Big Tez

Tez has been rapping since he was fifteen and serious about it since he was seventeen, which by his own accounting means he has spent more of his life doing this than not. The basement studio off 38th belongs to a friend of his uncle and he has recorded every song he has ever released in it, including the ones that got him the deal. He has been offered better rooms. He does not use them.

The distribution deal, signed August 2009, came after two other offers that would have required relocating to Atlanta. He turned both down, and the reasoning he gave us was blunter than we expected to print: "Everybody who left, left. And then what happened? Nothing happened. So I'm gonna try the other thing."

"Off The Circle" was shot in one night on a camera borrowed from somebody's cousin, downtown, without a permit, and they got moved along twice. It is the most-played local video we have ever hosted.