Raceland hip hopper's career rolls strong, like the Mississippi River he toils on

An 18-year-old fleet supervisor has a burgeoning career in hip hop. He's dropping his third album in April.

Tate Campeaux, who goes by the stage name OkayAce, began immersing himself in the world of hip hop after two of his 12-year-old classmates were killed in gun violence in the Baton Rouge area. Now, at 18, Campeaux is close to dropping his third album, titled "Due Date," at the beginning of next month.

"Back then, I didn't really understand what happened," he said. "I was a little kid, I wasn't really into all the street violence or whatever. Now that I'm older, I understand, I grieve about it sometimes."

Campeaux is from Raceland, does hitch work on the Mississippi River of 10 days on and five days off, and raises a child. In his free time, he composes music.

With two singles released and two albums under his belt, Campeaux is early into his music career, but he's found success. The two albums are "The Intro," released July 21, 2023, and "Blow Up," released Feb. 4.

The first album was to get his name out, but "Blow Up," which features 11 tracks, earned Campeaux more than $1,000, and each track was being viewed about 1,000 a day on each platform: Apple, Spotify, and Youtube.

"My first album, I kinda just dropped it to show my friends and family my music," he said. "You know, I wasn't really tryin' to get nothing off of it. So I only made like $10. But this second one, I ran some promotions, some Instagram ads. I had some articles written about me, so it's been pulling in some attention. I've been gettin' around 3,000 plays on average."

Apple had the highest views last Wednesday at 2,100 a track, and Spotify was at 1,100, according to Campeaux. The profit has all gone into his savings account, which he opened in high school when he worked for Sonic.

"I mean, I got an old lady, and I got a baby so, you know, I give them what they need, make sure they are alright," he said. "Then really I don't buy anything for myself. I'm still driving around in a $1,000 car I bought two years ago."

"Blow Up" features a track titled "Heal The Pain," which Campeaux wrote as a way to get through loss. The track is a full circle for the artist. He got into hip hop when his friend Kaemyn Westerman, stage name RioDaYoungin, suggested it as a way to express himself after two classmates Campeaux knew as "Dee" and "Kee" died in a shootout near Baton Rouge in the town of Slaughter, he said.

Coming to terms with the loss of his friends started his career, but grief returned after Campeaux's uncle, Justin Campeaux, and a friend both died of drug overdoses. Two songs were created to process the emotions, but only one would be published. "Heal The Pain" was released, but the other song, Campeaux said, was too personal.

"Baby I am hurtin, tryna fix this s---, ain't workin', tryin' ta be a better person, I lost my brother he was lurkin'," he sang. "I lost my brother and lost my cousin, we ran down ain't do no runnin'. I lost the ones who always thuggin'. I made this song because of Justin, tell the family that I love them."

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Working as a fleet supervisor, Campeaux oversees the construction of barges. A Mississippi River tow is typically seven barges long, and four or five barges wide. Each barge is about 200 feet long and about 30 feet wide. The loads of the barges also affect how deep they sit in the water. Campeaux ensures these are properly secured together. Five days in a row he works the day shift, and five he works the night.

"You know, I have my AirPods, and I listen to my beats, and if I hear one I like, I save it for later, but I work 12 hours a day, I go in at 4 in the mornin', and I get out at 4 in the afternoon," he said.

Nights wipe him out, but for day shifts, when he returns home, he can't sleep>

"I get home at 4 p.m., can't really go to sleep, so I either play my game, record some music, or hit up Kaymen to tell him to come record," he said.

Campeaux's music can be found on Youtube under his account OkayAce, or Apple Music here: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/okayace/1696709867.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: 18-year-old Raceland hip-hop artist set to release third album