Franchyze tha Multytalent
Audio Feed
Old State House Food Court
Hartford
Sept. 29, 2026
I remarked to a friend recently that I haven’t covered much local rap in my writing. Serendipity and the Audio Feed concert series answered by presenting Hartford rapper Franchyze tha Multytalent as the final Tuesday concert of the season.
One aspect of Franchyze’s music I enjoyed is the playfulness he brings to his performance. “Inside Man” is a hard-driving song about drug dealing and doing whatever it takes, with some catchy, clever lyrics to tell the tale:
You need work just call your boy/Don't try to stick me up I got more heat than inside a sauna boy
I tell anybody that it’s about a dollar boy/ I'm living large like Tony Montana boy
Coke in the fridge I ain’t talking ‘bout soda boy/have fiends feeling like Superman call them Soldier Boy
As the song ended and the audience applauded, a sheepish smile crept across his lips.
“This song is for entertainment purposes only,” he said.
As someone who has just about had it with rappers presenting themselves as someone they are clearly not, Franchyze’s admission is not only refreshing, but moves the focus back on what rap music is– not just a tough guy contest, but an expression of lifestyles and realities through creativity. Rappers write about the lives they see the same way authors do, whether they experienced it personally or not.
Franchyze’s skill with words comes from his personal journey through music. He started his music career as a singer over a decade ago. Later he got into poetry. Combining the musicality of singing with the lyricism of poetry made transitioning to rap music a natural fit. Rapping became an important outlet for his emotions, allowing him to express his anger through his lyrics instead of taking it out on others.
He hasn’t left his singing roots behind completely. On the song “Get to the Bag”, he features singer A. Marquise singing an ode to the independence and success of the women in their lives. Much of the music Franchyze performed has a strong current of optimism and positivity, laying out the struggles that people face but reveling in their triumph over their circumstances.
Franchyze has been writing music even longer than he’s been performing, and as his ability to create songs developed, he realized that in order for his lyrics to really land, he had to be the one to deliver them. He said the key to his music is the believability that he personally brings to the songs and their impact.
“Some people just want to make music and they want to sit in the background, which is cool,” he said. “That's why they’re ghostwriters. I get to embody my music on stage. You give people the feel of the music.”
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Jamil goes to see a new musical based on The Great Gatsby.
