When he was in high school, sociology major Eddie Wellz would shuffle through a thesaurus while listening to rapper Lupe Fiasco. Today, 24-year-old Wellz stands as a lyricism advocate while performing his own lyrics to audiences during his TruSummer 2015 tour.
As a student, Wellz received encouragement from classmates to take his rapping talent to the next level. Although he grew up with hip-hop as his "soundtrack to life," he soon learned why the genre resonated with him.
“The word layout and how many words you can fit into a song can literally take people on a journey,” Wellz said. “I think it was education, too. Once I started understanding more about social aspects and life, I felt like hip-hop was the best way to express my thoughts on that.”
He released his first project, “The Speed of Thought" when he was a college junior, and followed it up with his second mix tape, “Keep Your Head Up" as a senior in 2014. After this release in the spring of last year, fans noticed the growth of Wellz as a soloist. This growth led to his nomination for Best New Artist at the 2014 Arizona Hip-Hop Awards in November. The resulting hype drove a local radio station, WOW 99.1 FM, to play his song “Keep it Player” featuring another musician, Futuristic.
After his career took off last year, Wellz’s manager and ASU alumnus Larry Lynn pitched the idea of TruSummer 2015 to Wellz and other collaborative artists. As a spin-off of Vans Warped Tour, the city-to-city circuit acts as a festival to introduce new artists to a wider audience.
“I was inspired by a documentary I watched about the Warped Tour called 'No Room for Rock Stars,'" Lynn said. "I wanted to create a hip-hop version of (it) so I chose six artists who had never been on tour before so we could all live the dream together."
Departing for their first show in Liberty, Missouri last July, the troupe consisted of multiple hip-hop artists including Wellz, Sunny Jane, TreeO, i-Dee, YFXBS and Salty Brasi. Upon arriving at the venue in Missouri, Club 906, the stereotypes associated with hip-hop struck Wellz as he looked into the crowd.
“There were some regulars that had come for the opening act and you could tell hip-hop wasn’t their thing," Wellz said. "People think that when you’re a rapper, you’re just going to be on stage talking about killing people or slinging drugs."
Wellz said he has a different opinion.
"Personally, I like to think my music is very positive," Wellz said. "You just have to find a different way to get into people’s ears. When they finally listen to me, if they didn’t expect to like it, they usually say they had me all wrong."
Within eight days, the group hit major cities such as Denver, Oakland, Los Angeles, Boise and lastly, Phoenix.
Although some may not consider Boise a major city, Wellz said he felt a connection with the pit-stop because his father resides there. Prior to the tour, Wellz's father saw Wellz perform live only once and for Wellz to spot his father in the crowd again gave him an assured sense of accomplishment.
Once the tour finished and Wellz was knee-deep in the creation of his future album, “Amina Sol,” he reflected on how he sets himself apart from other artists in today’s society.
“I take a lot of pride in my lyrics because I really think about every single line, whether it’s a metaphor or straight forward," Wellz said. "It happens too often where a song is popular, but it isn’t that skillful. People need get noticed for being great poets and musicians. Not for coming up with a couple of catchy lines."
Wellz currently has three projects in the making, including a future performance at the Arizona Hip-Hop Festival on Nov. 14 at Comerica Theater. He plans to wrap up his third mixtape, which will be available for free, by the end of the year to give him plenty of new material to perform at the next TruWinter tour.
Spencer Brown, a lifelong friend and co-owner of Truminati Music Group, said Wellz thrives in the art of freestyling.
"Ask him to hit a freestyle anytime and he will come up with a combination of words you probably have never even thought about using in the same sentence before," Brown said.
Related Links:
Eddie Wellz shares how ASU influenced his new mixtape
AZ rapper Mouse Powell releases studio album 'These Are The Good Times'
Reach the reporter at ncorr@asu.edu or follow @natalieorr19
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
