Vintage Verses Coming July 2nd

Vintage Verses is my debut independent Hip Hop album. It will be released on July 2nd. This is my first full-length album with 100% production by independent music collaborators including Josh Norris, DJ Pain 1, SpDoubleOG, UGGGY, Abstraktius Artimus, Spark da Philly, E.T. The Producer, Drumheadx, Kil889, and Streetside Sound. Vocal collaborators include DysFunky1, Knowlij, UGGGY, Abstraktius Artimus, and Madam Kay Mogul.  

This project is something I dreamed about doing when I first started rapping decades ago. Back then I thought I had a lot to share with an audience about my experiences living in poverty, growing up fatherless, dealing with an abusive and dysfunctional family, and overcoming homelessness. I never got to share those messages though because right as I was marketing my first EP with my rap partner he passed away unexpectedly and it hit hard. Around that same time I also became a single parent with full custody of my child. I stopped exploring my passion for music and just focused on raising my son by myself and trying to build a career. 

But in 2023, I felt motivated to revisit my love for Hip Hop music one more time. The result is an indie album featuring some of the best in the indie music community. It's a full circle moment for me because even the album cover is a throwback. It comes from old promo pics I took with my rap partner when we were shopping our demo and it's my way of honoring that legacy. I don't like labels or trying to conform to boxes but my sound is probably best described as a combination of East Coast and Dirty South since I'm from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. My music is influenced by a very diverse compendium of genres.  For example, one song on the album was designed to be a new school version of "Friends" by Whodini while another was loosely inspired by "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel. And my goal was to really try to create an indie version of what I consider to be the greatest Hip Hop album of all time, which is "Illmatic" by Nas. I was striving for that same "no skips" factor. I listen to a lot of Jazz, old R&B, and Blues, so my lyrical content or delivery is often shaped just as much by Miles, Coltrane, Stevie Wonder, and Muddy Waters, as it is by Biggie, Rakim, Jay-Z, or Scarface because sound in general motivates words in my head.

Overall, the album has a theme around resilience and determination with what I like to call "grown man bars" laced throughout and it's designed for an audience that is looking for authenticity and substance in today's Hip Hop music. In some ways, I could be considered a veteran of the game, but others might call me a rookie. Either way, just like the lead single says, I'm Here For It. Much of my personal life has been a comeback story in a variety of different ways, and I've never lost that fire in my belly to keep pushing, so it was just natural that Vintage Verses needed to have that same vibe.  My rap alias translates to "continuous improvement" so the album definitely had to embody that notion.  Vintage Verses is about being better today than I was yesterday and trying to offer the listener something timeless.