Happy birthday to my brother Dutchyyy! Dutch and I met when we were 13-14 on the school bus. He was crazy influential with bringing hiphop into my life as a focal point. I saw and heard him before I met him. In the front of Webb Middle School on Hanley Road here was this obnoxious white kid with a boombox playing a King Just skit (not even a song!) on full blast! You know that loud annoying skit where King Just and his friends beat up the pizza delivery man? Dutch was wearing Timberlands in 90 degree weather that day. Less than nobody cared about King Just, but Dutch always had this defiant confidence that he was the cool kid and others were off. He has never lost that confidence even when I know he’s 100% wrong 😆. We quickly became close friends in making music together with him encouraging me as a peer with that same confidence. It started with us writing together over his 12’ vinyl instrumentals and then forming our own group with Celph Titled called, Equilibrium. Fast forward a few years and we put out our first single on wax! We were these Florida kids in high school with our songs pressed on vinyl and reviewed positively in major magazines! We recorded a full album in a professional studio, but ended up only releasing more singles and shelving the album. We go on to have solo careers as artists and he releases his debut album, Junk Planet. A certified classic with some tracks that I deeply admire and some featuring me! We do some shows throughout this period and feature on some songs together, etc. I went on to record two solo albums, a few singles, and a bunch of features before quitting and trying other pursuits. Dutchy stays immersed in music and becomes a head splitting producer always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. What I’m most impressed with is how he has never stopped being an influential mentor and teacher with music to this day. He has a legion of beat makers who admire and look up to him. Now this guy can be a real jerk off. A serious ball busting asshole, but he always gets all the love in the world because of who he genuinely is. I consider him one of my favorite people of all time, so all the love to you today, Dutchy.