[the intro]
When i met Reggie Bonds in 2017, he wasn’t who i expected him to be. Prior to that, I only knew him through his music and him being a standout from the new generation of talent in the Milwaukee hip-hop scene. Reggie particularly stood out to me not just because he’s dope af, but because his sound was real dark and edgy [see Menace II Society, Mad Scientist and Locust Street Freestyle 44]; and thats my kind of shit. Fast forward a few years, he ended up getting my number from the homie DScribe and hit me up. We chopped it on the phone for a while and would then proceed to link up periodically over the next year just to build and get to know each other. What i found wasn’t the same person that inspired the dark vibes of his previous work, but a man on a growth mission. It was definitely a surprise to find out he was completely sober, a vegan, plus a fitness and nutritional enthusiast. Every other time id see him he was fasting, coming from (or going to) the gym, or taking vocal lessons. It became apparent that this man had nonstop drive and energy and was determined to better himself.
Fast forward to the spring of 2018… I was long out of producing hip-hop at this point. My beginnings as a hip-hop DJ/Turntablist/Producer had morphed over the years into a synthesizer addict making dark to weird, electronic based music. However, there was still this bug i’ve always had to produce an entire album in the likes of the legends like Dr. Dre, RZA, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, etc., but never found the right counterpart. After doing some dwelling on it, and since Reggie had become a persistent presence in my life, I asked him if he wanted to do a project together… he said “hell yeah!” He asked, “are you ready for this?” “Are YOU ready for this?” i replied. We both laughed, dapped it up, and there’s where it started. Reggie was just coming off the release of Dark Wave, which I thought was a great project/idea to piggy-back off since i’m into dark, synthesized sound waves and all. Turned out Reggie also had a bug of an idea he wanted to fulfill, which turned out to be… The Black Tape. Around that same time, Reggie linked up with Ryan Rossman, who owned and operated Hi-Five Studios in Riverwest. Ryan was the missing link. We now had an engineer and an amazing place to record secured and got right to the mission.
[the making]
I vividly remember sitting outside on the stoop of Hi-Five with Reggie and the homie Trav, waiting for our session to start. “I want this shit to be hard af, black af, hip-hop af…” Reggie went on. The groundwork was laid. We would converse daily for hours, send each other music on the regular, all to try and manifest his vision. We wanted to create a masterpiece. Something that the old heads and the young guns can get down with. Something that touches all sub genres of hip-hop and has the spirit of the soul music from the 60s. Something that could’ve came out in 1993, or 2033. We wanted to make the best rap album Milwaukee has ever seen and something the city could be proud of. A cohesive ALBUM, that made sense front to back. An album that was appealing on the surface, but has all the depth you could ask for. Every bar of music had to have its purpose. Everything is intentional, from the sample selections down to the seemingly arbitrary parts. We said fuck it and decided to sample whatever for this project. We played this by our own rules. We were making art for the people, fuck some laws written by people who don’t live this shit. Dozens of beats were made. Dozens more verses were laid. Once we had tracks like BROTHER! and REVOLUTION! down, we were starting to see all of these conversations and ideas materialize. The vision was taking form in the physical. Seeing how hard Reggie was going on these verses definitely inspired the fuck out of me. When your teammate is out here going HAM, ain’t shit else to do but the same. He was recording and scrapping verse after verse after verse to get the right one. I think he damn near wrote 8 versions of BROTHER! We definitely both got in the zone.
A big part of the beauty of this album is how organic everything was creatively. We were working hard, but nothing was ever forced. Reggie would bring a lot of talented local artists into the studio and they completely blessed this project. With help from Troy, GG, Siren, Riz, Scott Summers, etc., compounded with Ryan bringing in musicians he knew, this became a community project. A Milwaukee project. The vibes were in full effect at Hi-Five studio. I’ll never forget the day i walked into the studio when Reggie started recording BEAUTIFUL! I heard that first verse and the hook and was just blown away. We knew we had the foundation of something special. From there, it was just filling in the blanks and smoothing out the surface. We recorded about 40 songs, many with multiple versions. Things just started to fall into place. The album became true to form, living up to its title having 2 sides. The Heart Side has a more aggressive tone, with soundscapes that range from classic to futuristic. The Soul Side has a more of a golden era hip-hop sound as it has more samples and breaks as the foundation, sprinkled with live instrumentation. The first part of the Soul Side is also sequenced and mixed like a hip-hop mixtape from the early 90s.
[the product]
The finished product is a work of art we are both extremely proud of. It’s Reggie’s life and journey, laid out in music form. He painted a vivid picture of his life and experience being a young black man growing up in Milwaukee, WI; one of the worst places to live for a young black male in the USA. He details his struggles, ups and downs, hope, loss, pain, joy, and most of all, love. This album was made with pure passion and love and respect for the music. It’s cinematic. It’s a movie and I’m blessed to have been able to lay the soundtrack for this film. This is that good food, that slow simmer. It’s also a shining example of Milwaukee’s creative community. A musical collage, represented perfectly by the album cover art. This is an affirmation of what imagination, practice, patience and perseverance can get you. It’s one man’s vision, materialized.
Working hand in hand with Reggie, we went from acquaintances, to friends, to brothers. The man who i once perceived as wild and dark-minded, has turned out to be one of the most positive influences in my life. Always curious, always driven, and always keeping it positive. He’s been through the darkness and now lives to shine light. Love always my brother.
Love,
11 Gray
