How did you get started?
I have always been involved in creating music in one way or another from a young age. I was in a children's choir when I was younger, I took piano lessons, guitar lessons, etc., but it all clicked for me once I found hip hop. I began DJing in high school, which eventually evolved into rapping, producing and recording with my friends. After high school, I moved to NYC to pursue music and I found the sync world here. I was managing the Fat Beats record store in the East Village, and a lot of the music TV networks would film segments in the store because the store looked unique and we were an easy location to secure. I had always been interested in creating music for TV, film and other media but I knew nothing about that world. At the time, I was producing records for a lot of artists in the hip hop scene, as well as recording and performing with my group all around the country, but I just didn't have any clue how to tap into the sync world.
One day, I decided to randomly email one of the people who had given me their business card while filming (I had no idea who this person was at the time; I literally just pulled a card out of my pile of business cards) and inquired how to submit music to their network. I was very friendly and pretended to know who I was emailing (I didn't). She was very friendly in return and pretended she remembered me (she didn't), and she introduced me to one of the network's music supervisors who, assuming I was a friend of the woman who just introduced us, immediately set me up with one of the major music libraries that pretty much all of the TV networks used, completely bypassing the audition and screening process. And that was my entry into the sync licensing world. I wouldn't recommend that route, but it worked for me!
Please list your top credits.
Outside of working with 50 Cent, LL Cool J, Onyx and a number of other hip hop legends, I have tons of TV credits, but the major placements that come to mind are probably the Apex Legends Season 1 Trailer, the Mortal Kombat: Scorpion's Revenge Trailer, The Main Event Trailer and the Ballers Season 5 Promo.
What types of genres do you work in most?
My roots are obviously hip hop and that's probably what I'm most known for, but I really enjoy doing everything, whether it's pop, soul, electronic, rock or some mix of them all. I just like making good music regardless of genre.
What is your favorite track for ALIBI?
That's a hard one. I love all of the tracks I've done for ALIBI, but if I had to narrow it down, it would either be
or , both of which were produced by James Murray, who is just a phenomenal composer.Who are your biggest musical inspirations?
I have a lot of musical inspirations, but DJ Premier is hands down my favorite hip hop producer of all time. Lyrically, Black Thought of The Roots is my favorite rapper of all time. Vocally, Gladys Knight is my favorite singer of all time. And composer wise, I've been fairly obsessed with Ludwig Goransson recently.
What makes your work unique?
I think all of my musical tastes and interests inform my work in a really unique way. I'm essentially a "trained" underground rapper/producer with a love of pop/electronic music and film composition. None of that makes sense on paper, but I think it gives me a really unique take on any project I'm working on.
Tell us one surprising thing people wouldn’t know about you.
At night, when I'm trying to fall asleep, I create action movie sequences in my head. I do this regularly and I suspect that's why I have a knack for creating trailer music.
Your funniest/strangest music experience
I once accidentally stole an artist's limo. It's a long story, but I rolled up to his show in his limo and he rolled up in a cab fairly upset.
Why do you like working with ALIBI?
ALIBI is a super supportive company. You can tell they genuinely care about the artists, composers and creators and that's really rare in this industry. The first couple of projects I worked on with them really weren't a good fit for one reason or another (and it was entirely my fault), but they continued to reach out and give me more opportunities until we figured something out that clicked.
I feel like they saw something in me and continued to try to figure out how to fit me into the picture, and I'm incredibly thankful to them for that. It's really rare (especially in this era) for a music company to patiently allow an artist to grow and learn their strengths and ALIBI did that for me. I'm honored to be working with them.
Any words of advice to share with artist hopefuls?
Just keep doing your thing. Whatever that thing is, there are other people out there who love it as much as you do. It's going to suck, probably for a long time, but if you continue doing whatever it is that you do, you'll eventually find your community and it will have all been worth it. Just keep going.
