by JASMINE ELSHAMY Photo & Video Editor
Rapper Sean Forbes has new singles and albums coming out being heard all around the world despite his hearing impairment that he has had since he was an infant.
Discovered by Eminem’s team, the Bass Brothers, in Detroit, Forbes got a foot in the music scene. Having musicians for parents also helped the 28-year-old to get a start, and he has been making music videos since he was a young kid. Now, he is making music videos professionally.
“It is amazing to me that someone can actually be a rapper and not have any sense of hearing. I can’t even rap and my hearing is pretty accurate,” says junior Kayla Monroe. “He is really inspiring, I hope he keeps on showing the world that if he can make music, anything is possible.”
Forbes is signed with the record label Web Entertainment. His debut video album is entitled “Perfect Imperfection”, and it comes with a DVD of twelve American Sign Language music videos that are coupled with his original songs.
“Viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing appreciate our videos because of how we use sign language and creative graphic ‘captioning’ as a form of artistic expression along with the music itself,” says Forbes.
He is also a co-founder of D-PAN, The Deaf Professional Arts Network, a non-profit organization whose focus remains on translating popular artists’ songs into American Sign Language videos for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
“I will definitely be checking out more of Sean Forbes’s music. He seems really cool, and the fact that he can rap as a deaf person? Kudos to him,” says sophomore George Exarchakis.
Get a free version of Forbes’s “I’m Deaf” album here.