Shawn Johnson, a Virginia Beach native, studied Music Theory and Composition at both Old Dominion University and East Carolina University. He studied Composition with composers such as Adolphus Hailstork, Andrey Kasparov, and Edward Jacobs. Johnson grew up listening to popular styles such as R&B, Hip-Hop, Rock, and Jazz, among others. He works to infuse key elements from those styles into his music. In addition, he works to have a keen understanding of the concepts related to popular music. He wrote his Master’s Thesis on the music of the Pulitzer Prize Winning Artist, Kendrick Lamar.