Introduction

I’m just a dude trying to live a righteous life by my own standards.

I’m originally from Rapid City, South Dakota, the second biggest town in a state that people have only ever heard of because of a racist carving some presidents into rocks up the hill from my childhood home. My background has been intensely formative on who I am as a person, almost never in the way that anyone would expect, myself included. I value moments of quiet and reflection and often require allowance from my family to spend even more time in thought. It’s crazy though because I’m a musician at heart so none of this really makes sense. I’ve seen a fair amount of turbulence for 33 years – but honestly I feel that everything is okay as long as I don’t lose 100% track of who I am through it all. I’ve seen nearly everything a person can see in life, and it makes me think harder. I wouldn’t necessarily say it makes me think more, but the quality of the thought is decidedly deeper.

Who am I at my core? Always, always, always more going on than what I allow people to see. Easiest way for me to put it to people is that I am a bastard child of a bastard child trying to debastardize my life. The one recurring theme in my life is loss, which sucks, but other people couldn’t deal with what I have on my plate, so I’ll quietly hold that W. My soul is probably what defines me as much as anything. I’m ultimately a very polarizing person and don’t know too many people who stand in the middle about me.

There’s honestly not a lot that moves me, excites me, or brings me joy. Parenthood is the one thing that I’ve been mentally preparing for since 13 years old though, so I’d say that’s it. As true as possible to form, my family dynamic is about as weird as can possibly be. Ask me about it sometime if you’re curious. Sports and music are generally the other two things I really like.

There’s been a wide number of formative experiences shaping who I am. I feel like one decision that really shaped my childhood was being placed in foster care when I was 6 years old. It was an uncomfortable crash course in dealing with the ugly side of people. 27 years later and I’m still constantly trying to dig through some traumas.

My ultimate curiosity lies at the intersection of philosophy and psychology. Nature vs nurture is an absolutely fascinating argument that I have a number of strong views about. Everything else in life is just a variation or an offshoot of this mind game. I debate myself on shit constantly. Still haven’t lost an argument with myself.

I’ve never really been able to see myself in the future. Honestly, I’m more concerned about today and tomorrow??? I’m just trying to be a groovy dude one day at a time. The one time I ever saw myself in the future in a defined setting in my dreams was being a jazz musician in New Orleans and I already made that happen. I’m gonna drop a fire ass rap album one day and confuse a whole lot of you. Not because of any attitude or wanting popularity, it’s more of a deep-seated love affair that has given me a out of body feeling for over two decades, and an appreciation for the history of the craft.