Chicago native and award-winning hip-hop artist Sir the Baptist is headlining the second annual New Year's Eve celebration, Chi-Town Rising.
The 29-year old is performing alongside American Indie Pop band Saint Motel.
Here are five things to know about the up-and-coming hip-hop artist Sir the Baptist.
1. Sir the Baptist, legally named William James Stokes, grew up near the South Side of Chicago in Bronzeville.
2. His father was a preacher and his mother was a missionary, which led to the name Sir the Baptist. Inspired by John the Baptist in the Bible, Stokes wanted to be the voice of Chicago at a time when there was negativivity and negative music.
3. Sir the Baptist has been singing hip-hop full time for a year and a half. His first job was working with an adversting agency in Chicago. He then left the agency and became a Lyft driver. Sir the Baptist said he applied his experience driving Lyft to his music.
4. Sir the Baptist opened-up for artists like Beyonce in 2015.
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5. His goal for 2017 is to show everyone what the world of hip-hop looks like. Sir the Baptist wants to make sure people are listening to better versions of the genre.
Chi-Town rising musical performances begin at 8 p.m. Saturday. The NBC 5 broadcast will begin at 11:08 p.m. airing on over 40 NBC affiliates in the ocuntdown to midnight.
