long ass read.
Let me fill you in a little bit on the movement without rhyming for a little while. Maybe a good place to start is where ‘EQ’ came from; then we can move to where EQ came from. EQ is an acronym for a 2x entendre of sorts - equalize vs. equal eyes. It came from my liking for the aesthetics of that wordplay, and the concepts of balance and trying to let the listener see vicariously through the pen.
I’m from Northern VA, from a small community about 30 minutes outside the Nation’s capital. I grew up in a house for about sixteen years of my life afterwhich I moved into an apartment with my father, then proceeded to drop out of my senior year of HS and move to the state capital to pursue music.
There are countless inexplicable events that have made me who I am today -as there are for all of us. And while music was pushed on my heavily from a very young age, it took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to spend my life doing. I came up on classic rock and R&B, being a mixed child; my parents perpetuated the idea that mainstream rap music was shit (which for the most part it was, for many years - though I do sincerely believe the industry is looking pretty good at the moment) which created an aversion to rhythmic poetry of any form for a long time. Until junior high you couldn’t tell me a rapper was sick and have me take you seriously.
Though my musical interests were very elsewhere at the [dark] time, my friend sent me a record during a serious conversation one day that changed my perspective quickly and drastically . I knew him through skating at the time, and funny enough he lives no more than a few miles from me in the city we happen to be in today. I had a lot of faith in his time so I tried to have as open a mind as possible when listening to the track - which was ‘God Loves Ugly’ by Atmosphere. After hearing it, I don’t think I listened to anything except Rhymesayers artists for about six months.
I was hooked. I started to see much more hip hop culture in my life from then on - from trying to produce, seeing if my avidity for writing extended into lyricism, street art, breaking.. among other things. My jr. high and high school years were extremely phased and experimental til right around Spring of jr. year.
The DJ you may commonly hear referred to as EK (and also the man who’s produced a great percentage of the music I’ve used) started to cut records, using Logic to sample and produce and scratching with Serrato. I was fascinated by the process, and since I had recorded singing tracks several times before and still had an avid interest in rap I decided to write a few tracks and record them. After messing with a couple tracks we’d recorded for a while our interest in making music only grew larger and larger.. by the day, eventually by the hour.. and eventually it was all I could think about. At that point in time our equipment was way mediocre to start seriously releasing anything but we continued honing our skills until we felt it was right to do so. The following winter I purchased the mic that I record with to this day and began cutting records with EK (Ewan Kay) and Echo (Shaun Ahmadpour); before the season ended we’d released our first mixtape, entitled The Prelude. It was twelve tracks of what now sounds to me like exactly what it was.. some high schoolers experimenting. But it was the beginning of something much bigger and I cherish that experience to this day.
The same year we released one more mixtape as a collective and I released two alone; the mix we did as a collective being titled Echoes, and the two others entitled Nic is Like and ThreeSquared. Doing everything from the writing all the way to the promotion helped in understanding the process of not only creating music but releasing and pushing it as well; but the
journey with any of my solidified fanbase outside of my hometown truly began months later on 4/15/2011; with the release of the mixtape ‘Define Dreamer’, hosted by DJ Capcom.
To the listener I suppose the rest is history. But I couldn’t begin to explain how this shit has changed my life. At least not in a few paragraphs - maybe that’s part of why I do this. Can’t begin to express my thanks to all the people who’ve helped me get as far as I’ve gotten. In the past year the level of the movement has elevated in a way I don’t think I could’ve expected. But I’ve worked hard as fuck every day to get how far I’ve come, and how far I’ve come is only the beginning of where I intend to go. Every little bit of appreciation for it sinks in and pushes me farther every time I wake up.. I promise you that.
I plan to release the next mixtape almost exactly one year from when Define Dreamer was released. Until then, I’ll hold it down with singles and visuals. We’re about to do it bigger.
I swear.
A special thanks goes out to everyone who’s inspired me directly and indirectly; but since I’ve already written so much and I think it is time to name some names, here goes. First off, Ewan Kay, Robert Akins and Shaun Ahmadpour.. Ewan is one of the most dedicated dudes I know. There are times when the last thing he wants to do is get on the computer to send me a beat
but if I bitch long enough, he’ll almost always do it. Rob, thank you much for reaching out to me and trying to perpetuate my love for this shit. Not to mention thank you for being one of the dopest emcees to walk the planet. Same with Shaun. Thank you for always being down to write, down to record, down to create. Whenever, wherever, when possible. Shout to Hrabe. Kid is so beast with FL. We’ve got crack coming, just Ewan and I do as well. Shout out to Stuart McAlpine, definitely the most active filmer throughout the EQ movement so far.. we’ve done so much together and shot in so many places, and of course we’ll have shit in the works as well. You don’t have to ask. Nathan Smith (besides being one of the dopest cinematographers around…period), Sagar Moktan - thank you for reinforcing the drive to spend as much time as we spend on this shit. Thank you to Will Engebretson for always being down to film in your spare time, and always being so on
time with projects. Dude does not fuck around; he’s the one who brought you the visuals for The Tribute. Tommy Sorensen - for being willing to spend hours filming with me though he was new to it, we got shit done incredibly fast. Ace workflow. Leroy Campbell… the man behind so many of the beats you’ve heard me on. Incredible producer. Thank you for always being down to send me beats without hesitation, dude has had my back since Define. DJ Nightwriter, Pedram, Atri.. all incredible producers who are undoubtedly going places with many movements and dolo as well. Thank you Skinny, for being such an incredibly inspiring character. I cannot begin to explain my appreciation for you. A Gayter (catboy) for always being down (way more than down, in fact) to kick a cypher or work on music (WHATEVER it is) whenever. Thank you to Logic for personally reaching out to me and telling me to never quit right after DD dropped. I’ll never forget that phonecall, the man found my number and called me at some time of the morning to tell me I was onto something, and to keep going. Donovan Johnson (XV) for arriving early at the show and actually watching me perform. Jeedy Jee for being one of the best and most dedicated-to-his-art dudes to work with. Ben Harpold and DJ Capcom for being damn on point throughout the mixing of
Define. Nice ENT for the opportunities they’ve provided me with. DJ Rob for making me sound so damn crisp. Nick Fulcher for the beautiful cover for the Nujabes tribute tape. God damn, man. The Granby boys for all of the love in every way every day. Cough. Just kidding. I know I’m probably missing many a name here, but.. you know how that goes. I’ve got three hundred some emails to send after I finish writing this. But.. last but far from least, I want to thank everyone who’s ever taken the time to let me know they enjoy what I do. I hope I can continue to inspire you all as you have inspired me.
Never let anyone tell you you can’t do something that you think you can do. If they don’t like it, fuck them.
Do you.
