Ellie Vision
ART OFFICIAL
Lynn, ever since i met this band, i've been singing their praises. They're cool, they're local, and they're tonight's almost famous.
It's official. Miami based band art-official is making beautiful music together. By the way, they spell their name like this.
JUAN PEDRAZA: "Basically we started playing a lot of gigs and we needed a name, and we sat down, and D over here is the one who thought of artofficial. There's no real science behind it, it kinda just sounded cool to us, and that's what we went with."
We met up with the guys for a little art-to-art at Lebo Studios in Miami, but you can catch them performing around town where they've already got a big following.
JUAN PEDRAZA: "Well, I mean the city has a lot of culture, a lot of different cultures, and we're very lucky that the art scene is coming up, and it's a growing art scene and we get to be a part of that and incorporate it into what we do."
I'm loving their sound. It's a funky blend of hip-hop meets jazz. Kinda like the roots, but with two emcees.
JUAN PEDRAZA: "When I was in high school, that's all we would do. We'd skip lunch and skip classes and be rapping in the hallways and at lunchtime, just improvise. But what we do now is we write songs, write the chorus', write the verses."
And all that writing paid off. Artofficial became the first hip-hop band to win the Florida grammy showcase. Translation, that's a mega music honor!
KEITH COOPER: "Just seeing our name in all these different places, like ArtOfficial wins Grammy Showcase. It was pretty cool to play a couple songs and win this cool competition."
Sounds like a little art and soul can get you a long way. Congrats, guys.
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