excuses…

WE ALL HAVE THEM…

what's good? It's A.J. Crew. If you're new to me and my music, here’s a quick intro. 🎧

SO… I was born and raised in the heart of Toledo, Ohio. The South End was more than home… it was my playground… the “ordinary world” of the hero’s journey… and the place where I first heard my call to adventure.

I grew up in a single-parent household with my slightly older sister and, because my Sickle Cell limited my physical experiences, music and writing became my escape…

My voice…

With my best friends/group, 9th District, we used to write raps everyday at our friend Tre’s house.

Downloading beats off Soundclick or snatching up industry instrumentals.

Cyphering.

Filling up notebooks with scrawled out rhymes that we knew were dope, but hadn’t yet showcased to the world at large.

Fast forward to me moving away from Toledo and into the South Loop of Chicago while attending Columbia College, the experience of meeting fellow artists and soaking up that Windy City energy was a whole new world…

And it gave birth to some of the points in a long-winding journey I’m grateful for every day:

• Meeting and collaborating with Grammy Award winning songwriters, producers and engineers…

• Making 5-figures off of a sync project…

• Performing at legendary venues like Reggie’s and Amoeba Music Hollywood…

• Getting chosen to participate in the Converse Rubber Tracks program and record at OutKast’s Stankonia Studios in Atlanta…(!!!)

And man…

…when Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop) vibes with your music? That's when you know you’re onto something. Because he hates everything (lol). All jokes, but it’s cool to be co-signed in that way.

For the “Excuses.” era of my journey, I made an album that isn’t just about the beats and rhymes… It's a narrative. I went through 4 different iterations of the album before the one you’re going to hear, but…

It's raw, it’s me, and I think you’ll feel that.

LASTLY…

Music is about more than sound; it’s connection. That's why I wanna get “Excuses.” to as many ears as possible. All I’m asking? Listen with an open heart. We’re supposed to be communing with music. Let’s build as a community. I’m going to drop some notes/thoughts into each package sent out. Would love to hear back from you.

SO… if you decide to grab the CD of “Excuses”, you’ll not only receive a signed copy of the album delivered right to you, you’ll also receive a digital download so you can listen to it on whatever device you want to. And this gift to you is 100% FREE, you’ll just cover the shipping costs. That’s it!

This journey's been wild, and it's only getting started. To those who've been with me from the jump – I appreciate you immeasurably. If you're just catching up, get ready; it's gonna be memorable.

Let’s keep this going… Together.

Peace.

(PS: If you want to hear the most popular song on the album, you can watch the music video for “Have You Ever” below!)