Good Vibes Music Group: Home of the Slacker

Name

Vibes

About Me

My name is Vibes…or at least that’s what you guys can call me. I guess this isn’t your average rapper’s bio, but then again, I’ve never wanted to be your average rapper. I guess you could say I have a “typical” rapper’s backstory though; raised by a single mother on a low income. I grew up on hip-hop. My oldest cousin was really into the early 90′s New York scene so naturally A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang, Nas, Pac and Big were staples around my aunt’s apartment where I was routinely dropped off to be looked after.

I digitally released a project, which I wrote and produced in its’ entirety, called “Vintage Vibes” in April of 2009. It was a tribute to all of the 90′s hip-hop acts that I grew up on. At that time, I felt that they had been the pinnacle of the culture, which we were slowly but surely downgrading from. “Vintage Vibes” was supported very minimally, in fact, I think the only blog that would even return my emails back then was IllRoots. They looked me out and featured “Vintage Vibes”, which got a few good responses in the comments section and at the time, that alone felt like I had sold 50,000 copies in the first week. “Vintage Vibes” caught the attention of Trackfiends Entertainment, a New Jersey-based production team that I had the privilege to work with on my next release, “The New Generation” and continue to work with today. Through some old-fashioned perseverance and a little good luck, I was able to work with two acts on that project that I have a lot of respect for: Tanya Morgan and one of my all-time favorite MC’s, Royce Da 5’9″. I released “The New Generation” in September of 2009 and gained a good amount of coverage through sites like: 2DopeBoyz, TimeOut: New York, IllRoots, XclusivesZone, Hear-It-First, HipHopGame and a few more well-known publications.

In 2010 I was involved in a life-threatening accident and a legal battle that had me facing 3-5 years in prison, two things that I’ve touched on briefly in some of my recent material. It was these two situations that really made me step back and decide what I wanted my latest project, “King’s Highway” to represent. King’s Highway is the subway station in Brooklyn, NY that I had been trekking back and forth, to and from Jersey, since I was 16 years old, working with my engineer/producer/surrogate big-brother, Jay Hu, who retains all of said relationships to this day. I wanted “King’s Highway” to make people feel how I felt when I was locked in the studio all night to record songs nobody would ever hear, catching an hour’s nap on the floor because I couldn’t afford to go home and come back to finish my records, taking subway trains back and forth for hours upon hours, endlessly studying my own music, searching for flaws and weaknesses that I knew I had to overcome to make the best music possible. I wanted people to see that I wasn’t just a “backpacker” or a “hip-hop head”, but that I also had a deep affinity for music as a whole. I wanted what every artist wants…to tell my story.

“King’s Highway” is about more than me and honestly, at this point, it’s about more than getting a record deal or gaining mass appeal. “King’s Highway” is the result of my own self-awareness and realization that life doesn’t always work out the way you want it to and sometimes that means that it can end before you even knew it began. “King’s Highway” is my second chance. It’s about looking back at everything I’ve gone through to get to this point and choosing to, either make it count or let it fade into a dream that I once had. I’m still the same 16 year-old kid on a train to Brooklyn with a pen, a pad and a pair of headphones just hoping that one day I can live the dream…

“So you’re now witnessing a prelude to a dream…”

-Vibes

You can be my friend if...

You're a fan of good music. Simple as that.

Website :

http://goodvibesmusicgroup.com

Occupation:

Artist/Sound Engineer

Favorite bands:

Radiohead, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Shins, The White Stripes

Favorite movies:

Pulp Fiction, The Dark Knight, The Big Lebowski, Inception, Half Baked, Waking Life

Favorite books:

The Zombie Survival Guide, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Hammer of the Gods

Favorite TV shows:

Seinfeld, South Park, Parks & Recreation, Entourage, Californication, The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Chappelle's Show

Relationship status:

Single

Orientation:

Straight

Zodiac Sign

Pisces

Kids?:

No, thank god!

Smoke/Drink?

yes/yes

Band Question - Genre:

Alternative

Band Question -Band Members:

Vibes - Vocals

Stroamata:
Alex - Drums
Rob - Guitar
Akil - Bass
Dara - Vocals, Keys, Guitar

Band Question - Sounds like:

Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, J. Cole, Common, Mos Def

Band Question - Musical Influences:

Radiohead, Kanye West

Band Question - Record label:

DIY