From today’s b, the paperEast Baltimore-reared Kevin Beasley refuses to feed into the typical rap ethos, electing instead to be true to himself. Known to Charm City hip-hop heads as Ogun, the fan-appointed “B-More Hero” looks to cement his status permanently with the release of his new mixtape, Checkmate. With a mention in Rolling Stone, an upcoming performance at the 5 Seasons and a gig opening for Joe Budden and M.O.P at Sonar, Ogun has the hip-hop throne in sight, and he wants the crown. Give a listen.

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The name of your label is Real On Purpose. What’s the meaning behind the name?You hear people say you can be real on purpose, or you can be fake by mistake. The main theme of that is pretty much representing the truth at all times, and not just because it’s convenient. I try to have that in my music at all times. Real On Purpose kind of goes along with Ogun; the meaning of Ogun is the spirit of truth.Being a MC from Baltimore, do you feel you have a duty to let people know what goes on in your city?I feel like that’s kind of a natural reaction. You’re going to start off touching on things that you see every day, and then you’re kind of going to build your mentality. The more you travel, the more you meet different people, the more you change your demographic as far as the people you associate with; you’re going to be able to talk about other things. I feel like the murder rate, Charm City, Murderland — it’s kind of cliché at this point because everybody does that. If you limit yourself to that, you’re kind of boxing yourself into a certain mentality. So I don’t focus on publicizing that, but obviously it has to be touched on because it’s a reality to people in the city.Do you think the music industry is still ignoring Baltimore hip-hop?I would have to say yes, it is ignoring it. But for the most part, I feel it hasn’t been exposed heavily enough for [the industry] to pay attention. So I feel like it’s really the duty of the artists, the media, the radio stations, the clubs and the promoters. I feel like that’s our job to package our scene in a way that it will be attractive on a national scale. I don’t feel like we’re that buzzworthy at this point in the national eye. I feel like that’s something we’re all trying to acquire.Can you talk a little about your new mixtape?The new mixtape is called Checkmate, and the whole philosophy behind the name is not chess, but what this project represents to me. Checkmate, in definition, is really putting somebody in that last position where there is no denial at that point, and that person wins. When I call checkmate, I’m about to win. I really feel like I’m putting the fans, the artists that do the same thing I do, the radio stations, the media — I feel like this project will represent that last move when you can’t deny what I’m about to do. I’ve been working a long time to get to this point, and after this mixtape I feel it will represent me to the point where I can kind of clear all of the pieces off the board and kind of start over on a whole new playing front. I feel like it’s a good look for the scene, the city and definitely for me as far as what I’m trying to do in the next coming months.What’s on the horizon for you music career?My next main goal is radio play. After I drop the mixtape, my next goal is to feed into all the relationships I have with some good radio songs that will hopefully be put on rotation — or if not highlighted — on 92Q, and all the radio stations in the tri-state. From there, we’re going to do a little tri-state tour and then try to take it a little further than that. The main goal is promotion and really solidifying myself as a solo artist with some real marketable, radio-friendly songs that we can push. That will be a backing to the mixtape, which will cover the streets.Ogun will be a featured guest at the No Guts, No Glory MC Battle Aug. 28 at the 5 Seasons, 830 Guilford Ave.For more on Ogun, check out www.myspace.com/realonpurpose and www.myspace.com/nogutsnogloryonline.Timothy Cooper is a Baltimore-based hip-hop writer. His column appears Mondays. Contact him at nativsunn@yahoo.com.

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