The music is real.

That is the best way local hip-hop artist Derik Downing, who goes by FLO, can describe the songs on his compact disc, "Street Corner Therapy: The Mixed Tape."

Telegram photo / Alan Campbell (ENLARGE)

Derik 'FLO' Downing brings his hip-hop performance to Tarboro on Aug. 9

CHECK OUT THE MUSIC Hear 'Get Dis,' a track by Derik 'FLO' Downing.

"The main point my music focuses on is everyday life and everyday struggles – the downs, the ups. Anything the average person would go through, you can probably hear it on the album," said Downing of Tarboro.

Downing hopes people will relate to the music when he performs at 8 p.m. Aug. 9 on the Courthouse Square at Tarboro's 2nd Saturdays, said Corwin Farmer, the artist's manager.

FLO's first CD will be on sale at the concert and at The Grindhouse Tattoo and Body Modification in Tarboro after Aug. 12, Farmer said. The CD originally was released in August but had a limited audience.

"I feel like the old album wasn't heard enough. I feel like it was too good of an album," said Farmer of Tarboro.

Downing wrote and performed all the lyrics on the CD, as well as those on his second effort, "Street Corner Therapy: Da Refill," which will come out this fall.

"Not just Tarboro and Rocky Mount, but North Carolina overall is a spot that is overlooked when it comes to hip-hop. ... There is a lot of talent around here. I guess the marketing and the promotion around here is not strong enough. We've just got to hustle hard, and hopefully somebody will hear us," Downing said.

FLO has a bright future ahead of him, said J. "Manifest" Wiggins, the producer on both CDs. Talent and originality set him apart from many rappers; so as long as he stays consistent, he could do well.

"I look at him as a real hip-hopper. ... It is like he is not really rapping about the flashy stuff, the cars. It is pretty much natural. It's just him – raw talent. He is not making up things that don't exist," Wiggins said.

Several of the songs from FLO's second CD already are available online at myspace.com/flo27886.