The experience was rife with racial tensions, however. “It wasn’t anything like I got spat on,” he explains. “At the same time, I think the coaches and the environments I would be in didn’t set right with me.”

So he was particularly moved when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem earlier this year. The NFL player said he wanted to call attention to the systemic mistreatment of minority groups in the U.S.

“I always wondered what was up with racist sports fans who may cheer for a player of color, but will not respect their rights as human beings once the game is over.”

“I think what he did definitely made people reflect and it exposed so many differing viewpoints for people to have this conversation,” says Ardamus (real name: Artemis Thompson). “We don’t give people with fame credit when they stand for something positive and meaningful.”

Thompson’s new song, “The Athlete,” pays tribute to sports heroes past and present who were unafraid to speak up about racial disparities in America. A confident, sauntering beat produced by Ardamus himself buttresses two segments of storytelling: In the first verse, the MC recalls the patient determination of baseball player Jackie Robinson, who first broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. In the second, he praises Kaepernick for using his status to call attention to social issues.

“The Athlete” appears on Thompson’s After I Replace You EP, which came out last week on the Delegation Music label. Thompson had written the bulk of the song a year ago, but Kaepernick’s protest inspired him to return and finish it.

“I always wondered what was up with racist sports fans who may cheer for a player of color, but will not respect their rights as human beings once the game is over,” he says. “Someone like Kaepernick takes a stand then all hell breaks loose. All these critics come out and show their true colors.”

It’s no surprise that Thompson is also a voracious sports fan, rooting for baseball’s San Francisco Giants, hockey’s Nashville Predators, both sides of basketball’s rivalry between the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors, and of course, D.C. United soccer. He sees a deep connection between hip-hop culture and professional sports.

“So many rappers want to say they’re a version of this player and that player in the hip-hop industry. Then you have so many players getting involved in hip-hop music” he says. “I think they will continue to influence each other as time goes on.”

Ardamus performs Oct. 28 with Of Tomorrow at Solly’s in D.C., and Oct. 29 with Red Moon Preachers at Tree House Lounge in D.C.

But the frightening experience fueled him creatively, prompting him to release a string of candid EPs centered on material and personal loss.

The latest in the series, called I Can’t Replace Me, Pt. 2: Develop, finds the forthright MC going deep and broad at the same time, tackling a range of subjects including racism, politics and — on Track No. 2 — the power wielded by charismatic liars.

The song is called “Jordan Chase,” named after a villain on Showtime TV series Dexter (listen below). On the show, Chase maintains a charming exterior while privately ordering his followers to commit hideous acts of violence. Ardamus sees the character as an archetype for many off-screen strongmen.

“I thought Jordan Chase was one of those get-away-with-it types of people,” says the hip-hop artist, whose real name is Artemis Thompson. “He had power and he controlled masses of people. I thought that was a powerful statement.”

On “Jordan Chase,” Ardamus and L.A. rapper Chee Malabar’s wry observations are punctuated by the frenetic scratching of D.C. turntablist DJ Orbit 122. Meanwhile, Virginia Beach producer Vintage buttresses the dark lyrics with a sauntering funk beat that wouldn’t sound out of place on a gritty police procedural.

The third chapter in Ardamus’ “Replace” series, which began in 2014 with Before I Replace You, ratchets up the intensity and clarity of his message. Though the artist says he recorded all of the projects at once.

“I am one of those music nerds who wants albums, not mixtapes with a ton of tracks on it,” Ardamus says. Originally, the series was going to be a single jumbo release with 20 or more tracks. He thanks his label, Delegation Music, for advising him to take it down a notch.

Though Ardamus still keeps his nose to the grindstone. When he’s not working on the “Replace” series, he occupies himself with a long list of local projects, including experimental rap act DropLockers, funk band The Lucky So & Sos and D.C. hip-hop supergroup FAR EXP.

Next year, Ardamus plans to release the fourth and final installment in his series. He’s calling it After I Replace You.

Ardamus performs with The Lucky So & Sos Nov. 12 at Flash and solo Dec. 12 at Science Club.

Warning: Explicit lyrics.

“In all honesty, I am probably more like Tha Alkaholiks or Devin the Dude” — MCs who fall closer to the party-rap end of the spectrum — “than I am Common or Mos Def,” writes the Fort Totten resident in an email.

“It breaks down to me not being silent and trying to make sense of what confuses me. Everything from assimilation to social groups to the dangers of the advancement of technology,” Ardamus writes. “At the same time, I drink, like to party, and listen to raunchy comedians. So, yeah, my style is the dark side of conscious rap at this point.”

Dark side or not, Ardamus calls it like he sees it on his recent EP, I Can’t Replace Me Part 1: Improve. His unflappable honesty stands out on the release’s second track, “If Only I Gave Ah.”

Over a robotic march laid down by Diamond District’s Oddisee, Ardamus speaks about the grim realities facing kids who “cop gangsta rap out of vending machines,” declaring failure “a drug that’s spine-injected.” Fellow Washingtonian Kokayi frames the uneasy mood with a frank chorus, and Chicago’s Open Mike Eagle brings historical perspective with a thoughtful closing verse.

Asked about the song’s intent, Ardamus writes, “I feel like these kids get into these situations where they want to be the winner in every aspect of what they have been taught… I realized chasing all that when you’re young like that gives a warped perception of what else is out there.”

The artist says he has a personal tie to the issues he talks about. “I grew up in a middle class neighborhood where it was mixed races; yet still, we had dudes trying to sling and rob in the suburbs when they didn’t need to,” he writes. “On another end of it, I’m like, ‘It’s none of my business, so should I care?’ And yes. I do care.”

I Can’t Replace Me is the most recent release in prolific streak from Ardamus: Since November, he’s also dropped a single and an EP and plotted a string of live performances as a member of funk outfit The Lucky So and So’s and D.C. hip-hop supergroup FAR EXP. Next year, he plans to release a sequel to the EP called Part 2: Develop and a new project called DropLockers with local producer Edword Asis. He credits the surge to surviving a dicey encounter.

“I actually got robbed nearby my old place, and it freaked me out because it was situation where I could have ended up dead,” Ardamus writes. “After some months of adjusting to the loss of material things and counting my blessings of how was still living, I came up with that title. It’s an ode to going from one level to the next level, to always elevate.”

Warning: Explicit lyrics.

Ardamus performs with FAR EXP Jan. 10 at Rock & Roll Hotel and as himself Jan. 26 at Velvet Lounge.