Nate Walka

Nate Walka (b. Nathan Walker in Memphis, June 26, 1986 – ) – Rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer. Nate grew up singing black Gospel style in church. He wrote songs as a youngster and won poetry contests with his lyrics. During high school, he moved to Warren Township in Illinois, where he sold CDs of his own music to other students. After relocating to Alabama, Nate studied marketing at Alabama AM and won two rap battles in 2006: Xbox 360 Battling Competition and Boost Mobile Battle Rap Competition. In an attempt to clear his mind and figure out his future, he moved to Carmel, Indiana, in 2007 and work in clothing retail for about a year. A move to Atlanta helped get his career in gear, as he recorder two mixtapes with production help from friend David Ballard. With the mixtapes to draw from and the ability to freestyle, Walka toured Schwayze from MTV’s Buzzin’ reality show, performing in over thirty cities. Starting in 2009, Walka’s songs got picked up by major artists, resulting in several big hits. Of particular note, he came up with the idea for “Blame It,” a blockbuster hit from Jamie Foxx’s Intuition (2008). With Walka listed as one of the writers for “Blame it,” the album and single collectively received a win and another nomination at the Grammy awards, Soul Train awards, and BET awards. Walka also received writing credits for hits by Kid Cudi with Kanye West and Common (a re-mix of “Blame it”), and R & B singer Trey Songz. His song that Songz recorded was “Say Ahh,” which reached #3 on the Billboard charts and appeared on a Grammy-nominated album.