Growing up I had always tried to find my own interests and forms of entertainment. I grew tired of the same old songs on the popular radio stations and started looking for music that would jump out at me and grab me more. In that search I've found a ton of great music that has been shunned from what would be considered"mainstream" (Don't worry, I'm not a hipster). Among all of the music, nothing really completely took a hold of me like the sound of early 90's Hip-Hop. Ice Cube, KRS One, Gang Starr, Del The Funky Homosapien, and Company Flow (to name a few) opened my mind to a different kind of Hip-Hop that immediately inspired me to begin rapping any producing on my own. Starting out I didn't take myself very seriously and the quality of songs I was making weren't too great although I got a pretty nice reception from a few people whom I tortured with my songs about the silliest things. But as time went on I noticed I was starting to get better. Before I knew it I was ready to take this rapping thing seriously. I spent a ton of time, money, and effort creating music I genuinely loved. In the summer of 2011 I just released a mixtape (which I never liked the idea of) and it was majorly pushed aside and looked past by everyone. The feeling of putting so much thought and heart into something, only to be walked over really got to my head and was killing me. At that point I had two options, A: I could let all of the rejection and disappointment get in my head and quit making music and pursue a boring profession, get paid well, and be set for life. or B: I could pull myself together and let all of the rejection fuel me to work 100 times as hard to create something impossible to look past. So I started working extremely hard on an official album. I was about 10 songs deep when I realized that I still wasn't getting the sound that I REALLY wanted. It was great stuff and all, but like many musicians I am a perfectionist and i wanted to get chills when I heard my music like I did hearing Company Flow for the first time. So with the help of my friends and family (plus a newly crashed computer) I got some new equipment and also went to school to learn a thing or two about the guts of audio. Throughout the year I learned a ton about the recording process but also I learned a ton about the Hip-Hop culture doing some research of my own. So with all that I started working, and slowly but surely I was creating the sound of what I had always aspired to reach. Whether I was twisting samples and adding grimy, hard-hitting drums wile unloading rhyme after rhyme to shock and awe anyone who listens, or telling a story over a soulful, bouncing instrumental I knew I had finally reached the level of music ready to release to the masses. Before I knew it the album was ready for exposure. I have loved comics and was even inspired to put a few comic book show samples in a few tunes on the album, so for the album cover I did what I have always dreamed of. I got the cover of my album illustrated professionally by comic book artists. Seeing the final product of the cover and hearing the reception for it really made me feel like the album as a whole was going to be something really special. I created a few home-made copies of the album and sent them to a few people and the reception was incredible. People who once looked past my music were now raving about it! From middle age moms and dads to teens everybody seemed to really genuinely enjoy what I was able to put together. So it was an obvious choice to FINALLY release my debut album. And here we are. I couldn't be more happy that this is the album people will look back to when I'm old and washed up and say"Man, I wish Duffsta would do somethin like his old stuff". I hope this album gives you the same feeling that I got when I heard The Juggaknots or the Pharcyde for the first time and plays in your headphones for years to come!