Album Notes

I was born Joel Thomas McKinney on January 11th of 1984. I've loved music my whole life and it just so happens that I was given a gift to turn poetry and passion into a dream turned reality. I've written poetry for 19 years and I've been rapping for 11 years. In West Virginia country music is typically the type of music people listen to. I'm by no means saying that style of music isn't good it just didn't necessarily appeal to me when I was younger. I guess it was because that seemed to be all you would hear on the radio or in vehicles that were driving by. I'm not really certain exactly what song started me into like hip hop but once I was hooked that was it. I love the fact that you can take any topic get on a beat and speak however you want about it. Rhythm and poetry or rap as it's called is a completely open book where the artist has freedom to talk about anything in anyway they choose. At 6 or 7 years old I remember writing simple little poetic lines. Singing interested me more so then rapping at that time but in the long run I had more of a natural ability at rapping. In late elementary school and early junior high I would take songs that were already out and do my own rhymes and vocals to them. Somewhere around the time of high school I started getting my own beats and instrumentals and writing my own material and rapping to it. There are many great artists to imitate but I think my favorite around that time was Method Man. Honestly I had many favorites but the reason I point him out is because he can take a track and rhyme to it then just completely switch up the way he was flowing to it. That's one of the reasons I take each track from a different approach. I'll rap fast sometimes and slow sometimes and change my voice a bit on different tracks. It kind of detracts from a love song if your voice is the same as it was on a track you were extremely aggressive on. I ended up in Nashville sometime after I graduated high school to perform at an indie artist signing and a concert. I learned probably the hardest yet most important lesson I've ever learned in my life. I received first place at the age of 18 against 49 other singers and rappers with my song Think Back but with no money behind me and no way to get the kind of money to cut a professional demo nothing ever happened. Disheartened I returned home to cut a local cd which I released soon after and got very good results with it. My parents weren't particularily supportive at the time of my career choice so I ended up living with my friend Dre for quite some time until I realized the way I was living just wasn't working for me. I was sick of being broke and running in a continuous circle. At 19 years old I joined the US Navy which was the best decision I've ever made. I continued working on music as a side project and really pretty much just for fun at the time. I got my life straightened out and decided in 2007 to come back home after doing my 4 year term. I was in and out of different jobs for almost 2 years before finally getting settled into Norfolk Southern. After all these years I still have the passion to do music more then ever and now have the money to push it like it needs to be pushed. The difference now is that I take music from a very professional standpoint. I own leasing agreements to all of the beats I use from producers and all of my lyrics are copyrighted. I even went as far as getting a professional photo shoot set up and contracted a company to do my artwork and cd layout. I plan to start a label very soon once I get the money to trademark it. With all this being said I appreciate any feedback and the support from friends and fans.