1. what’s your name, where are you from & how did you get involved with music?

Options from Chicago. i was born with a love of drums, but it kinda stayed dormant until my college years when i was introduced to Hip Hop production. then it came back with a vengeance. my first piece of ‘gear’ was MTV Music Generator for the PlayStation. i actually still have that. it’d be fun to pull out and mess around with now…

2. how did your particular track in the mix come about/is there a story behind its creation?

this track is my remix of a song by the band Inspired Flight. it was for a contest. i didn’t win, but it ended up being a great exercise for me because it forced me to work differently than i do normally. rather than finding a nice vinyl bit and working from there, i’ve got a song in a particular key and with a particular vibe in a style other than Hip Hop to build around. it stretched me and gave me a hint of what i could do if i stepped outside of my comfort zone.

3. who or what inspires you to create? and how do you STAY inspired?

other artists inspire me to create. not just other musicians, but anyone creative, no matter what their medium is. seeing other people painting/writing/taking photos–whatever–and getting their ideas out makes me want to go home and get busy on my stuff. because of that, it’s not really hard to stay inspired.

4. your opinion on copyright and the sharing of music? (specifically tunes made by unsigned, under-the-radar and
bedroom artists that are then shared by fans?).

i embrace what the internet has allowed artists to do. the tools we have to work with now for promotion and other things (which i honestly haven’t been using as much as i should!) are really amazing. a lot of unsigned artists just want to be heard, so it makes sense for them to make their music as easy to get as possible. if it’s then shared by fans, it only increases the artist’s profile, so it’s great up to a certain point. but the downside to sharing in general and the easy accessibility of everything is that things get devalued if they are so easy to get and replace. it can become disposable and no one wants their work to be viewed that way.

5. the best place to listen/download/buy your tunes? and any final words you’d like to say to the Internets?

for now, the best places are my Soundcloud page and my Bandcamp page where i recently put up an EP of tracks i made while living overseas the past couple of years. actually, almost everything i have online now is fairly old. the stuff i’m doing now is still Hip Hop at its core, but i’m incorporating aspects of other genres i listen to and just generally working to take tracks further than i used to.
as for final words, just a sincere ‘thank you’ to anyone/everyone who’s listening to/commenting on/downloading my stuff. there’s so much music floating out there now, so i appreciate anyone listening to ME. check out my sites and stay tuned because the new stuff is coming and i’m excited for people to hear it. also, peace to Vahé for this platform.

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Options‘ most awesome remix to the Inspired Flight original is, imo, far superior and i’m proud to spotlight it for y’all here and in the CONFESSIONS OF A CURLY MIND Vol. 1 mix. download as .zip, .rar or via Soundcloud below:

V.