“There’s black people in Portland?” As a black man from Portland, Oregon, I have been asked that question over a million times! Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but it does happen quite a bit. Until I got older and obtained more exposure, I honestly didn’t realize how small the black population of Portland was in comparison to the whole - less than 2% to be more precise. What is amazing, however, is that a city with such a small urban population possesses so much musical talent in the urban genres of hip-hop and R&B.
Throughout my travels, I noticed that my hometown had an abundance of under-represented urban talent as compared to other cities - even those with much larger urban communities. Based on this observation, I decided to compile an album featuring some of the best talent in Portland and market and promote it independently in order to provide exposure to an otherwise unknown region in the field of urban music – Portland, Oregon....