I Will Prosper
It’s not every day that aspiring student musicians are given the opportunity to open shows for mainstream hip hop artists such as 2-Chains but UAlbany’s very own Prosper Muna has defied those odds.
A 23-year-old student, athlete and musician is on his way to the top. At the University at Albany, Muna has been committed to being involved with campus activities since his first year. Muna’s freshman year, he became one of the few athletes to tryout for the Universities Division 1 team and make it. He later joined Phenomenal Voices, a student organization that recognizes all talents in the arts. These two gateways allowed him to express his talent and network on the campus.
Being a walk on to the football team, Muna didn’t receive much recognition in which he thought he deserved for his talents, starting out as a player on the scout/red-shirt team for his first couple of weeks. He originally started as a wide receiver but then due to eligibility he was unable to play with the team.
That summer, he continued to practice with the football team so that he could stay in shape. “I wanted to prove to them, that I could play even though I didn’t have a scholarship,” Muna said.
Returning to the team, Muna was placed on the defense team, where he initially began to struggle being that he regularly played on the offensive side.
“I had to adjust quick, my sophomore year was a learning process. I didn’t really understand the scheme and the system. I would play slow because I didn’t know what I was doing,” Muna said.
Though he faced some troubles, his athletic abilities kept him going and by junior year he had finally grasped the concept. He was finally allowed to play but with conditions; Muna was placed on the special teams; kick offs, kick off returns, punt, punt returns but that opportunity allowed him to show off his abilities. He was later offered a scholarship by Coach Bob Ford, in which he happily accepted.
“Prosper is very athletic. He can play multiple positions. He has good hands, good speed, and he is aggressive. He’s talented,” said teammate Kevin Chillas.
The summer prior to his senior year, Muna put in a lot of hard work. He wanted the coach to notice his talent and abilities, so that he would get more playing time and not just to contribute on the special teams. While studying abroad in Italy, Muna continued his efforts in making sure he was practicing and working out.
“Even when I was in Italy, I lifted three to four days a week. Plus I ran all around the city and than I came back and continued to work out with my teammates at training camp,” Muna said.
Growing up, Muna always strived to be hard-working kid. Living in the Albany area with two older brothers it was often hard for Muna to stay on the right track.
His mother worked two jobs to try to maintain a stable living for Muna and his older brother Yves, but that wasn’t the easiest thing. The house they lived in was next to a railroad track, so it was considerably noisy. The foundation inevitably began to give way causing the house to often slide and shake from the passing trains.
Barely making enough money, Muna and his family were evicted from their home. This took a toll on Yves, as he became more involved in the streets then his books.
Yves was eventually kicked out of high school. Without the presence of a father figure, who had passed away when Muna was only the age of four months and their mother consistently working two jobs; the boys were left to raise themselves. However, with the money his mother did make, Muna and his brothers were able to find a place to live.
Muna and his brother would hang out in the streets all day and night. They would be outside rather than doing homework or something constructive. “I was young and naïve, I seen my brother do things and I wanted to do it too,” Muna said.
“Prosper was adventurous, creative and optimistic. He was always down to do something fun and daring,” Yves said.
With the lack of help financially, Muna and his family were evicted again. Yves was sent to jail and Prosper was on his way to sixth grade.
Prosper originally started off as a basketball player and then expanded his interest in sports during middle school. He started playing football as a running back.
“I was terrible at it, too slow, too tall, it didn’t work. I started which was good, but I was still bad,” Muna said.
Going to Albany High School really changed things for Muna.
“It was crazy, a lot of urban city kids, gang violence, it was a jungle,” Muna said.
Freshman year, Muna struggled in school because he couldn’t make it to his early classes due to laziness. His sophomore year, Albany high got even worse. There were riots all the time during the schooldays in which made school life very uncomfortable for Muna. Muna had high hopes of going to a Division 1 college and making it to the NFL and with help and determination Muna was able to transfer to Albany Academy.
Albany Academy was a drastic change from Albany High. There was a high population of children of Caucasian decent that came from a high economic status household. The school also had high economic standards and in turn became the school that aided Muna’s journey to becoming college ready.
“They helped me with sports, I became captain of the football team. It was really warm and welcoming,” Muna said.
During Muna’s senior year, he began to find himself musically. He joined the school choir. One of his friends in high school later forced him to perform in the school’s musical.
“The musical really helped me with performing and I started to have inspiration for my music,” Muna said. 
Muna’s big break musically happened when he met a man named, Lucas Hass. In his English class, students had to present their talent to the class. Muna performed a rap and Hass immediately recognized his talent. Hass was an engineer assistant at a studio downtown and suggested the two recorded something.
“He only writes about what he knows about, and a lot of hip-hop music of this day, content is not relatable to most people. Prosper, would write about the troubles he was going through and his struggles he was juggling. His lyrical content really stuck out and how fast he did it. He’s incredible lyrically and writing and harmony,” Hass said.
