During junior year of high school, which is widely regarded as one of the most strenuous, busy and overwhelming years of a person’s life, the spotlight shines on Presley-Nathan Tinong, going by the stage name PRIIEST, who began his rap career in the summer following the 2024-2025 school year.
Tinong was inspired to make music by his father, who works in the rap production industry. In addition, he completed his first full season as a varsity football player, totaling 66 tackles and two touchdowns at edge rusher in nine weeks.
“My dad’s a producer, so I tapped into that first, then listening to other people’s good music made me want to start creating my own music that feels just as good. I’m still getting there,” Tinong said.
In recent years, laid-back music has made a resurgence as music fans gravitate towards a calmer style and a relaxed tempo. As Gen Z high schoolers tend to adopt a more comfortable, nonchalant attitude, listeners crave songs that reflect that mood and offer meaningful lyrics they can connect with.
“A lot of time, people are stressed and need something to relax, and his music serves the purpose,” fellow junior football player Andrew Rotnemer said. “I like his production. It sounds very high quality. He’s just a chill guy, and that is, like, what his music exemplifies.”
To determine his signature style and cadence, Tinong looked to other influential musicians. He takes bits and pieces from his favorite artists, blending them into his own sound.
“My style, I would say, is melodic, but still swaggy,” Tinong said. “I’m influenced by, I would say, Tory Lanez mainly, but Lil Wayne and Kehlani also.”
The music world is constantly expanding its boundaries, searching for innovation and yearning for the next breakthrough that taps into an entirely new fan base. When a market is as varied as it is, encompassing various genres ranging from hip-hop to classical music, it is only natural for an artist to delve into those categories, finding inspiration for their own music.
“Since there’s so much diverse music in the world for them, people definitely take inspiration from multiple different genres and combine them to make it their own, which I think is really cool,” senior Macie Redmond, another WJ artist, said. “I also think mellow or rap music like that has started leaning a lot more towards technology and like synthesizers rather than recording real instruments.”
Each PRIIEST song contains its own unique mixture of melody and lyrical flair, all decided by what direction Tinong feels the song should go and how he wants his audience to perceive his music. Whether Tinong is in the studio visualizing and creating straight from his mind or casing through different beats until he finds ones that fit, making a song can look vastly different depending on what feeling he wants to convey.
“Sometimes I listen to beats and make lyrics based off what the song makes me feel, but other times I have an idea about what I wanna talk about or the vibe I’m trying to create,” Tinong said. “Or sometimes me and my good mans Antwaan go through some melodies and freestyle a vibe on the spot.”
Tinong has already reached over 220 monthly listeners on his Spotify page and nearly 2000 listeners on his top song, “pose 4 me”, but he has not yet reached his aspirations. PRIIEST looks to increase his listeners through expanding his visibility on social media and Spotify, and by driving home his music’s central message.
“People should just be in the moment and enjoy it,” Tinong said. “I wanna load up my discography, go out and create content and expand my fan base.”
Wildcats are starting to take notice as Tinong’s popularity continues to grow.
