Cousin Cream is a freestyle rapper, independent Hip-Hop/Rap recording artist, and flagship artist of Karat Cake Records from a Historical District in Plainfield, New Jersey known as Sleepy Hollow. He was born Alan Michael Curry on February 25, 1988 at the Naval Base in Portsmouth, Virginia at or about 3:00 AM EST. At six weeks old Cousin Cream was relocated to the East End of Plainfield, New Jersey to the quiet suburbs adjacent to Cook Elementary School. It was here that Cousin Cream attended Kindergarten at Acorn which was located on East Front Street in Plainfield at the time, Timothy Christian School located in nearby Piscataway Township, Cook Elementary School, and later Cedarbrook Elementary School after his family moved across town from the East End to the West End nearby Wardlaw-Hartridge, Cedarbrook Park, Plainfield High School, Plainfield Public Library, Hubbard Middle School, and Rose of Sharon Community Church. Cousin Cream began writing rhymes at 8 years old in 1997 when Harlem Legend Mase (https://tr.ee/XjndBn) spat “little kids all on the corner scream That’s My Car!” on the hit song “Been Around the World” (https://tr.ee/PH9Bdz) In the words of Cousin Cream, “We would be outside seeing nice cars drive by while we rode bikes and really yell out, That’s My Car!” “And that’s before the song came out!” “Imagine when we heard the song?!” “Think about that!” “The 90’s was different.” Cousin Cream first had the idea to write rhymes after his older cousin Sharif began freestyling. Cousin Cream tried to freestyle like his older cousin, however he wasn’t able to. It was then with that realization that Cousin Cream reassured himself that even though he may not be able to freestyle a rhyme, he’d definitely be able to write one. As Cousin Cream tells it, he was a straight A student in elementary school and when it came to rapping he knew from the beginning he’d always be able to write rhymes because he was a good writer and Composition was his best subject in school. Fast forward to 2005, at 17 years old while attending Plainfield High School, Cousin Cream recorded his first song in his basement. Inspired by his brother who is currently retired from Plainfield Police Department, Cousin Cream graduated from Plainfield High School in 2006 and subsequently enrolled at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice. Over the years Cousin Cream would occasionally revisit the studio and managed to record a handful of songs between 2007-2010. In 2011, after five years at Virginia State University, academically Cousin Cream was only a Junior. A distracted Cousin Cream eventually stopped attending classes after Mid-Terms Spring 2011 as his financial aid was revoked as a result of academic probation. He returned home to Plainfield in June 2011 with considerations of pursuing music having been inspired by the success of Harlem’s own Vado (https://tr.ee/KnOUl2) who Cousin Cream witnessed go from Black Planet to BET. It wouldn’t be long before reality struck and Cousin Cream found himself hustling backwards trying to chase his dreams from his Mother’s living room. His Mother would often say to him, “Mommy not gonna always be here for you boo.” He took a good look in the mirror and decided to get his affairs in order. Cousin Cream headed uphill prioritizing employment, education, & financial stability fueled by the fact that he had to be ready for the day he would have to fend for himself. Cousin Cream, moving at a turtle's pace, has managed to not give up on his dreams of becoming something in the rap environment as he has gone on to complete his Bachelor’s Degree as a Criminal Justice major in 2019 at Kean University in Union, New Jersey and has taken control of his finances with an eye on independence. On the way he has survived multiple depths of adversity facing psychiatric hospitalization, a diagnosis of Schizophrenia, unemployment, strained relationships, the loss of his Mother & Grandmother, debt, obesity, stigma, rejection, isolation, and embarrassment. Since Thanksgiving 2023, Cousin Cream has been consistently active across Social Media on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, & SoundCloud showcasing his lyricism and has several commercial releases on digital streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
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