Elon's Own Upcoming Rapper

Bored on fake break his sophomore year, Elon University senior, Jon Leach, made a song for fun in the production booth and posted it on SoundCloud. Little did he know a few weeks later it would reach 98,000 plays and receive thousands of likes.

An admirer of rappers Takeoff and Lil Baby, Leach realized the potential of making a career out of it.

Over the past few years, Leach has had little time to rap on the side and invest in marketing himself as a member of Elon’s football team. An independent artist, unaffiliated with any music clubs or classes, he used beats off of YouTube as his basis for his songs.

“I hear a beat and if I’m fucking with it, I’ll try to make something out of it. I can tell in the first 10 seconds if I’m gonna use it or not.”

Leach would spend hours over the summer is his friend’s hangout shed producing music as soon as he got out of work at 3 p.m. Leach and his friend would sweat through the summer heat as the shed didn’t have air conditioning and the fans would make too much noise during recordings.

Now without the time commitment of sports as a graduating senior, Leach has been able to put more personality in his music, be active on social media (Instagram: @drac02x__), collaborate with others, and place it on all platforms ranging from Spotify to Amazon Music.

Leach recently released his 3rd album, The Other Side, which he is most proud of and has branded himself as Big Draco. He describes his music as “chill as hell” and raps about things he’s gone through, and refers to rapping as like therapy.

The potential to financially support his family and friends out drives him as he says he owes it to the friends he grew up with that got into trouble and didn’t have the opportunity to go to college as he did.

Through his collaborations, Leach has also had the opportunity to design some apparel inspired by his first album cover with the help of his friend, Patrick Walsh, and his t-shirt company “dumblit.” He sells crewnecks, joggers, tees, hoodies, and more at https://dumblitinc.myshopify.com/collections/draco.

Leach plans to continue his rapping after graduation and is focused on finding a business job that can financially support his pursuit of a music career.