Once music touches your soul, it becomes part of you—and it never fades.”
I remember music being an early memory of my childhood. My mom had a record player and so my first introduction to music was oldies but goodies. That’s what we call them now, but back then, they were just classics: Tina Turner, Micheal Jackson, Aaron Neville. My household was what you’d call conservative so that was any rap or hip-hop being played as their was an unspoken rule that, that type of music was frowned upon, either because of the lyrics or the content. But I was able to find freedom in listening music on the radio station. In a separate part of the house, we had an old radio setup that also had recording capabilities and so the highlight of my day was listing to Q93, specifically the Hot 8 at 8. The hottest 8 songs of the day, played at 8PM. Like most pre-teens, I’d anxiously wait by the radio with a cassette so I can record each song, making my first playlist.
It wasn’t until later on I was introduced to New Orleans rap. It was the first time I heard music that transported me somewhere. The song was “Drag Em In The River” by UNLV, a diss track from a local rap group toward a No-Limit rapper, Mystical. Later on, I got my first portable CD player, learned how to rip and burn my own music and that opened up another world; people like DMX, Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Ma$e, and a slew of East Coast music that I didn’t even know about.
I never thought music was apart of my life but it was also in the background, being played as the soundtrack to all my highs and my lows. Life is already hard as it is. It’s mental and emotionally draining to carry the weight of your past decisions and future fears. And music can sometimes elevate us out of those worries and that’s the experience I want to create for people. A moment in time where they can put down their cares and worries and feel the stay type of freedom they felt when they first heard their favorite song. The same type of freedom that 12 year old felt when I made that perfect cassette playlist.
My sound is representative of the different sides of me. It’s the familiarity of rap, hip-hop, or bounce music but with the creativity of adding something new to it. In the South, we weren’t brought up on house and dance music but something about it speaks to me. The repetitive beats, the remixes, the edits, it’s like opening up a new gift every time. I know the song, I know the words, but now I get to be introduced to a way to appreciate it. Just like the environment I’m from, I adore mashups, I akin it to gumbo, you get to put all these things in a pot and see what comes out. Some things I play, some things I blend, and some things I like to give them breathing room to cook.
