Justin Smith and the Folk Hop Band is not satisfied with revolutionizing a genre, they created their own. The sound is unlike anyone else as the band fuses elements of hip hop and acoustic rock. A full band echoes a solid sound as Justin raps over top delicately placed background vocals and acoustic melodies. The music tells us stories from his worldview and with impressive spirituality. Coming from a grassroots fan base in South Carolina, Justin Smith is bringing sincerity back to Hip Hop.

The group sound is hard to describe. The positive folk style rap sounds a lot like Kanye West or the Black Eyed Peas (after adding Fergie, but before she stole the band). The musical side is a lot like Jack Johnson, and if you wanted to compare his style to a commercial product, it is a lot like the Black Eyed Peas/Jack Johnson collaboration Gone Going. The band brings much more to the table than sweet music; they have a powerful spiritual and community message. Female background vocals provided by Elise Testone give each song a simultaneous pop and soul feel. When Daniel Strickland chimes in his own vocals it sometimes comes off as a very Linkin Park feel in their dynamic. The band is about as eclectic as a band can be without losing their own signature sound.

Live the band has a solid rock performance that gives their rap styling a platform to stand upon. This saves them from that flat live sound suffered by so many hip hop artists. They play with power and give off a cool, save-the-world through-music vibe. The positive vibe of the music is inspiring, yet refuses to be preachy and the occasional poppy single gets everyone in the crowd singing along before the second chorus. As Justin says in “Watered Down”, “I love my music like I love my drinks, if it gets watered down go ahead and pour it down the sink.” Justin Smith and Folk Hop are a genuinely awe inspiring live act without watering down their mission.

The new album by Justin Smith titled Sinner’s Prayer is full of repentance from one who has sinned. This is not a religious album for the pious, but those who have been or are down with the sinners. The band plays to all of their talents vocally and instrumentally and the mix is solid. The stand out track is Good Morning Beautiful and it has a sweet radio love song sound that makes the girls weak in the knees. “There Was A Time”, and “Who’s That Man” are rife with sociopolitical messages and the medium for delivery is structured flawlessly.

Justin Smith and the Folk Hop band have mass appeal without selling out their soul. They have potential not only to be hip hop stars, but revolutionaries in the vein of Kanye West, Common, Mos Def, or Talib Kweli. They bring positive vibes to an oppressed culture that wants a better life. Justin Smith is as honest and true as though you were talking to him as a best friend. Sinner’s Prayer is one of my favorite new albums and has already enjoyed a nice reception on my own radio program.

-Taylor Kuykendall
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When you put yourself in a bubble with someone else and then you have to break away, it's extremely devastating.

So I was reading through old journal entries that were post-Marcy. What a fucking blur of confusion that was. I was completely misleading myself into crazy situations and pretending everything was cool. I can read my own entries and tell it was bullshit. I just got drunk all the time and thought I could have a meaningful relationship with anybody that gave me the time of day. I was completely not myself from October until like January it seems. I went to some great parties, though. Good times.

So, it's been a real long time. And a real fucking long story. So here goes.

When I last left off, I was playing bass with Daniel on the Winter tour and with Justin in what has become the Folk-Hop Band. Since then, Daniel and I were members in Hedwig and the Angry Inch for 4 shows at the USC lab theater and 13 shows at Trustus Theater in Columbia. It fucking rocked. During that, Adam came back to play bass for Daniel and I was moved to guitar. We're in the middle of our Summer tour, which had Daniel acoustic in Chicago, then we all went and playing in New York and DC. Next month, we're playing Spartanburg SC, Athens and Savannah GA, and I think Asheville NC. We've come across quite a few record labels, like Kanine in New York. It was a mutual agreement that we weren't right for them, though. Their bands were a bit more indie rock than us. I think Daniel has his sights set on some place in New Jersey now that he says would suit us well. Check out all those happenings, including our video from New York which should be out soon, at GuitarShowBand.com.

