SXSW 2012

Marz Lovejoy was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Los Angeles and San Diego. She was influenced by music at an early age, as her father was a deejay and her mother was a writer. Marz first began writing in poems high school, which eventually evolved into full-length hip-hop tracks. Marz initially garnered attention by spreading videos of herself freestyling across social networks such as YouTube. This led to her connecting with frequent collaborator, Polyester, who produced the bulk of her debut EP. After gaining notoriety for her breakthrough performance on "Shine" by Pac Div (Universal Motown), Marz was recruited by the group for her first national tour. On the heels of the tour, Marz made her mark on the hip-hop community with the release of her debut EP, "This Little Light Of Mine." The EP went on to earn critical praise and was championed by members of the press, including Zach Gase of OkayPlayer who proclaimed, "Marz Lovejoy stands out with a unique style that combines fun pop-hooks and sharp lyricism... Lovejoy definitely has a bright future ahead of her, as she has the ability to craft catchy hooks to make some noise in the mainstream crowd, and she has the lyrical prowess to hang with the best of the underground." That year, Marz continued to perform across the country, eventually sharing the stage with Wu-Tang Clan members GZA and Raekwon in New York City during a CMJ showcase. In addition, West Coast legend DJ Quik went on to invite Marz to perform at his Quik's Grooves concert series in Hollywood. In 2011, she performed at SXSW where she opened for Erykah Badu. Jon Pareles of the New York Times deemed Marz “among the best [he] heard” at the music festival. She performed at the 2011 A3C Hip-Hop Festival in Atlanta and the 2011 CMJ Festival where she opened for legendary hip-hop duo, M.O.P. In November 2011, she opened for Curren$y
and special guest Wiz Khalifa in New York City. Marz has released two singles since the release of her debut EP. "Live Life" features Harlem New York's Smoke DZA and appears on his 2011 album entitled "Rolling Stoned." "I Can't Call It" features Like of Pac Div and Jason Madison and appears on the "A3C Volume 1" compilation released in connection with the 2011 festival. In April 2011, Marz landed her first feature film role in director Sheldon Candis’ “LUV” The film stars Common, Michael K. Williams, Meagan Good, and Danny Glover. The film premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Indomina Entertainment for worldwide distribution. Marz is currently working on her debut album. Photo by Brock Fetch