Category: News

Latest news from Big Hush.

on by Big Hush

Me and Shellz Went to Hullabalooza

Yesterday me and Shellz went to the 2013 Hullabalooza Music Festival at Texas World Speedway in College Station, TX. I happened upon some tickets and when I found out Ludacris would be there I was all-in. Me and Shellz also happened to attend the last performance Luda did in College Station when he hit Reed Arena in 2004. Though he was late getting started on that performance, he was great on the stage so I knew he’d be just as entertaining (if not more) nine years down the road.

We got to the festival around 2pm and realized we’d be doing a LOT of walking and standing around. The two stages were what seemed to be two or three football fields apart and the artists were going to be alternating all day. We checked out local rappers The Pilots as they were finishing their set then settled in for the spectacle that is Riff Raff. I’m not a fan of this cat whatsoever but I’m glad I got to see him first hand to witness what people are so crazy about. I will say that some of the beats he was rapping on were straight BANGERS. I mean bass that shakes your eyeballs type bangers. While I couldn’t appreciate his lyrics or image, I certainly appreciated his request for some twerkers from the audience. He pulled a few ladies on stage and they showed off for a couple songs which was fine by me. Lil Mario also did a couple songs while Riff Raff took a breather, but I was excited to see OG Ron C as the MC on stage. I’ve been jammin’ that dude’s work since high school.

The next act on the opposite stage was a group called Radical Something. I’ve never heard of these guys, but the college crowd in attendance seemed familiar with them so they were all jammin’ together and having a good time. I’m a big fan of big fans. Even if I’m not into the music being performed I really enjoy seeing crowds interact and have fun with artists on stage.

After that we made the march back to the main stage where country artist Josh Turner was about to bottom out the low end on an equalizer. I’ve heard two of his songs, but otherwise I didn’t know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by his performance. The guy was solid and everything just sounded really good. Plus I think “Baby lock the door and turn them lights down low” is universally relatable.

We then made or way up to the other stage and watched a duo called Cherub who I’d never heard of. They were just two guys with guitars and an MPC or something but they were gettin’ after it up there. I won’t be buying their albums anytime soon but they were very entertaining to watch and to see the crowd get into it with them. I think the next artist was a DJ but I can’t remember. I’m not hating, but I can’t really enjoy watching a guy dance behind a laptop to fist-pump music. Me and Shellz decided to chill out for a bit and wait for the next performer.

Back at the main stage we were hit with Childish Gambino. This was my first time hearing any of his music but what blew me away was the performance. He came straight out the gate with a bangin’ track that had the crowd going nuts. Then he just stayed on the gas pedal for his entire set with a live band providing the music. I was mostly impressed with how animated he was and how aggresive his vocals were but none of it seemed to be weakened by the length of time he was up there. Dude just did not get tired apparently. I get winded after just a few songs when I perform so I guess it just takes a lot of practice and conditioning. I’ll have to go back and listen to his songs now without the influence of stage lights and a screaming crowd. Sometimes those things can mislead you on whether or not you like the real song, but I might just be a fan now.

I think another DJ was setup after this. By now my back and knees were cussing me out for not giving them much of a break in seven hours so again we chilled and just waited for the next performer.

Two or three hours later it was finally about time for Mo Millionz followed by Ludacris. I’d never heard of Mo Millionz and I can’t remember anything he did. It wasn’t that he was bad necessarily, but he just seemed to be a time filler before Luda. Besides I was ready to call it a night and the crowd gathered well before he came on and was quickly growing ancy during his set. Once he was done we all waited…and waited…and waited. For over an hour we stared at Ludacris’ DJ on stage while obnoxious fans began screaming insults, doing Aggie cheers (which made no sense), and throwing glow sticks at the stage. FINALLY Ludacris stepped out and it was game time. After a song or two he told us there was a noise ordnance issue that was causing the delay and that his set wouldn’t be cranked up as loud as he wanted it to be. The only question in my mind was who on Earth would’ve have complained about noise at Texas World Speedway? Or if not that then why would it be enforced by the book? Look it up on Google Maps if you aren’t familiar, but this isn’t exactly in a residential area. Ironically, he was just about as late getting on stage this time as the last time he came here. Regardless of the reason, once Luda got going it was just as good as I expected. He did all the hits, gave some 979 and Texas shoutouts, then walked off stage and took his private jet back home.