As for Justin Smith and the Folk-Hop Band, things have just been insane. We've played quite a few big-name shows like headlining a stage at this year's St. Patty's Day Festival, which is one of the biggest in the Southeast. We've headlined two shows at Headliners which each drew at least 300 people a piece and opened for Rehab. We were featured on Rock 93.5FM's Cage Match for three nights where we totally kicked ass every night with the song "Giving In." For those of you who don't know, the Cage Match is just where they play two songs back-to-back and callers vote on which song they like best. I don't remember who we played against the first night, but the other nights were new ones from Manson and Alter Bridge. I was told that because of whatever issues, because we're unsigned they can't put us into regular rotation because they already have one unsigned artist that they play a lot. Every time I call the station nobody answers, so whatever. At the end of September we're leaving for 3 nights at the first-annual Gateway Music and Arts Festival. It's mainly a bunch of big-name indie artists, but Seven Mary Three and Nappy Roots will be there. The festival people seem to love us, though. We've been in their MySpace music player since we were booked, and they gave us one of the best slots, 7 PM on Saturday night with one act between us and Nappy Roots. That's going to be one of the most crucial times of the night, so I'm fucking excited. So anyway, you can check that band out at FolkHopBand.com.

My personal life has been no different than the bands. Crazy shit left and right. Back in May, Carah ended up taking like 17 shots of tequila throughout the course of the day and by that night, she was online telling me that she was still in love with me. In case you forgot, Carah and I were best friends in high school, and I cheated on Marcy with her. I loved her then, but Marcy gave me the choice of herself or Carah, and I thought it'd be the right thing to do if I went with Marcy. So Marcy broke up with me anyway like 2 months later and Carah and I didn't speak for two years. I literally missed her every single day, we just shared a connection that I've never been able to explain. But anyhow, Mamie and I were going downhill since she cheated on me last year, and Carah and I were talking some and seeing each other at night. I let Mamie know, but she flipped shit. I wasn't going to keep anything hidden but I really wanted to see Carah. Anyway, one thing led to another, and Mamie and I broke up, so I'm dating Carah, now. I really feel at peace now, a lot of shit has come full-circle. For some reason we're causing a lot of drama for other people, but it's really not their business that Carah and I are dating. It's been two years, what kind of shit do they have left over from that?

Anyway, I'm done for now. Life is good.

So, playing at Headliners was bad ass. Being the main act was even more bad ass. I'm going on a 6-day mini-tour with Daniel at the end of the month. The first show is in Savannah, and the second is in Augusta. Those were the only two he named, so I'm not sure where the rest of the shows will take me. I'm starting to find myself surrounded by all these amazing musicians. Hopefully something will take off soon and I can get out of here for good.

Crap, I forgot to post about this. Well, the night before the Wii came out, Billy and I waited at Wal-Mart for about 10 hours to get one. It's pretty much the funnest thing I have ever played. And I wanted to camp for a console at least once in my life.

Also, I hate to say it, but I've been getting a lot of work as a bass player. I've already done the rock musical, and I'll be doing another with Daniel in February, and I played a CD release party at Manifest last Tuesday with Justin Smith, a local "folk-hop" artist. I got to sign the ceiling :D Anyway, it was his third release, and I have to say it's not bad at all. There are some really talented people that took part in it. Well he invited me back on board to play a show at Headliners in December. Daniel's also been talking to me about some kind of mini-tour, but I think I'll actually get to play guitar on that.

With all this stuff going on, I've really slacked off on writing songs for the album again. I have another one pretty much completely laid out in my head. I'll get it recorded very soon.

Well, opening night was awesome. We filled over half of the theater, and the weather was really crappy, and it was 11:30pm. Hopefully we'll see just as many people on Wednesday and Friday. Mike, Richard, and Brandy are coming on Friday, I'm pretty excited about that. Mom and Dad are bringing all their friends on Wednesday night. I really hope we get to do the holdover performance. If not that, then I really really hope Daniel lets us do a few shows around Columbia.