Local rapper’s new album is sure to be heard
Chattanooga is a hotbed of musical talent. In truth, it has been for twenty years, but once upon a time no one seemed to know that. Bands and performers who built strong names and loyal followings on the road were virtually anonymous at home.
That’s not the case anymore. There is exponentially more opportunity here for those willing to seek it out, and there’s the rub. All too often I hear complaints about a lack of venues, pay, recognition, appreciation, and so on.
It’s a topic I’ve addressed in this column on more than one occasion and all those thousands of words can be boiled down to one simple point.
The music business is a business.
Having a great act, having talent, having something to say, having a hook…those things are all prerequisites to success, but in and of themselves, they are not enough. Success lies in promoting yourself, in hustling, finding opportunity and, when necessary, creating opportunity.
Fortunately, the younger generation of performers is growing savvier about this basic tenet of life as a performer. Among those that have stepped up to the plate to claim success for themselves, Matt Movin is one of the best.
His new album, Movin’ Be Movin’, has set a new high water mark in the young rapper’s career. The production values are as good or superior to anything being released commercially, and his talent as a lyricist, writer, and performer is on par with any big name act today.
Full of heart, soul, and sincerity, the album stands as a monument to years of hard work and perseverance, and yet, Movin understands better than many that this and $2.50 will buy a cup of coffee.
Because he understands this (and I wish more younger musicians did) he has thrown at least as much time, effort, and fierce dedication in to making things happen for himself.
There’s nothing easy about creating great music, but ironically, once this is done it seems to be all too easy to sit back and wait for someone to notice.
It is a race half-run, but Movin is in it to go the distance, and I have rarely seen someone so hungry to win.
“Hurtful”, “God”, “Wish You the Best”, and “All Pressure, No Let Up”, are songs that run the gamut of personal experience, philosophy, pain, joy, and a drive to excel. At times the album dips into ground familiar to all; at other times it seems to be deeply autobiographical, and throughout, it is honest and sincere. In a word, the album has guts. It is both relatable and a look inside the life of the man who created it.
It is poetry, plain and simple and once you combine that with an ear for musical hooks and beats and an ability to wield a microphone like a scalpel, a sword, or a ton of TNT, you have an album of such quality that folks ought to be proud someone from their hometown made it.
And yet for all that, it might have passed by without a mention were it not for Matt’s overwhelming determination to be heard, to stretch beyond the limitations of hometown hero.
As much blood, sweat, and tears that went in to the production, no less of the same goes in to making the calls, setting the shows, networking, promoting, and otherwise boosting the signal to make sure people hear what he has to say.
His work ethic is impeccable and it gives one pause to consider how many other great albums have been written and recorded that went unheard because their creators stopped when the last track was mastered.
That will never be the case with Matthew Movin, he will not be relegated to the bin of “could have beens.” He has both the talent and the motivation to become the next breakout star of the hip-hop world and the proof is in the album.
Available now, Movin’ Be Movin’ is a crowning achievement in the career of a young man who will settle for nothing less than success.