NextNC's Conversation with Grieves [- Hide] Ben Laub knows there’s more to hip hop than drugs, booze, hos and bling. Even though he has seen all that, he’s more interested in the positive hip-hop community. “Hip hop is a very egotistical art form,” Laub said. “It’s almost sad. That negative stigma is projected hard onto it.” The 23-year-old hip-hop artist could have ended up with a lengthy criminal record or behind bars, like other rappers, but he didn’t. Instead he has made a name for himself in the underground music scene in Seattle. Grieves, as he is known by his fans, got his start by battling in Fort Collins at the Aggie and the Starlight, now Hodi’s Half Note. He’ll be back in town for an album release party Aug. 16 at the Aggie Theatre. His full-length CD, “Irreversible,” packs emotion, talent, tragedy and strength into a raw and powerful sound. “Everything is very heartfelt,” he said. Laub doesn’t have to dig too far into his psyche to find the emotions he puts into his songs. He was adopted, and though he calls his parents “the greatest parents in the world,” he somehow fell off track. “I got into drugs and was kicked out of school,” he said. At the age of 15, he was selling cocaine and pot and was sent to a rehab center. “Basically, no one thought I would turn myself around,” Laub said. “I was going down the drain. My parents had watched the same thing happen to my older sister, only worse. My parents were losing their kids.” His sister’s addiction and troubles had a powerful impact on him. He didn’t want to follow the same path. He enrolled at Centennial High School, an alternative school in Fort Collins, which turned his life around. “I thrived off of the atmosphere,” Laub said. “Everyone was so supportive.” After graduation, Laub knew he needed a change. He and his girlfriend had broken up, and she would be going off to college. He feared if he stayed in Fort Collins, he’d be here forever. So, he packed up his Toyota Celica and drove to Seattle where we would spend the next two months in an apartment writing music. “I dropped myself in a foreign land,” Laub said. “I had to fight real hard.” Laub was born in Chicago and remembers his dad’s huge record collection of folk, blues and soul. He also remembers going down to the blues clubs in Chicago with his dad at an early age. That planted the seed for what “Grieves” has become. Laub hasn’t touched drugs since getting out of rehab and said he has found an amazing hip-hop culture. “People aren’t just about running around shooting each other drinking crystal and having sex with each other,” he said. Instead, his substance is found in his lyrics and rhymes. “I make rap music, but don’t you dare put it past me to blow your mind,” Laub said. |