La’Vell “Rex White” Williams is a third generation musician. His father and grandfather were a part of a gospel quartet band for many years. They traveled up and down the east coast and recorded three albums. As a child Williams would go to group practices with his father and even make occasional visits to the studio. The Clayton, NC native has been writing his entire life. In elementary school he dabbled in poetry and even got one poem published during a fourth grade writing contest. Williams played the violin, piano and the recorder of course all before middle school. There he joined the marching band and graduated to saxophone. Once Williams entered high school he realized his passion for rap music.

In 2015, Williams began recording on his household desktop computer which was located on the dining room table in the kitchen. For a year he used free software, a desktop external microphone, and a pair of gummy earbuds. Being from a small town, he used recording as a way to pass time outside of school. Williams’ stage name is “Rex White”. When asked the meaning of the name, he stated  “ When I first began making music I went by the name Take 2. Back then I wasn’t very good and when I started getting better I thought it would be a good idea to change my name and start fresh… Rex means king in latin, but White is just something I kind of added to it.”

Williams graduated High School in 2013, and after living in the same house for all 18 years, moved to Charlotte, NC to attend college. He states that “throughout my time at school, I began to slow down with recording music and was distracted by the enjoyment of living on my own as well as balancing school and work. Williams was able to receive a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies with a concentration in Mass Media from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in May of 2017.

When asked about his sources of inspiration, Rex said that his favorite rappers in no particular order are Drake, Isaiah Rashad, J. Cole and Childish Gambino. When asked about his personal favorite song, he declared “Change is Good” off of his 2016  EP “5 decent songs.” In the future Rex plans to continue a career in music as well as branch off into various entrepreneurship opportunities.