A LOCAL recording artist, Tom Hendry, has just released a new 11-track rap album called Fallen that details Tom’s experiences of love, life – and Westbury.
Tom, aka R.E.P (Rapid Electronic Production) released a UK hardcore dance album last year called Hardcore Lovers EP – he has now followed this up with his first official rap album which is available to listen to now for free on Soundcloud.
Tom said, “Those of my age group that went to either Bratton Junior school or Matravers with me back in the day will most likely remember that I have been rapping since the early age of just nine or ten. I first performed a dose of my own rhyming to my Year 5 class back in 1995 and have been dedicated to this art form near enough ever since.
“However, I have been working mainly on my own skills as a dance music producer since my last release of several singles of my rapping back in 2010, at which point I accumulated quite a bit of publicity across the West Country, including having my music featured on nearly every local radio station and also with the chance to appear on BBC Introducing with a piece of my own rapping.
“However, the Fallen LP which I have just released online now features songs in the styles of UK hip-hop, grime, drill, and dancehall, and is essentially my own report on all subjects that have affected my struggle through life in the form of both commercial and controversial based poetry or rhyming diction.
“This includes romantic tracks about falling in love or finding love in the most unexpected of places, comedy tracks, one of which is actually about what it’s like to live in Westbury, highlighting what a nice community we live in. One track actually features my Mum playing the part of a doctor interviewing me at the beginning. However, the true fundamental basis to the entire project is more or less the topic of spirituality, representing my own spiritual encounters. Each track is a different story or at least a different subject and features writing and rhyming of a true professional standard.
“I am really excited about this because in my own opinion it really means a lot to me to be recognised as a poet or ultimately known as the rapper of my area, just as I was in my late teenage years, rather than the alternative of my life’s work primarily being that of an EDM producer as it has been in recent years.
“It just occurred to me recently that if I was to die tomorrow, what would people remember about me? What is my message that I leave behind? Like the A and R agent of a major label in the film ‘Walk The Line’ says to the character of Johnny Cash when he’s interviewing him: ‘If you were hit by a truck and were lying in that gutter dying and you had time to sing one song that would sum up your entire life and that would let God know what you thought about your time on earth, would you sing something that mattered?’”
