For Immediate Release
Fresh IE's Death of a Rapper wins 8 GMA Nominations inc:
RAP/HIP HOP ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Death of A Rapper is Fresh IE's 10th commercial album and the most personal project released by the Two Grammy Nominated Canadian rapper. All of the songs on DOA come from the experience of a man who has overcome multiple struggles and challenges as a full time artist. Many of the struggles and challenges coming from working as a full time artist in Canada that started to pay a toll on his personal life.
To cope, Fresh IE, turned back to music for comfort and out of it came 13 heart wrenching songs that came to be the Death of A Rapper. Now the album and four of the songs are up for multiple awards including:
1 RAP/HIP HOP ALBUM OF THE YEAR
2 RAP/HIP HOP SONG OF THE YEAR: 'Vanity' and 'White Flag'
2 URBAN SOUL SONG OF THE YEAR : 'Struggle' and 'Remember David'
Incidentally, in two of the award categories Fresh IE is up for, are artists he produced. MDK is up for RAP/HIP HOP SONG OF THE YEAR for 'Identity Crisis' Feat: Fresh IE
Shadow is up for RAP/HIP HOP ALBUM OF THE YEAR for 'Mobilization' and RAP/HIP HOP SONG OF THE YEAR for 'Shadow'
”Congratulations to everyone working in the Canadian music industry. I'm proud to be Canadian and using my gift to make a diference in my community, and Country.
says Fresh IE.
The 2011 GMA (Canadian Dove Awards) will be handed out October 28th, in Calgary AB at 7
pm. http://www.gmacanada.net/index/?page_id=376
Media Inquires:
reachfresh@gmail.com
Website:
http://www.freshmusic.ca
Fresh IE – “The Death of a Rapper”
Released: 2011
Reviewed by: Hipknokerz
Rating: 9.6 (Out of 10)
Rating: 
I couldn’t put this project down. Things that just jumped out to me were his diversity, vocal content, simplicity of presentation, yet relevance to his audience and the BUMPING BASS! The songs are well put together, with TSTONE being one of the contributing producers, so you know he has good taste in music! I ended up playing this project for like three weeks straight, and I see no signs of slowing down. Awesome project overall.
GOODBYE
Great vocals on the track, great use of panning. Hard beat, lyrics sit right in the middle, and the baseline is a groovy bed for the lyrics to ride on. Great message, smooth and good processing on the vocals overall.
WHITE FLAG
Love the build up in the beginning. Great mix overall, and they got a singer that could actually sing! Good dynamics between the singing and the cadence of the rapper. Driving beat, with funky vocals fx in the back. Good background synth, and counter melody is complimentary. Lyrics are hot, this is a great track!
FLIPPED MY SWITCH
I am impressed for hearing different types of beats on this project. Good dance track switching to a riding hip hop track. The track moves out of the way for the vocals to be the center, good mixing. Great message and not too many artists can go cross-genre, but Fresh IE is one of them!
LET IT BURN
My favorite track on this project, it hits soooo hard!!! I am a bass head, so I am partial. Great message and the hook is catchy. Here Fresh raps slow and compared to other tracks where he raps fast, and doesn’t skip a beat. He is comfortable behind the mic, sounds like a vet.
BEAUTY 4 ASHES
I love TSTONE MUSIC! So it goes without saying that this beat is HOT. Again, different type of feel to Fresh, and he KILLS IT. Great message, smart lyrics, and relevant. Has a great soul swing to it. Good mix and awesome bridge.
LOVE OF MY LIFE
Slow jam, good flow. Really interesting lyrics, makes you think and appreciate verbal skills. It’s good to see real men vulnerable and comfortable, good role model.
MONSTER
Very diverse music, this here is a sentimental beat. Fresh IE explores very diverse topics, and this one was created and produced in a way where the beat matches the topic. Great story telling.
Love the way it builds up in the middle, bringing hope.
STRUGGLE
Great beat to express this type of song/topic. He takes you on an emotional journey where you get a piece of his soul. He had great transparency with a good vibe to build it up. Great choice on production.
SIDESHOW
Hype type beat, horns popping, whistle tooting and the organ rolling. Base hitting hard and the lyrics tight. Good hook. Again he is showing diversity in many levels, and killing it like a professional.
VANITY
Really like this beat, vocal cadence goes well with this type of beat. Love the hooks on this project, and the beat gets full during the hooks. Great topic he explores, relevant to the max
SEE ME TARY
Good role playing, hot beat, would love to know who produced this one. I am glad that someone else is singing the hook, shows that he could work with other artists and still push out a banger.
VICTORY
The guitar in the front gives a great build up, base hitting hard makes your neck snap in two. Vocals are great, relevant with topic. And the hook brings in some ROCK. DIVERSITY is great on this project. And he kills it! This is an artist that I will follow!
HELLO
The last track, starting with a grand orchestra winds, brass and a mix-up accompanied with hot breaks on the 4s. This is definitely a project that will never see the end of me hitting the play button.
Comprehensive Ratings:
- Music – 10 It is catchy, different and all banging!
- Flow – 10 Very good mix of cadences and pitch
- Creativity / Originality -10 Love the different types of music used on the project, and he showed versatility in flow.
- Relevancy – 10Varies in topic, all relevant of most HIP HOP listeners. (The real ones, anyway J)
- Content & Character – 10 Everything from the title to the songs is consistent with the Christian view.
- Credibility & Confidence – 10 Great presentation
- Personality – 8 I feel that although I can sense his personality, I feel that there can be more connectivity with the listener. Like when two people sit down and you can tell that someone is not on “SHOW”, but just connecting with you man to man. This is not a diss, I think many artists get comfortable with the industry of the ministry, but it’s hard to put that aside and be yourself.
- Presentation Quality – 8 I like the two pics, but would love to have production credits included.
- Overall Production Quality – 10 HOT< HOT< HOT!!
- Potential Impact – 10 I see kids and youth and adults eat this up!
Death Of A Rapper is the most personal and painful project released by Rob Wilson, aka Fresh IE. Every song is an expression of emotions from a man who discovers how deeply flawed he truly is. After almost losing everything that he loves and over coming thoughts of suicide, Fresh IE turned once again to what helped save his life 13 years ago, making music. The result is the new 13 song album, released on iTunes, June 6, 2011.
The big difference from his eight other commercial releases is that this time, Fresh IE has not just survived the elements of hard life handed to him as a child growing up in poverty and crime. This time Fresh IE has had to overcome hardships created by his own deeds.
Death Of A Rapper is about Fresh IE discovering who Rob Wilson really is and how vulnerable he really is. About a man who is more than just a two time Grammy Nominee, or the First Canadian Rapper to be nominated for a Grammy Award. More than the man who won dozens of awards and more than the man who spent 12 years trying to encourage youth all over Canada and the United States to live their best lives. Death Of A Rapper is more of a statement of how Fresh IE went from grace to glory, from glory to disgrace and back to grace.
Death Of A Rapper is available on iTunes, June 6, 2011.
For more information contact:REACHFRESH@GMAIL.COM
Name: Robert Troy Lydiate
Grew Up: Born in Kingston Jamaica, raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Favorite Artist(s): Lecrae, Trip Lee, The Ambassador, Da' T.R.U.T.H, C-Lite, TWyse, Flame,
