North Omaha is bordered by the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa, and is home to more than 100,000 Nebraska residents, 59% of them African American. The area has a rich cultural history steeped in blues and jazz and is the birthplace of Malcolm X.
Love’s Jazz & Arts Center, founded by and named after local jazz great Preston Love Sr., lived in the historic district of 24th and Lake streets until 2020, before the North Omaha Music and Arts center took over the space, a testament to the cultural significance still looming in Omaha.
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Less than a half-mile away sits Culxr House, a creative hub established by award-winning hip-hop artist, songwriter, emcee, producer, and visionary Marcey Yates. Serving the Omaha community since 2018, Culxr House is a place where music, fashion, the arts, and civic engagement intersect. Through concerts, art exhibitions, workshops, and public gatherings, it has become an important resource for promoting creativity and strengthening connections within North Omaha. It’s one of the things that motivates Yates every day. He could have solely stuck to music, but his vision extends far beyond the studio.
“I want to see what else I can do to sustain myself and help others,” he says. “But I also want to improve myself. I’m almost obsessed with it.”
Yates has been laser-focused on music and forging community for years. Born in Omaha, Yates lost both of his parents at a young age. His early exposure to a plethora of music as a child, which started at his grandparents’ church, the Church of God, was the foundation.
“Church taught me how to feel music and express it from the soul; it was almost like testifying,” he says. “I think that’s why it’s so pure. It’s coming from my soul.”
It was only a matter of time before hip-hop entered his life.
“My older brother got me into hip-hop—underground to be specific,” he adds. “It was all about West Coast artists like San Quinn, Messy Marv, Jayo Felony, and Kurupt, and East Coast artists like JAY-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, and Nas. But he also put me on to Little Brother, 9th Wonder, Slum Village, Common, and J Dilla.”
After four years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, he headed to Arizona in the 2000s to study music production at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences. Once back home, he started releasing albums and mixtapes as a solo artist, formed the Dilla Kids, and pumped out additional projects under his producer alias, Op2mus. Beginning with 2014’s Vanilla Sky and Social Studies, Yates has put his appreciation and respect for classic hip-hop and Dilla-esque production center stage.
(Credit: Kevin Kabore)
“Hip-hop made an instant impact to how I would build myself,” he says. “It’s crazy to say sometimes, the influence it’s had on me. I’m a hip-hop producer primarily, but I think I’ve grown into a producer more because of the collaborations with the symphony and opera and experience composing. I am an emcee, a recording artist, and performing artist, but I’m hip-hop to the core and that’s my genre.
“I always was intrigued with how beats were made. I always made them with my mouth. I didn’t write much. I was a freestylist first, then when I began to actually make songs I knew I needed to write to feel better about my product. I wrote my first song when I was around 13 or something and it wasn’t about much. It was actually cringe [laughs].”
Since then, Yates has put in the 10,000 hours to perfect his craft and continued to pump out projects at a dizzying pace, including 2023’s Chocolate For Water and 2024’s 9 Months. He’s won five Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards in categories like Album of the Year (Culxr House: Freedom Summer), Outstanding Hip-Hop and Cultural Stewardship for his work with Culxr House.
(Credit: Calling Creatives)
More recently, Marcey signed with a Wichita, Kansas-based artist development nonprofit and dropped his first Midtopia project, House Rules, in November 2025. His latest project, Vanilla Sky II, finds Yates firmly established as a community leader, father, entrepreneur, and polished emcee/producer. Released in February, the album is a snapshot of Yates’s ongoing evolution. From album opener “Basically Set” to “Hidden Gems” to “4:14,” each song is a shining example of his appreciation for classic boom bap beats and top-tier lyricism. On “Gift & Curse,” he opens up about his mother’s death and wrestles with the challenges of being an independent artist.
In an industry that too often celebrates materialism and misogyny, Yates’s introspective lyrics and intriguing production style are refreshing reminders of what’s missing in mainstream rap.
“The influence of hip-hop’s golden era is a comfort zone to me, and when I feel like going to the gym and hooping, I’mma get to my spots and cook,” he says. “I feel since I grew up in that era and I’m from that cloth I do it better. It comes more natural. With Vanilla Sky II, I wanted to keep it dusty and raw with a lot of the drums.”
The sky (no pun intended) is the limit for Yates. Earlier this year, he landed a campaign with McDonald’s and Red Bull, which will include a mini-tour. Looking toward 2027, he plans on releasing more projects and continuing to tour. He’s also launching a media company, Culxr Media, another way to keep cultivating community.
“Ultimately, my goal is to get the respect I feel like I deserve and get my music into everyone’s ears, and to become a household name and continue to leverage my platform I built into more brand deals and sponsorships,” he says. “Obviously, my kids are a driving factor into my success, just being able to have their support and love, plus the fact God put me here for a reason keeps me going.”
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