Seattle rapper Travis Thompson's playful sound is guided by rhymes that combine evocative description and candid emotion. A protégé of Macklemore, he released music independently beginning in 2015. After being featured on Macklemore's 2017 song "Corner Store," he made his major-label debut with the 2019 EP Runaways. Raised partly in suburban White Center and based in Burien, Washington, Travis Thompson began writing rhymes as a school kid but became more serious about pursuing music as a career in his late teens. He released his debut EP, Living for the Future, in 2015. Around that time, local icons Macklemore and Ryan Lewis founded a youth program called The Residency, which brought in local promoters, agents, and others with behind-the-scenes knowledge of managing a career in the arts to speak to low-income kids. Thompson signed on, reportedly impressing Macklemore not only with his rapping skills but with his enthusiasm; Thompson returned to the program as a paid intern the following year. In the meantime, he released the Ambaum mixtape in 2016. His big break came in late 2017 when Macklemore featured Thompson alongside Dave B on the single "Corner Store." They performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, marking Thompson's television debut. He followed up with the album YouGood? in mid-2018. After signing with Blvd Boys/Epic, Thompson released the Runaways EP in early 2019 which set the table for the full-length Reckless Endangerment later that year. ~ Marcy Donelson