Album Notes

As the younger brother of reputed sound engineer and producer DJ
Grimmace, the emcee inherited his family’s capacity for releasing
quality
music. With three complete full-length albums, a mixtape and four years
on
the mic, Prob Cause is out to arrest minds with both playful rhymes and
insightful tales.

The young rapper came of age surrounded by talent even growing up next
door
to legendary Chicago artist Babblerock. Their friendship influenced
Prob,
and inspired him to create music seriously. Tim Stroh, of Chicago-based
Gravel Records, was essential in promoting Prob Cause early in his
career,
but things really took off when the emcee met John Basics, the CEO of
Bonafyde Records. Basics signed Prob to his first record deal, and
since
then he’s hit stages at the Abbey Pub, Bill’s Blues Bar, Northwestern
Chase
Café, the Morseland and the Liquid Café, as well as an opening set for
RJD2.

Released in 2006, …Weeknights was written during Prob’s high school
years.
“It really summarizes the mentality of that time,” he recalls. Topics
range
from basketball matches and selling weed, to working class efforts and
the
kind of perseverance it takes, not to be rich, but to be heard.

With rhyme assistance from Fonz, “Evanston” was an instant hit in
Prob’s
Illinois hometown for its telltale descriptions of local rituals,
hotspots
and ladies. The title track, featuring beats from Panthrow Nobody,
shows the
emcee stepping through an average day; friends, teachers and an
ever-present
blunt. “Outersells,” the first concept song Prob wrote, imagines a
battle
between two opposing sides of the industry where pure hip hop is the
eventual victor. “It’s the underground versus the mainstream, and
really an
analogy for hip hop in general,” Prob says.

Intent on exposing his work beyond comfortable boundaries, Prob Cause
has a
diverse target audience in mind. “I want people who listen to classic
music
to hear this album. I especially want people who don’t listen to hip
hop to
hear it because it might show them a different perspective.”