“Carry On Tradition is the epitome of a passion project, and was literally created by Villa as a tool to pass on knowledge from one generation to the next.” Alexander Fruchter, Closed Sessions
A-Villa’s long awaited “Carry On Tradition” debut LP is out. He has been working on this for years and it shows. The music and features are crazy good, as is every other detail. The sequencing of the songs and the recording and mixing quality is first class. It sounds big and full and layered. The features are like a who’s who list of hot emcees including Freddie Gibbs, Action Bronson, Big Krit, Mikkey Halsted, Roc Marciano, Scheme, Big Pooh, Vic Spencer and many more. The record tells a story and it’s very cinematic to me. A-Villa’s own story is inspiring. He goes to college to fulfill his parents’ dream for him, achieves success in the financial industry, and at night works on his passion which is music. He enters and wins a beat making contest which encourages him to continue. That win brought a recording session with Mikkey Halsted. A turning point came when Guru from Gang Starr passed. A-Villa said “I didn’t know Guru personally, I was just a fan of Gang Starr’s music coming up. But it triggered something in my own life and sort of put things in perspective, in regards to my own personal legacy. I can be here today and gone tomorrow, but what exactly am I leaving behind for my loved ones or the world to remember me by. I mean money is nice, but you can’t take it with you. But then it hit me, I should create art by making my own music. Competing and winning local producer competitions gave me the confidence to make songs and those songs and the birth of my daughter motivated me into creating my own work of art which is my album Carry On Tradition.” You can stream it before buying on iTunes or ordering a CD or vinyl which includes a bonus track featuring Chicago great MC Tree.
