My First Record Deal

It seems like forever ago since the NBA was interesting. Back in the days we saw true basketball Legends like Larry Byrd, Magic Johnson, Pipen, and of course Jordan. Nowadays people try to tell you a guy like Kobe Bryant is every bit as good as Mike. While I think Kobe is a wonderful future hall of fame player I wouldn't compare him to Jordan. The one player that should be winning title after title is LeBron James. So when LeBron was getting closer and closer to winning that elusive NBA Championship the NBA became interesting again didn't it? When asked what he thought about he and The Heat winning the title his response was "It's about damn time." 22 years is a long, long time. That's how long I've been in the rap game. I started doing shows in churches in my hometown of Mason City at around 12 years old. I have nothing but fond memories of my formative musical years. My best friend Pat and I both played drums, baseball, played Nintendo, etc. We also found out we both loved Christian Rap. Pat's Mom and Step-dad were both musicians so they had a little studio setup in their bedroom. They used to let us make music whenever they weren't in there. So Pat hooked it up! He learned how to make beats on the HR-16 and in Cakewalk. We started making songs. Pat's parents were members at a fairly open minded church that was cool with us doing our little "Christian raps". So we did that. After High School it was onto new friends, new projects, and new music. So Jay Money aka Po Safe Beats and I go way, way back. It was 1997. Money was a Sophmore and I was a Freshman. He was making this little "ABC" rap for his Mom's Sunday School class. He asked me to rap on it. And that was that. We linked up with Roach and Dalexand to form Mergence and were off and running with a Christian Rap group. After Damien split to Canada to play basketball from some college, Roach started producing Howie T and Money and I were working on my solo album. Howie and Roach were getting all kinds of love. I did a couple songs with them that we performed at Agape. I also performed with them when they opened up for the LP Outsiders at Mississippi Nights. That was my first show in St. Louis. After college I first moved back close to home. I grew up in Mason City but had a bunch of friends in Lincoln, IL. One of those friends hooked me up with a job as an Adult Resident Assistant at Lincoln College. It was really the perfect deal for someone fresh out of college. I got a room for free and got paid a little. I was able to work days at Bonanaza. I didn't have a car note yet. I had a used car my parents gave me. Money and I finished up my first solo record Erase the Hate. I also started making beats on my old Compaq computer in Pro Tools free. I did a few that I really wanted to use for the next project with Money which turned out to be the beginning of the Rhyme Commission. I had to get to St. Louis. There was an underground rap scene there that I just had to be a part of. In my small town mind this scene was the shit! I knew it was always poppin' at the Science Hip-Hop Spin at Blueberry hill on Friday nights. My homie Fink already had a place in Maryland Heights. He said hey man. Come on and crash on my couch until you can get a job and get yer own place. That was in the summer of 2002. Been in St. Louis ever since. Fletch was on the grind. I started going to every local rap show I could. I was at Blueberry Hill for the Scinece every Friday night for years. I was freestyling when DJ Crucial and Agile-One were spinning at the Red Sea. I was hanging at the Hi-Pointe cafe on Monday nights. Money I started getting some shows at The Rhyme Commission. Once Money moved out here it was really on. We finished the studio sessions for Cerebral Poetry back in 2002. We didn't get it released until 2005. In the meantime I needed to get us some street buzz. I did the Broken EP before the Rhyme Co album came out. I started slanging those like crazy. We were off and rolling. We put out Cerebral Poetry and did a mixtape called the Frank Castle mixtape vol. I. Money was DJing gigs. We started working on my rap opera Conversations. Even though I thought Conversations was going to be one of my best albums I knew peole wouldn't react to it all that well in the Lou. People didn't get my "weird" flows on the first Rhyme Co album. So I decided to do a project that had that old school rap feel. And it had to be tight from the Beats 2 The Rhymes so no one could say shit. That's how Urban-One and I did it. I had been doing shows with Forty Til Five and was haning out with Lesson and Urban a lot. The album was recorded and almost finished in 2006. Then I made a mistake I married the wrong woman. I'm not going to get into this a whole lot. Let's just say it stole years of my life I can never get back. Music took a back seat to trying to make something work that was just not meant to be. Once I was able to remove the craziness I could work again. I reconnected with some people at shows. I started being in the scene again. I started doing some shows again. Beats 2 The Rhymes was released in 2009. It received the reaction I knew it would. Roach, Jay Money and I also did the first Mergence album in 10 years. Just when I thought I was back in I got pulled out again. This time it was a welcome departure from the scene. My daughter Chloe Eliah

Fletcher was born and it was time to focus on family. There were also some loose ends to tie up. No more shows for a minute but I could finish up the Rhyme Commission joints that were collecting dust. I finished up Conversations and put it out around the same time Chloe was born, late 2010. Poetry in Motion was next. Money and I spent quite a bit of time on this album. We recorded more new songs for the project then what we had sitting around for 7 years. We of course put PIM out this year. I had come with a concept years ago that I was ready jump on. After getting and MPK25 from my bestie Gail I was ready to start making beats again. The rap singer/songwriter project was dubbed Fletch Dylan. This would be my next solo album. Money and I had a deeper concept with the next Rhyme Co joint. We decided to do a concept that is loosely based on Rush's classic 2112 album called 3113. I am currently writing songs for both. And then there's Luped Up Records...... Remember waaaaay back when I opened with Roach and Howie T for the LP Outsiders? Well two of the dudes from that group have started a record label. Luppy and Joe Joe Keys approached me about becoming the first artist besides the two of them to sign with Luped Up Records. So after 22 years of making music I could sign onto a label that was created by two friends from college. We could make music together and not have to worry about anything shady happening. I could maybe get some exposure and make a little money to supplement my income. I could provide a little more for my family. I could get paid a little to do what I love. I could release songs on itunes. Corey Fletcher on the line. Contract signed. Big Fletch of The Rhyme Commission

My Baby Girl digs through records at Euclid Records in St. Louis

Today was a great day. I worked a few hours to get some work done as I am going to be on vacation Monday-Friday. That makes four days off in a row! WOO-HOO! I got to spend some much needed time with my baby girl Chloe! We took on a little adventure and went to Euclid Records. We both had fun digging through the dollar record bins. Chloe picked out an Isley Brothers LP. We then ran through McDonald's for a happy meal. Next it was on to Target where Chloe got an Elmo coloring book and a pink microphone bubble wand. That's what's up. When we got home she rode her princess bike in our parking lot while I blew her some bubbles. That's right. Fletch blows bubbles for his daughter. Great day.