Hip-hop album to be released in January

BY ASHLEY ACOSTA
Feature Editor

Opportunity is something that is said to only come around once, and for Saint Mary’s University sophomore Harris Moses and his cousin, that chance came early.

This past summer, Moses and his cousin, Markie Gbor, spent three months recording their first hip-hop album, Grass Roots, for Deka Records based in California. “A lot of hip-hop artists write about the game, money, girls and clothes,” Moses said. “We write about things that are real.”

Moses began rapping as a senior in high school. Mainly a poetry writer, he found comfort in music and enjoyed the rhythm and lyrics that went along with hip-hop. While Gbor was recording some tracks in a friend’s basement, he encouraged Moses to give rapping a try. “I started, and it just began to flow,” Moses said. “The talent came out, and it was nice.”

After that the Minnesota natives from Brooklyn Park, calling themselves Peace and ProDuct, began writing, recording and mixing their own music out of their basement. The duo composes its music using a trial and error type of method. “We like to write while we listen to the instrumentals,” said Moses. “I sit, let the instrumental play and feel the music to see what fits.”

Moses and Gbor spent the next three years writing and performing their music at local events. Then, opportunity struck.
“I received a message from an independent music label offering us a one album release,” Gbor said. “I told him (Moses) about it, and all he said was, ‘what are we waiting for?’” Not only do the cousins have their own album, but they also have started their own independent record label called Open Book Records.

“Artists usually start their own label as a way of promotion,” said Moses. The label is in the process of state incorporation and is working on recording music and artists at the international level. “I don’t do it (music) for the money,” said Moses, “I do it for the passion and love of entertaining, writing and getting to the opportunity to say what I want to say.”

Tracks from Grass Roots are expected to be available on iTunes within the next few months. To hear tracks by Peace and ProDuct, go to their website at www.myspace.com/openbookrecords.