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DEFINITION
Folk Music folk'-mu'sic (fok'myu'zik) Music originating among the common people of a nation or region and spread about or passed down orally, often with considerable variation.
THE BEGINNING
Justin Smith, began playing guitar at age 13, and hasn’t stopped for over a decade. He played in several bands throughout his early to mid teens, but often ran into some abrasion, due to his unique style. Justin naturally began to rap when strumming his guitar strings, as he was heavily influenced by Hip-Hop music. His combination of acoustic guitar and rapping was unlike any other music surrounding him, or even getting airplay at the time. Change is necessary, but is often not embraced; such was the case with Justin’s music, “Folk-Hop” music.
CREATION OF FOLK-HOP
At age 17 Justin began a solo journey, his hunger and passion to share his life experiences with others could not be satisfied. He simply wished to connect with other human beings and help others get through hard times with his music. His writing style is similar in many ways to folk music, in that he writes songs for common folks dealing with the everyday struggles of life. Where he differs from his folk predecessors, is in his vocal delivery, “rap” and his hip-hop drum production. He brings his own sound, “Folk-Hop”. Justin released 2 Folk-Hop albums while still attending college, “Acoustic Life” and “This Is Me”. Both albums received a warm reception from his peers and helped him build a grassroots following in both his hometown of Lexington, SC and in Myrtle Beach, SC, were he attended college. After completing production for 2 other solo artist’s projects and graduating college, Justin decided to embark on a third album.
SINNER'S PRAYER
Truly at home in the studio writing and recording music, Justin decided to put as much of his heart, time, and energy as possible, into the recording of his third album “Sinner’s Prayer”. An appropriately titled album, according to Justin Smith’s own words: “I honestly pray to God through my music” and “We’ve all done dirt, we’ve all made mistakes, but there’s always time for Change”. By this time Justin had developed a circle of musicians, artists, and producers to accompany him during the production of “Sinner’s Prayer”. To date this album has been the culmination of his craft, leading him to work with one of the artists that influenced him in his early years and inspiring a supporting band. The supporting band being (The Folk-Hop Band), which is comprised of 3 solo artists, a turntable artist, and 3 very talented musicians . Many of the band members having had some part in the production of the album, were inspired to support Justin’s positive message. Thus, you have Justin Smith and The Folk-Hop Band.
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