I started writing rhymes when I was 8. In elementary school, I used to rap for some of my friends on the playground. They were always impressed, but I didn't quite understand why. I thought rapping was something

anybody could do because to me it always came so easily. Whenever there was a creative writing assignment, I'd always knock it out the park. A couple of my teachers at Cooke Elementary thought I was exceptionally talented at writing.

When I was 16, I started making beats, but it was just a hobby. I wanted to hear myself over music, but I had no beats other than the instrumentals you'd sometimes find on the B-sides of cassette singles. I was into freestyling back then and I thought it might be cool if I could practice

rhyming over my own beats. My homies would come through to listen to me freestyle. From then it lead to recording.

As much as I loved the artform, I did not want to be a rapper. I was more interested in producing and just working in the studio, but every once in a while, I'd lay some vocals on a track and the few people I shared it with would love it. They always wanted to hear more. Still I was looking for that perfect MC to work with. Whatever I recorded was just for me to listen to.

It was like an entry in a diary. It wasn't intended for public consumption. That is, until the cushion of the day job was no longer an option, I decided it was time to start my new career, which was a bit of a no-brainer. I had just built a studio in the basement and was now faced with no income and the once-lucritive side hustles were becoming too risky. I had very few options other than to use what I have instead of worrying about what I'd lost. So I went downstairs and pressed RECORD.

2.What are you known for professionally? What do you have a knack for?

“I'm known as the engineer/producer/ tech -savvy handy/man -cable guy. I'm the guy you'd call about your wireless network problems, and tips for recording techniques. I'm the guy who'll build a studio in your house, build the vocal booth and wire it all up and show you how to use it. That's something I enjoy and to date, I've never charged anyone for that particular service. I love to teach. Always ready to be the teacher and the student.”

3. What most excites you about your work & the contribution you can make?

“I'm passionate about the creative process. What I enjoy most is the process of taking the song from an idea in my cluttered mind, to a complete audio production in my cluttered studio. Music has the ability to help alter moods and evoke emotion. And because I'm always conscious

of my role as student/teacher, I try to put a message of some sort in my music. There is so much that hasn't been said in hip-hop. My music is usually comes from a "consider this" perspective. “

4. What do you really enjoy? What can’t you stop talking about?

“I just enjoy learning. Any useful information that helps me in my endless quest to build a better "self", I'm all for it. I'm especially excited about learning new studio tips and recording/mixing techniques. The music is sort of a soundtrack to the memories that make up my life story. Don't ever get me started talking about music unless you've got a few hours – or possibly days- to spare.”

5. It seems your initial passion was in the technical aspects of music creation, working with your hands in the studio. Do you find it hard to switch hats when you are ready to lay a voice track?)

I wouldn't say it's hard, but laying the vocals is my least favorite part of the process. However, that's all I know. I can count on one hand, the number of times I've recorded vocals in someone else's studio, so it's always been an unpleasant-yet-necessary task. In the future, I'd like to get used to working at other studios. I acknowledge the fact that I do wear too many hats. I can be more productive if I have another engineer at the board and mixing my records for me.

6. Where can we find you when you’re not working? What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend or a Sunday afternoon?

“ I love being alone. It's when I'm most creative. And that's not work to me. And if we must call it "work", I'd have to say, I'm always working. I am always writing, creating, planning, preparing for a recording session or trying to improve on my mixes. I always have to have a studio wherever I live. It's not uncommon to wake up in the middle of the night with an idea that may have come to me in a dream - and rush downstairs and turn on the mic or the beat machines.”

7.Where did you grow up and why aren’t you there now?

“Grew up in Detroit during the Regan years. Crack was King. And to this day, it appears to have its ass glued to the throne. I'm not there now because I was in need of a change of scenery and that particular scenery didn't inspire me to write the type of music I wanted to write. For years it

was back and forth, from the hood to the burbs, then back to the hood, then the burbs and back again. Then it occurred to me, I don't belong anywhere. Either that or I belong everywhere. so now I'm just looking around the country and the globe, trying to find some an unfamiliar

environment in which to write. I have to keep moving. New people and places.

8. What would be impossible for you to give up?

“Meditation.“ It's important to me because that's when I feel I am at home. Everything else is just a test designed to show me how well i'm doing in terms of taking what I've learned through meditation and applying it to everyday life. I've learned more through meditation than anything else. In

that silence and stillness is where you find your true self. Most people will go their entire lives never having known who they truly are. They just bounce like a pinball from situation to circumstance - just reacting to the environment. Most of us are constantly distracted by the outside world.

We need to stay distracted by our jobs, friends, TVs, phones, and computers at every waking moment. That's where I think the boredom comes from; Needing something to distract you from your own thoughts. This comes out of fear of facing your own demons. I don't want to go through this life blindfolded. I have a need to know why I react the way I do to certain situations. It's the things I've managed to unlearn that makes meditation so valuable to me.

9. Why would someone not want to work with you?

Anyone who can't take honesty would probably not want to work with me.” I shoot from the hip and sometimes I offend people with my views and opinions. And if there's an artist in my studio that asks my opinion of the record we're working on, I'll give them my honest opinion and there are plenty of people that don't want that. They'd rather be told what they want to hear instead.

10. How do you want to be remembered?

“It’s not really about me being remembered, it's really about the music.The message and how it relates to our society. This music is just my way of making my little contribution. Perhaps a mere mention in the pages of hip-hop history would be enough to satisfy what little ego I have. I just want to make the kind of music that makes you feel something. I hope I'm making the type of songs that you'll hear 30 years from now and say, "Oh I

remember exactly where I was the first time I heard this A.D. Weighs record... I make the type of music I want to listen to. It's my therapy, but if it works for someone else, I'm all for it.

11. Anything else you’d like to tell people about yourself?

“About me? Not really. I'm not interested in being a celebrity. My music is not so much about a person. It's about a people. I'm being honest and trying to build a better self. I want that to be the mantra. On a lot of my records I'm just holding a mirror up to society and saying, "let's take a long hard look at ourselves", while other records I'm just venting or using the mic as my therapist. I don't brag much because It's not my aim to make u fall in love with me. I'd rather make you fall in love with yourself. Like Lennon, you may say that I'm a dreamer. And perhaps I am, but I think living in a society where people have the utmost love and respect for themselves would be incredibly sexy. That's the underlying message in CF&RG, the first single off the album. It's a story of a guy trying to look

deep within himself to find a sense of self-worth. He's reminding himself that he is worthy of more than life in a cage. He's saying he's gonna be alright regardless of the bullshit. Now if we all had that same mentality perhaps the prisons and morgues wouldn't be so crowded. I'm just sayin"

My name is A.D. Weighs and I build bridges.