Phonetic One was an incredible emcee and a member of First Wave at the University of Wisconsin – Madison – where I graduated from college. First Wave is “the country’s first and only scholarship program that provides financial support for students from spoken word and hip-hop communities.” Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, he came in on scholarship and both pursued his theater degree, while ripping stages across the Midwest. Zue was an up-and-coming producer in the local scene. He wasn’t as well known as P1, but he was just starting to take off as a local producer. I worked with him over the course of a couple years and could see that his unique style of sampling was really coming together as a completed sound.
Being from Madison, Wisconsin, I grew up with drug addiction, alcoholism and depression on all sides – a likely result of the surrounding poverty and violence. I speak from personal experience. This record will be featured on the upcoming concept album – Chapter 2: Double Major – which will explain what the other half has to do to make it through college. On the 25-track mixtape, I take cultural concepts and flip them in a way that people don’t expect. Having both the experience and the education has put me in a unique position to speak out, so that’s what I seek to do in life. This will be the 4th, full-length, fully original project in the last 5 years. Chapter 2 is due out this Fall.
For more on this story, read the full write-up.
