Coming from humble beginnings, up-and-coming rapper Ayo Modd’s balance between his higher education and his promising rap career has not been easy. 

Hammodd Davis, 18, known by his stage name Ayo Modd said,“When it’s time to shine, I’m going to be different.”

Growing up in the Olney area in Philadelphia, Modd described it as being like a war zone at times, and his passion for rap is the driving force for him to make it out and support his loved ones. 

Modd said he never really had a stable living situation, coming from foster homes and being adopted at an early age. His hard-working mentality came from his lack of support. 

Despite his upbringing, Modd said a lot of his influence comes from his neighborhood and the success of his rapper peers from the same city as him. 

“Seeing people that I really know make it to where they want to be in life inspires me,” he said. Modd remembers his first experience in the studio recording at 13 years old saying, “When I did it, I was like ‘Damn, this is me…This is what I want to do in life.’”

Modd said he started rapping around the age of 9 and was encouraged by his friends in school to keep going after he performed his first raps to them. 

Modd said one of his biggest challenges was having people doubt his abilities. “I had to face people telling you that you can’t do something, or you shouldn’t do something,” he said. 

Trying to navigate around the negative energy surrounding his rap dreams is something Modd believes made him grow up earlier and start to get things on his own. 

Juggling school and chasing his rap aspirations at the same time is something Modd believes is important. 

“You can never stop learning something,” he said. “You’re never too smart that you can’t listen to anybody anymore … Even if I don’t finish college, the fact that I came here and made the connections … different lanes have opened for me now.” 

Modd said being in college has taken his music career to a new level, while at the same time, he is grateful for the opportunity to continue to learn and meet new people. 

“If I didn’t come up here [to Shippensburg University], I wouldn’t have made the fanbase I have now.”

Music is not the only thing that Modd wants to pursue. He also said that since he has been at school, he has met people who have introduced him to acting as well. 

Modd said that if you want to pursue a music career and still go to school, then you should have a plan. 

“You have to know what you want to do in life,” he said. Modd said for him, when he gets to a certain level in his career, he wants to start a record label and create wealth for other families and generations to come. 

Modd is a business major at Shippensburg University. He said that for him to take a leap within the rap world, he must learn the business side as well as the music side. 

“It’s not all just about [the booth], video shoots,” he said. “It’s a business side, too.”

Modd said one thing he has learned early about being an artist in college is you have to be able to talk to people and market yourself. 

“When I came here, I had like five people who knew me,” he said. Fast forward to now, where Modd has become well-known around campus and is continuing to grow. “You just gotta work, man, you gotta know what you’re doing,” he said. 

Modd is still pushing to elevate as an artist and says he owes his inspiration for making music now to his experiences in life. 

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