As a grown man making his way up the ranks in the world of Hip Hop, Aaron LaFollette—known on the streets and in the clubs as A-One—says his style of new school Hip Hop stems from his need to always be different and not do the same thing twice.
“Being an artist enables me to release thoughts, ideas and visions,” A-One says, “and that allows me to be unique and original, and lets me stay true to myself.”
A-One rejects the long-held notion that a true Hip Hop artist has to stay true to Hip Hop.
“What I want people to know is that I’m staying true to music. See, sometimes the Hip Hop scene can be quick to judge someone that is not true to Hip Hop. I believe that I don’t have to be true to Hip Hop to do Hip Hop music. I’m just gonna stay true to music and do what I feel. There’s no rule to music.”
A-One’s obsession with music began when he was a child listening to the wide range of music his parents played in their Cleveland, Ohio home and during summer-time concert outings with his father. Hip Hop took over A-One’s life at 12 years old. He spent that summer enraptured with Hip Hop music on the radio and in his friend’s music collections. He started rapping at 13, but he says he “was too involved with the street life, getting in trouble and doing the wrong thing,” to grow as a musician.
A-One’s focus and attention unfortunately led him to fall into what the Hip Hop community calls ‘the dope game.’ Aaron started a four-year stint in prison in 2000. While there, he decided to dedicate himself to changing his life for the better. He also reconnected with his passion for Hip Hop music.
“I gained respect in prison thru my music. People knew this white dude A-One could put it down on the music side!” he says. A-One also focused on his education and got right with God. “There wasn’t one day that passed that I didn’t ask God to show me the right direction, and to never give up on me,” Aaron says.
Apparently, A-One didn’t give up on himself, and neither did God. He’s made great strides since his prison release: A-One hooked up with producer Ben Schigel (of nu metal band Switched) and is dropping an eight-song EP in July. A-One’s full length debut, “Authenticity,” is also nearly complete and scheduled for a 2010 release. Aaron fronts his production company he dubbed A-One Authentic, he helms two studios and is working on a clothing line while bringing headliner artists to Cleveland.
A-One’s producer is BenOfficial (formerly of metal band Switched), and he is also affiliated with the O.D.O.T label. A-One collaborates and performs with Carlicia,Copywrite, Dom, Jim LaMarca (of Chimaira), Miko, Scotty Kash and a group of producers known as Kickdrums.
Calling his style a mixture of soulful, smooth, Hip-Hoppy and radio friendly music, he says he is also experimenting a lot lately. In his songs, A-One says his craft allows him to paint a picture in the song with his lyrics.
Instead of dwelling on his troubled past or glamorizing it in song, A-One only looks to the future now and is grateful for the second chance music and life have given him.
“I know that I can’t live that way and that I have a purpose and it’s beyond those prison walls. I was given a gift that I have had all this time but was never able to utilize it because I was too busy runnin’ the streets.”
For A-One, Hip Hop and a higher power helped him climb his way out, and to find his way home.
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