All-in-all I’d say Hullabalooza was an experience I’ll remember for a long time. I learned that all-day festivals aren’t really my thing unless they allow chairs to be brought in next time. It also reminded me why I’d much rather be the guy on the stage than the guy in the crowd trying to keep drunks off of me and out of my ear. Maybe I’ll be a featured performer one of these years.

To see all of the photos I took just visit my Facebook page and checkout the Hullabalooza album.

on by Big Hush

Perseverance: Not Just A Title

I wanted to write a post that explains the reasoning behind my recent album title, “Perseverance“. Some of y’all have been supporting me long enough to know what perseverance means to me, but others might not know just how long I’ve been chasing this rap dream. I apologize in advance for the length of this. I didn’t mean to write a full essay but it just rolled on out once I got going.

Waaaay back in 1999 I started getting into rap and discovered that I wanted to give it a shot. In the beginning I did a ton of awful freestyling using Microsoft Sound Recorder as my “studio software” (you can guess what the quality was like). In 2000 I began writing lyrics instead of rambling off the top of my dome. I never really decided to work on an actual album until 2001 when I was in 10th grade. I also had no idea what I would call myself (“Big Hush” didn’t show up until 2003). Because of the popularity of the Freestyle Kings at the time, I wanted to make an entire “screwed” album of me rapping over popular commercial beats. Since this was “screwed” (slowed down from normal playback speed) I decided to name it “Slower Paced” (I thought that was clever at the time, but today I realize it was more accurately a description of my writing abilities then). So this was the first real album of work I created and thus began my repeated attempts at making something that would appeal to the masses and see me rise to Texas Rap stardom. Here I am 12 years later still working on that.

I won’t go into detail on each album, but I decided to collect the numbers and see what my stats are like at this point. I’ve never paid attention to how much music I’ve created because as soon as I make something I’m immediately focused on what I want to make next. This is one obvious reason why I’m terrible at the marketing side of this game. Anyway, here are the numbers from my first album all the way to my most recent:

Slower Paced (2002) – 14 songs
Southern Knights (2002) – 9 songs
On My Way (2003) – 11 songs
Still Crawlin’ (2003) – 13 songs
Two Word Title (2003) – 10 songs
Easy Come, Easy Go (2004) – 12 songs
Texas 6 (2004) – 17 songs
Texas Reg (2005) – 14 songs
All On The Surface (2005) – 14 songs
Texas Reg 2nd Edition (2006) – 11 songs
Handwritten (2006) – 15 songs
Livin’ Room Flow (2006) – 15 songs
Str8 From Bryan Tx (2007) – 19 songs
Daydreamin’ (2008) – 14 songs
One City at a Time (2009) – 17 songs
Music Over Money (2010) – 25 songs
Always The Quiet Ones (2011) – 16 songs
Can’t You Tell I Rap? (2012) – 16 songs
Perseverance (2013) – 14 songs

Random tracks with no album – 22 songs

Total Song Count: 298
Total Solo Song Count: 249
Total Count That Will Never Be Made Public Again: 114
Total Solo Count Available To The Public: 158

FYI: Four of the albums above were ones I did with other artists. This list doesn’t include three freestyle albums that were recorded or any collaboration/single verse tracks I’ve made.

