SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/timmy-d-587224925

I have enjoyed music ever since I was young. I would sing in the shower everyday, and then one day my parents talked to me about music lessons. I was very uneasy at first, but reluctantly I agreed. They bought me my first guitar in second grade. I started taking lessons up until I was sixteen. I explored many different genres in this time. Ranging from artists such as Elvis Presley to Sleeping With sirens. When I was 16, I started listening to Tyler, the Creator and the rest of Odd Future. Little did I know, this would get me hooked on rap.

Soon after discovering this genre, I picked up on the beast coast movement. I was in love with artists such as the Flatbush Zombies, The Underachievers, and Pro Era. I started exploring more and found I enjoyed most artists I listened to. I would say my biggest influences have been Meechy Darko, Lil Dicky, Ab-Soul, and Tyler, the Creator.

When I started rapping, I was 17. I did it to poke fun of artists such as young thug. I quickly realized how hard it actually was and then grew to respect artists like him. Rapping for me became more serious but I knew nothing about it.

When I turned 18, it was time to move away for college. I started meeting lots of people and making a lot of friends. I made one that is very important to my rapping. He was from Nigeria and his name was Hafeez. Also known as Dr. Fizz. We started hanging out and then one day he says "bro. I wrote some lyrics." Of course I asked to hear them and he was a bit nervous but said okay. He started rapping the lyrics and I loved them. I said let me write some about the same stuff and we can find a beat and record. At this point, we were looking for any free beats online. We finally found one that conveyed the mood properly. That is when we recorded our first song in audacity. We called it Mi Amour. Https://soundcloud.com/timmy-d-587224925/mi-amour
We had a really shitty mic and of course had no idea about voice effects or anything so we just pumped it out and put it on SoundCloud. We were really excited to show people. We showed our friends and got some praise and that's when our friendship really took off.

I dove way into writing lyrics and Dr. Fizz started looking up how to make beats and produce. We were definitely not good at first. The lyrics were trash and still kind of are. The beats were off time but have gotten way better. After using several other free beats we decided to try one of our own. I wrote us some lyrics and he worked on fine tuning it. We started moving into programs such as cubase and FL studio. That's when the song Peppermint Wrist was released. https://soundcloud.com/timmy-d-587224925/peppermint-wrist-prod-dr-fizz

We were having a lot of fun at this point. Dr. Fizz's beats were dope. My lyrics were getting better. We both realized that it was a new way to express ourselves. We could express our emotions and what was real to us through our rap. We could also joke around and have fun. Hafeez would produce several beats a day and I would pick my favorite and we would record to this one. The first song I felt we did great on was Life. We wrote that song after Dr Fizz ordered actual equipment. We had a full studio set up in his closet. Things were going amazing. https://soundcloud.com/timmy-d-587224925/dr-fizz-timmy-life

Soon after that song was released, things went down hill quick. Hafeez was caught with a gram of weed and arrested. He sat locked up in jail for 2 months until he was requested to go back to Nigeria. In the time he was in jail, I wrote one song on my own. I made my first beat and recorded on my own. It felt so naked. I called the song "Free my Mind". It turned out okay for having nobody to produce my voice. https://soundcloud.com/timmy-d-587224925/free-my-mindd

About a month after that was released, Hafeez was officially sent back. He called me as soon as he got back to Nigeria.

Hafeez still sends me beats and I still record to them. They just turn out badly with nobody to produce them. Not a day goes by that i don't miss my friend. I learned a lot from him. I hope that you can all learn to treasure people from this story.