In high school, Muna, use to record tracks and sell CDs for $5 in school. “It motivated me to keep going, the kids seen potential in me,” Muna said.
Prosper tries to go the studio as often as he can now. There are sometimes when he goes four times a month and others when he goes every other month.
“When I was recording with Lucas, I didn’t have to pay. We did it for the love. A lot of songs came from his house. We would do a lot of work in the summer. We recorded a few days a week, now of days, it’s a few times a month,” Muna said.
Muna’s wrote his first song “Ball-D” in the fifth grade. His mom made him get a terrible hair cut and he decided to make a rap about it. Since then, rapping just stuck with him.
Muna gets a lot of his inspiration for songs from everyday life. He raps about what he sees and what he has experienced growing up. His music varies in style, genre and tone.
“As I got older, I stayed in school and went to college and kept an open mind. I gained a different perspective from other people. Something always sparked inspiration. I’ll be in class and just start rapping. I’ll stop everything and just pick up on music,” Muna said.
Musically, Muna has had great opportunities. Muna started out performing during Phenomenal Voices shows. Throughout the years he has also performed on Lark Street, making a name for himself within the Albany community.
One of his greatest accomplishments was opening up for 2 Chains at UAlbany’s 2013 Parkfest musical concert. 
“It was…wow, it was epic. I really appreciated the opportunity. It was cool perform to the student body that I attended. A lot of people knew who I was and those that didn’t had a visual image. It really put my name out there more,” Muna said.
2Chains was only one of many artists that Muna was able to open up for. He has opened up for Mac Miller, Lupe Fiasco, and Snoop Dog. These experiences has helped shaped him to becoming a better performer and musician.
“I really got to talk to him. His manager Q gave me a lot of advice. He’s the reason I made my first video because he said I needed visual art. He gave me direction, which really helped me progress,” Muna said about Mac Miller.
Muna’s music not only appeals to the student body, but also to the older crowd.
“He’s awesome, I think his music is different. His music sounds like the generation in college, trying to do positive things. Positive groove, I listen to all his songs every day from my itunes. My family likes him. I went to his concert, first time seeing him perform. I was really proud of him,” Yves said.
Being a student, musician and athlete sometimes takes a toll on Muna’s life. There are nights when he doesn’t get home from the studio until 3am because mixing and recording took an extra two or three hours longer.
“The recording process usually takes an hour and a half depending on who I’m with. An R&B singer usually takes a little longer to warm up. The recording part takes 30 minutes because I know what I’m doing. One take or a few takes. The mixing process after takes the longest,” Muna said.
There are days that he’s exhausted because he’s had workouts at 6am and then class at 8am. He doesn’t always have time to finish his schoolwork in a timely manner. Though, he is not struggling academically, life can definitely prove to be challenging for him. 
“I basically accepted that it’s going to be times where it’s hard but these are two things that I love. What ever you love, it doesn’t matter how many hours you have to put into. It definitely influenced who I am today. Especially with music, I took it as it is. I found a balance,” Muna said.
His senior year of football, Muna really didn’t as much playing time as he liked. Being in a new division, CAA, UAlbany’s team struggled on the field.
“Halfway through the season they played me more. If they played me more with my senior leadership, I would have been able to make a difference. They had a lot of young players playing over me. If they added the seniors in, we would have been more experienced and handled situations better,” Muna said.
Muna wasn’t the only, who thought he should have played.
“Anything after high school is a business. As far as college the recruit process, Prosper wasn’t of the high recruits coming in. They give the kids who has scholarships playing time first because why would they not play someone that they spent money on. Prosper got his time, when he was in the game he made the best of his opportunities but I did wish he played more, “ Chillas said.
Muna had dreams of being in the NFL. He wanted to go the University at Michigan because he always thought he was good enough to play division 1a football. As time progressed, his dreams differed.
“As a walk-on, the dream started to get further and further. I didn’t start and I was playing. It discouraged me. Senior year, I thought I would play more because I was working harder,” Muna said. 
The lack of playing time heavily affected Muna. There were times when he didn’t care about football and would engage in smoking, drinking, flirting with girls, playing video games and hanging out rather then practicing. It wasn’t until he started getting withdrawals from playing with his teammates, that Muna started to get back on track with football.
Thanks to his scholarship, Muna was later able to help his mom out. He sent her three to four hundred dollars every refund check he received. His mom currently lives in NYC with his younger siblings trying to provide a better life for them.
Muna plans on moving to the city, after graduation to pursue his musical career.
“I’m so on board with that. I strongly recommend that he should be down here. I’ve called him multiple times, because I work in a studio so I have free time over night to produce. For him to be down here with me I mean the things we could be doing would just be incredible. The opportunities down here not to lessen Albany but it’s not really a music scene especially for what he wants to do NYC is a better environment,” Hass said.
Prosper will continue to follow his dreams, in hopes of being the next big thing.
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