All-in-all I have 249 solo songs that I have written and recorded in the past 12 years. A typical song for me has three verses at 16 bars (or 8 rhymes) each, which would put me at around 12,000 bars of lyrics written (not counting hooks). Unfortunately, roughly 114 of those songs will never be let out to the public ever again for two reasons: 1) Until I wised up and began writing songs that were true to me and how I really spoke, I was only emulating the rappers I had been listening to. I was using slang that I didn’t even know the meaning of, talking about lavish things I’d only have if I was a millionaire (also called “fantasy flow”), and I was extremely vulgar compared to my music today. Granted I’m RARELY offended by anything, and I cuss like a sailor in the company of my friends, but as far as how I wanted to represent myself in my music, and to the listening world, I felt embarrassed about the things I had been writing. 2) The technical side of recording my music has always been a trial-and-error process of me (with no professional training) trying to figure out how it’s done and what’s supposed to be used in doing it. This means that with every album the sound has gotten progressively better and easier to listen to. My first 6 or 7 albums have so many audible flaws in the levels, mix, back-up vocals, splicing, etc, that they’re honestly hard to listen to without cringing at times. Even some of the stuff I have available right now I know I could’ve done better. Every new song is a learning experience to some degree. But this is the substance behind “Homemade Hit Productions” and why that name is something I will always be proud of. I love the fact that what I do has always been done from my little bedroom or apartments and I’m just like all of you, except I make music.

Now with ALL of this said… With ALL of those songs that I’ve made and ALL of these years I’ve poured into this music, I want you to guess how many times I’ve had mass appeal/success… The answer is once. In 2011 I wrote a song called “Welcome to the Presentation” that was a tribute to everything I love about Bryan/College Station, the place I’ve called home for 22 years of my 28 year life. The funny thing is that I’ve made this same song so many times before this particular one, but all that matters is doing it in the right place and the right time. I was extremely fortunate to have the local top 40 station, Candy 95, get a hold of it and blast it to the B/CS population. Along with that came a news story on KBTX and almost 30,000 views on YouTube which for me might as well be two million. It was by far the greatest moment I’ve had with my music to date. The best part is that I didn’t conform to any trends or do anything other than just make a song that was true to me.

After that happened everything calmed back down. I’ve put out two more albums since then and I’m back to trying to find what will click for mass appeal while making something that I love. I’m no idiot. I know that if I would just stop making music the way I do and mold myself to fit what’s popular then I could have a much easier time finding success. But as any artist will tell you, staying true to yourself is more important than anything. Some artists choose to compromise that because they simply want success and don’t care how they get it. I would rather find success in my own time and be able to look back with a full chest of pride on how I got there. I might be the polar opposite of every rapper you’ve listened to, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a fan base out there waiting for us to connect. My 15 minutes of local fame with “Welcome to the Presentation” proved to me that I can make something the way I want to and have it appeal to a large audience.

My latest album is called “Perseverance” to represent everything you just read, what I’ve gone through up to this point, and what I’ll go through in the future. It represents the haters, the doubt, the fans, the support, the talent show, the radio play, the TV interviews, the live performances in four different cities, the countless hours of perfecting mixes/making beats/writing verses/shooting videos/building websites/creating artwork, the paychecks & tax returns that disappeared in order to buy new equipment/press up CDs/print t-shirts, the social events and time with friends & family sacrificed for the sake of making more music, the confidence, the depression, the excitement, and the disappointment. Above all of this though, above anything else that I’ve put into this, it represents the fact that I started chasing a dream and I won’t stop until I catch it. I have been here and will stay here for as long as it takes to achieve success as I see it playing out. I will knock down every wall and dodge every obstacle to see that my perseverance pays off and this music I love to make is shared with everyone that loves to listen. I want you to be there to celebrate with me when it happens. Without you behind me there would be no point in moving forward.

Here’s to another 12 years,
Big Hush

on by Big Hush

Perseverance is Now Available

Well my 2013 album “Perseverance” dropped last month and I’m very excited that you all are finally getting to hear it. I put so much work into this, and just like every album before it, I’m hoping it’ll be a wide spread hit. I took a different approach this time around (thanks to Cranium Boy’s suggestion) and only put 15 songs on the album. This was out of 22 songs I had ready to go. The idea was that I put the best of those 22 on this project, then use the rest as a head start on the next project. Usually I feel like I should pile everything I made onto one album to give YOU more for your money, but quantity doesn’t always create quality.

