Former Minneapolis Basketball Star Now Rocks The Mic
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- He could play the game, was part of four straight state championships at Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis while playing for his father.
Lawrence McKenzie then went on to a career with the Gophers and played professionally -- much of that time overseas -- until and injury forced an early retirement.
And now, McKenzie has a new career, performing as Mac Irv.
"I started rapping around four, five years ago, in 2011, right after I had my last surgery," he said while at the Cabooze in Minneapolis, where he was preparing to perform. "When you have one passion, in order to get over that passion, you've got to find something else to be passionate about. It was just music for me."
WCCO caught up with him on a hot summer day as he took the stage in his hometown.
"It started off as poetry for me. Anything that was on my mind, anything that was going on in my life, I just wrote it down, found a couple beats and just put it to the beats and it just flowed so well," he said. "Anything that happens from life, I just write from that. To me, that's what music's supposed to be about. I do come up with a game plan, but then I kind of go from there with the crowd, and kind of see how they react."
His lyrics are mainly R-rated, but he's performing again the same way he used to on the basketball court, where he found freedom, and does it again in a very different way. His goal is to make this his full-time vocation.
"We're starting to somewhat make a living now, honestly. We do shows, and each show is paid for," he said. "Things just keep climbing, and I kind of take the same mindset I took with basketball and just put it into music: just work. I feel like anything that you just continue to work at continuously, you're going to continue to improve."
McKenzie is still involved in basketball, teaching individual lessons at former Timberwolves player Chris Carr's facility, 43 Hoops.
