The Austin 100: MAVI

By Stephen Thompson

Published March 17, 2020 at 5:01 AM EDT

Hometown:Charlotte, North Carolina

Genre:Hip-Hop

Why We're Excited: A North Carolina native now enrolled at D.C.'s Howard University, Omavi Minder splits his time among his studies (he's majoring in neuroscience), his activism (mostly centered on black liberation) and his rap career, which has produced a riveting mixtape called Let the Sun Talk and plaudits from, among others, Earl Sweatshirt. Mavi's flow can be low-key, and he records on his own living-room floor, but make no mistake: His work, like his life, is infused with a powerful sense of purpose.

Listen to MAVI's "Self Love"

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Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

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