Exposed Vocals just caught an interview with South Florida Rapper, Steve Mays

Upstate New York’s Music Scene is Even Heavier Than The Snow Fall

There’s a particular negligence toward the overwhelming portion of New York that doesn’t have “City” following it. Oftentimes it’s as if that strange, heavily wooded mass of land that exists beyond the Manhattan skyline doesn’t really exist at all. The only widespread conversations concerning the region tend focus on the “quaintness” and “quirkiness” of the region’s obsession and seemingly limitless supply of Dave Matthews Band bumper stickers. The sentiment is clear: “New York” is New York City—the rest is just cider-soaked white noise.

Needless to say, Steve Mays is aching to define Upstate New York’s rap scene as fresh and innovative, this can be an endlessly frustrating uphill battle. The history of bands raising a dejected middle finger to upstate New York and shoving off to find success and recognition elsewhere is disturbingly long and storied. However, with Steve Mays and ‘The State of The Rhyme’, we’re seeing a silver lining as the rapper defines himself all over again in South Florida.

Steve Mays is an east coast rapper and professional businessman who calls it how he sees it. Mays is rolling out his first tape, state of rhyme urgency #SORU with hard hitting beats and diversified flows. Quality production, music exploration and creative depthness give this project a unique and captivating sound and vision.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

 I grew up in Syracuse, New York where I was big into rap in the 2000s. I listened to Eminem, 50 cent, Game, Nas, Drake, Lil Wayne, French Montana and Rick Ross. I’ve been rapping and making songs since I was 18 and fresh out of high school After I graduated college in 2014 I started my business career managing projects for a nutrition company and got lost in my career. I decided to start making songs again and started dropping them on my website and sound cloud:

Exposed Vocals Score: 8.7/10

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Contact show promoters for gigs and submit your songs to djs and radio stations.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

 I record at in South Florida at Dog manic recording studios and they’re equipped with an arsenal. We go into production and produce high quality music; from me going in on the rhymes and my engineer smashing out on the mix.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

 I’ve only gone live with my rap for two months so im still exploring new channels to market on. I’m on IG @_stevemays and soundcloud right now, and I’m trying to work on video content to start a youtube.

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

Snap! Probably Marlins stadium in Miami with the homie sixnine because that venue is unreal with the skyline view and super dome feel.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

 State of Rhyme Urgency was a great first mixtape project. Overall, I got a lot of positive feedback on the sound and production. Not everyone’s going to like my music, but everyone will agree it’s high quality and always accompanied by burning cold beats.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

 I work full time as a project manager at a nutrition company 9-5 and rap 8-11 most nights. Other than that I mostly go to the gym or beach and just kick it in south Florida, it’s paradise down here.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

 Everyone should look forward to more high quality rap, I’m going to try to keep making bangers.

Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?

 Shout-out the 6 god