Collaborative Album Ashes To Be Released Via Heavy Keys Records On October 23; Pre-Order Now
The Song:
As the October 23rd release date for Ashes approaches, rapper Oh No and producer Chris Keys, who, working together for the first time, completed a full album together over the course of countless nights filled with blunt smoke and marathon video game sessions, have already released two tracks for fans. The first, "Devastation," featured Guilty Simpson and Montage One, and more recently, Oh & Chris released the album's first official single, the up-tempo thumper "Let's Go." Today, Oh No & Chris Keys are releasing the album's latest single, and the final one before album release, with "Feet."
"The inspiration for 'Feet,' from a musical standpoint, was just to combine a more traditional folk guitar sample with a steady four on the floor drum beat with busy percussive elements," says Keys. "I thought the combination of those two elements could be dope." The quick, two-minute song produced by Keys is a dark, driven beat that he was initially unsure about. "The whole feel of the song can change with lyrics, it becomes a different animal," says Keys. "Every song I did with Oh, I had no idea what to expect." For Oh's part, he took the track and turned it into a song about not giving up, a sentiment he best captures as he raps, "I heard it's a long way back coming from Karma/ As long as I stay on track, I'm getting farther/ Lace up the shoes, time to work harder/ Run that road that most wont bother, why bother."
Please contact Michelle or Dan if interested in talking with Oh No & Chris Keys.
The Background:
Producer Chris Keys hails from The Bay, but cut his teeth at the Lamont School of Music in Denver, where he studied jazz piano. Oh No’s reputation is virtually certain to precede him – but that’s only part of the story. The real story lies in the breadth and depth of Oh No’s own work, his precision as a producer and his versatility as a rapper. And now, for the first time, Oh No has relinquished total control of the desk and focused squarely on rhymes, and both men point to an almost instantaneous creative chemistry that arose when they first started to work together. The end result is Ashes, a deeply musical album that balances gritty yet musical production against heavier themes in Oh No's writing. Ashes, which also includes features from Guilty Simpson, Big Pooh, Montage One, LMNO, Declaime, Roc C, Lyric James, DJ Romes, Killah Priest and Wildchild, will be released October 23rd via Heavy Keys Records.
About Heavy Keys Records: Founded in 2012, Heavy Keys Records is a brand new label with an old school idea: intuition and talent first, everything else is just noise. Heavy Keys' artists may have myriad styles, but they are unified by a seemingly bottomless instinct to create, to collaborate, to keep making, making, making. They are artists who believe in the lab, who put musicality first and who trust their guts. The Bay Area-based label was founded by electronic music pioneer Mikael Johnston (Mephisto Odyssey, Dresden + Johnston) and hip-hop producer upstart Chris Keys, after the two were introduced to each other by producer Bobby Ozuna (Raphael Saaqdiq, Erykah Badu). Johnston quickly recognized Keys as a talented producer and, for the first time in his career, decided to focus strictly on the business end; within Heavy Keys, Johnston is the mastermind while Keys is the the label's north star, seeking out talent and producing and collaborating on all Heavy Keys releases. The first release from Heavy Keys Records will be Ashes, which is produced entirely by Chris Keys, and which serves as the latest solo album from acclaimed rapper Oh No. Ashes will be followed later this year with a compilation mixtape, which will feature and include a range of artists that Heavy Keys plans full releases from in 2013, including Roc Marciano, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Dudley Perkins, Killah Preist, MED, and more.
