give them something to relate to. Her top favorite songs that she has released are “Halftime,” “50 proof,” and “Time.”

Fleming and friends in her music video for “Time.” Photo credit: Zuri Fleming.

Fleming released a video for “Time” in November 2020. She says, since, “‘Time’ became a favorite pretty quickly, so I just was like, I think I’ll make a music video for it.” The idea of this music video was to “capture reality, really.” Fleming directed and wrote everything herself and worked with Richmond filmmaker and photographer Heriberto Solis on making the video. Marc Cheatham at The Cheats Movement blog wrote about the video shortly after it was released.

The overall process took quite a while, with filming in Richmond and in Petersburg. “The house scenes are shot at my late great grandmother’s house in Petersburg,” says Fleming. The music video was made “simply for everyday people who are just struggling to make it,” in particular people who did not attend Collegiate, as well as many of those around her whose “reality was more fragmented.” While “Time” is currently the only one of her songs with a music video, Fleming says she definitely plans on making more in the future and is really looking forward to it.

Before the pandemic she would perform fairly often, either at ODU or at her own events with West, in showcases they organized with an artists’ collective called Beats, Rhythm, & Life. Fleming even appeared on tv on NBC12 in Richmond in 2018 to promote Beats, Rhythm, & Life. However, she says, “due to COVID, I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to perform.” But, while the pandemic has affected her music career, it’s mostly been in a positive way. She says “COVID is what allowed me to actually sit down and work on my music, and if it wasn’t for the time that I had during COVID, I don’t even think I would have released the project. Without the project, there wouldn’t be a music video, so for me the pandemic has helped in that manner.” While she’s been able to make progress towards building a music career of music for herself, she plans to stay in school until she is 100% certain that things with music work out. 

Looking back, Fleming said some of her favorite teachers from Collegiate, whom she is very appreciative of, include Middle School Academic Services teachers Sandy Ting and Mary Margaret Ryan and Middle School Humanities teacher Kate Cunningham. Her time at Collegiate was not the most enjoyable, but she says, “I am always appreciative of the teachers that I met and developed relationships with, and I’m also really grateful for what Collegiate taught me as an individual and the education I received. Along with the values they instilled in me.”

You can check out more of 10k.zuri’s music on soundcloud and spotify.

Featured image credit: Zuri Fleming.