Tell us a little bit about yourself! When did you discover your love for music?
I was involved in music from very early, in elementary school I played the trumpet but at that time it wasn’t an idea to me yet to be a recording artist. I discovered my love for music during my summer transition from junior high school to freshman year of high school. That summer I was spending a lot of time with my father who is a musician. He introduced me to different methods of recording music and one of them was with a software called Audacity. I was so inspired by my dads songs and production that I wanted to give the music thing a shot. In jr highschool I had a few friends that rapped and it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to write lyrics too. So I recorded my first song called “Packing” in summer of 2006 over a “dirty south beat” that had a pac man sample. It was horrible when I listen back to it today but in my mind then I was nice! Lol. So I kept at it. This was the beginning of my music pursuits. Around that same time my dad introduced me to Fl Studio so I began making beats and rapping over them. This love developed me into “Tuu Ra” today, a beat maker , rapper , performer.
We know from your bio that your father was also a musician. What did his musical career entail and how did that influence you?My dad played the clarinet and Saxophone in his early years and around the age of 16 he was playing the saxophone in his own Haitian Kompa band. From there my dad picked up guitar and enough keyboard to lay down his own tracks producing instrumentals in the Kompa/Zouk and House music genres mainly. A lot of my early teenage years was spent watching my father create songs from scratch ,writing , producing , and recording at his home studio. There were many times I was so blown away by the inspiration process I would shed a tear or two lol. Being touched on such a deep level it motivated me to do exactly what my dad was doing and he gladly mentored me on the journey. My dad was a fan of the golden era hiphop. So being that I was diving into the HipHop/Rap genre my father gave me artist like Eric B and Rakim , GangStar aka Guru to emulate. These artist and the like along with my introduction at time to metaphysical teachings shaped my lyrical content to be more conscious.
It sounds like you have had the opportunity to perform at a lot of awesome shows. What has been your favorite performance so far, and why?
My favorite show to date was at the Airliner in Los Angeles. This was my favorite gig because I was on stage almost 3,000 miles away from home with my girlfriend and best friend performing our music. It was just a rush and an overall dope experience that confirmed for me that I could do this for the rest of my life.
How has growing up in Brooklyn shaped your musical career?
Growing up in Brooklyn gave me confidence when it came to music. There are so many big names that came out of the borough of Brooklyn & NYC period that had or still has major success. That along with the fast pace lifestyle and activities always going on here in the city that never sleeps it gave me a lot to write about. Growing up in Brooklyn has given me an abundance of thoughts and ideas to release and escape in making music.
What can we expect to see from you in 2018 and beyond?
Moving into 2019 you can expect to see my EP and my beat store up and running. Also looking to do an album where I have songs of various artist that I will produce for. So more collaborations into the new year with artist I've met around the nation and of course more music videos.
Where can people go to learn more about you?
You can learn more about me on my website www.tuu-ra.com and of course by connecting with me on social media, Instagram @tuugod. Also be sure to connect with me on Spotify and other streaming platforms to notified on new releases!
Comments