One of my favorite songs is “Where’d The Money Come From” which is about the typical struggle to manage money when you don’t have enough of it.

One of the songs that is already getting heavy rotation from my brother is a fun one about being able to step into any town in the country and do what I love to do…rap.

SHELLZ and Boss Taylor were kind enough to help me with a few songs again as well. One track that gets me amped up every time I hear it is “I’m Around” which me and SHELLZ put together.

These are only a few of what I feel are all incredible songs. I couldn’t be more proud of this album and I want you to buy your copy right now so you can enjoy it to. Preview the entire thing at Soundcloud before you buy it on Amazon, iTunes, or right here at Homemadehits.com.

Thank you all for your continued support. Please spread the word!

–Big Hush

on by Big Hush

Perseverance Coming Soon

The new album “Perseverance” is on the way. I finally finished the artwork which I’m very proud of. So far I have 13 songs written and about 3 or 4 to finish writing. It looks like SHELLZ and Boss Taylor will be the only featured artists on this album but they always bring the heat. After everything is written there’s nothing left but laying down the tracks and mixing down the goods.

I’m very excited about this album. The title is particularly meaningful to me since I’ve been working so hard, for so long, to make this dream come true. The definition of perseverance is “1.Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. 2.Continuance in a state of grace leading finally to a state of glory.” I’ve been rapping since 1999 and I’ve made 20 albums of varying quality/success since that time. Regardless of which ones will never be exposed to the public ever again, and which ones I truly thought would be “the album” that takes off and burns through the underground, they were all proud works of mine that I thought were my best product at the time I made them. Maybe the irony of this album will be the fact that it IS the one that puts me on the map! I’ll do everything in my power to try but I need YOU the fans to help spread the word too.

I don’t have an exact release date in mind yet but I think aiming for my 28th birthday, April 4th, 2013 would be pretty cool. Keep up with me here or on Facebook/Twitter to know for sure when Perseverance drops and you can get your copy!

Thanks for all of your support,
Big Hush

on by Big Hush

Can’t You Tell I Rap? Is Finally Here!

Well after another long year since my last album I finally completed Can’t You Tell I Rap?and I couldn’t be happier with the result. I’m extremely proud of the album and I feel like this is my best work so far. I got back into story telling mode with the song “Suite 513” which is based on an actual encounter but magnified 100x just to give it some imagination. The track “You’ll Be Around” was fun to write also, since the last love song I wrote on Always The Quiet Ones basically came from the negative side of a failed relationship. This one was written from the middle of the good times in that chapter. “Keep It On The Hush” is my favorite song on the album because it’s what I feel to be classic Big Hush with a mellow sound and a good rhythm you can ride to. My second favorite has to be “Lone Star Lessons” which is a tribute song to most (but certainly not all) of the Texas rap songs and albums that influenced me from day one. But those are just the tip of the iceberg! Please visit iTunes or Amazon and get your copy of the new album now!! Thank you for the support.

Stay in Chillmode,
Big Hush

on by Big Hush

Interview With The Pixel Guyz

Recently I was invited by The Pixel Guyz to be the musical guest on the first episode of their new web series. DJ CJ asked me a few questions for his segment called “The Center Stage” and then I got to perform “I Work For It” live in the studio.

I had a blast being a part of the show. I really appreciate The Pixel Guyz for having me. You can check out parts 1 & 2 below.

Also just as a sidenote: At one point I say the Texas rappers I was listening to didn’t sound “real professional and tight” in their recordings. What I was referring to was the freestyle albums they made, not their actual albums which were always well produced and engineered. Screw Tapes, Freestyle Kings, After the Kappa freestyles etc contained lots of freestyle songs that you could tell were just raw mic wrecking sessions being recorded. You could tell they didn’t record and re-record verses and make everything clean and polished. So this made me realize those guys were just making their own music in their own setup and putting it out to the masses. Just wanted to clear that up!

Stay in Chillmode,
Big Hush

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