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Ray Lewis III signed with Miami last month because of his ability on the football field, but not many know about his talent off-the-field. Lewis III released his first mixtape yesterday titled, "The Resurrection". The 'Cane signee has been interested in music and rapping since a young age.
"I've always had a passion for music and I've had it since I was younger. I would always freestyle with my brothers when we were younger and have a good time. One day, somebody heard my music with me just messing around and they told me I could actually do something with it. When I was around 15 was when one of my friends really inspired me to get in the studio and ever since then I've been addicted. The only things I've been doing is football, weight room, school, and studio," said Lewis III.
What was the approach with his first project?
"I've been working on this mixtape for quite some time just because I was waiting for the right time to put it out and make sure people would like the material and make sure I had the right image and was actually talking about real things. I wanted to be versatile and show I could appeal to all groups."
Lewis III was out to prove that he could make good music with a different approach from what most popular artists are using today.
"I was definitely trying to prove that I could be different. These days on the radio, you hear cuss word after cuss word after cuss word. Obviously some people like that, but it's only attractive to certain audiences so when you're using clean material then it can be played anywhere. I wanted to show that I could make my music good using my approach of keeping it clean.I have some songs in there for the ladies and then I have some stuff in there where I just go in there and rap. I also have stuff where I use metaphors and similes to show my intelligence and I rap about stuff that matters."
Make no mistake about it: football is number one for Lewis, but that doesn't mean he won't continue with his music.
"Football will be the focus and I've spoken about the schedule with Coach Golden so I know what to expect. Any free time I have, I will put it to my music. I know my dad and my entire family supports it. The focus will be football and it will continue to be that, but if I do have free time then I'll do this in the background and have some fun with it."
Lewis III believes that people can learn more about him through the music, specifically that he isn't doing it as a joke.
"When they actually start to listen to it, they will see that I'm serious about it and it might be a shock to them. I know a lot of people on my twitter that really didn't know how serious I was because all they heard about was football. I really want them to know I'm passionate about it."
The future 'Cane wasn't shy when asked about his musical influences.
"That's where it gets tricky because I don't look at one rapper as the best or a specific song as being the best. These days, so many rappers will come out with a great song and then they don't come out with another song as the same person. I don't like to say one or two in particular, but everybody loves Lil Wayne and rappers like that. I like an up-and-coming artist named Los from Baltimore City, he's signed with Bad Boy Records and P-Diddy. Of course everybody knows Meek Mill and Rozay go hard. Those mainstream rappers go hard, but there's a lot of great newcomers too. Even with Meek Mill, the stuff he talks about now is completely different from when he started because he got that money and went mainstream and he sees what the people like, which makes him that money. Same thing with Lil Wayne. So that's something I tried to avoid and I talked about more intelligent stuff instead of just throwing metaphors back-to-back-to-back. Kendrick Lamar is another great artist I like a lot and Ice Berg goes hard."
As far as football goes, Lewis III still has his eyes on the next level.
"Right now, I'm running track just to get my speed up to par. I'm working with Coach Harrison, who trained Brandon Marshall. He's working on the fast-twitch stuff with me and agility to get my speed down to a 4.3 hand-clocked 40 because I'm at a 4.4 right now. I'm working out everyday with my Head Coach because after I signed, Miami gave me that college winter workout program so I'm using that with my coaches stuff integrated into that. The only break I take is on Wednesdays just to let my muscles rest and I do speed and cardio on that day."
Someone that is with Lewis III in every step of the process right now is his recently-retired father, Ray.
"He's helping me a lot because he's already been through it and knows what it takes. In college, it's not just the physical aspect of the game because you also have to be a student of the game and make sure you're the smartest person on that field. Somebody can say 'you're small, you're slow, you're this, you're that' but if you know what they're gonna do before they do it, then nothing can be said from them. MY coaches have talks with me about the mental side all the game too. Mentally, I know that nothing from before matters and I'm ready to take that next step to the college level."
"The Resurrection" can be downloaded here: http://www.datpiff.com/Ray-Lewis-The-Resurrection-mixtape.463224.html
"I've always had a passion for music and I've had it since I was younger. I would always freestyle with my brothers when we were younger and have a good time. One day, somebody heard my music with me just messing around and they told me I could actually do something with it. When I was around 15 was when one of my friends really inspired me to get in the studio and ever since then I've been addicted. The only things I've been doing is football, weight room, school, and studio," said Lewis III.
What was the approach with his first project?
"I've been working on this mixtape for quite some time just because I was waiting for the right time to put it out and make sure people would like the material and make sure I had the right image and was actually talking about real things. I wanted to be versatile and show I could appeal to all groups."
Lewis III was out to prove that he could make good music with a different approach from what most popular artists are using today.
"I was definitely trying to prove that I could be different. These days on the radio, you hear cuss word after cuss word after cuss word. Obviously some people like that, but it's only attractive to certain audiences so when you're using clean material then it can be played anywhere. I wanted to show that I could make my music good using my approach of keeping it clean.I have some songs in there for the ladies and then I have some stuff in there where I just go in there and rap. I also have stuff where I use metaphors and similes to show my intelligence and I rap about stuff that matters."
Make no mistake about it: football is number one for Lewis, but that doesn't mean he won't continue with his music.
"Football will be the focus and I've spoken about the schedule with Coach Golden so I know what to expect. Any free time I have, I will put it to my music. I know my dad and my entire family supports it. The focus will be football and it will continue to be that, but if I do have free time then I'll do this in the background and have some fun with it."
Lewis III believes that people can learn more about him through the music, specifically that he isn't doing it as a joke.
"When they actually start to listen to it, they will see that I'm serious about it and it might be a shock to them. I know a lot of people on my twitter that really didn't know how serious I was because all they heard about was football. I really want them to know I'm passionate about it."
The future 'Cane wasn't shy when asked about his musical influences.
"That's where it gets tricky because I don't look at one rapper as the best or a specific song as being the best. These days, so many rappers will come out with a great song and then they don't come out with another song as the same person. I don't like to say one or two in particular, but everybody loves Lil Wayne and rappers like that. I like an up-and-coming artist named Los from Baltimore City, he's signed with Bad Boy Records and P-Diddy. Of course everybody knows Meek Mill and Rozay go hard. Those mainstream rappers go hard, but there's a lot of great newcomers too. Even with Meek Mill, the stuff he talks about now is completely different from when he started because he got that money and went mainstream and he sees what the people like, which makes him that money. Same thing with Lil Wayne. So that's something I tried to avoid and I talked about more intelligent stuff instead of just throwing metaphors back-to-back-to-back. Kendrick Lamar is another great artist I like a lot and Ice Berg goes hard."
As far as football goes, Lewis III still has his eyes on the next level.
"Right now, I'm running track just to get my speed up to par. I'm working with Coach Harrison, who trained Brandon Marshall. He's working on the fast-twitch stuff with me and agility to get my speed down to a 4.3 hand-clocked 40 because I'm at a 4.4 right now. I'm working out everyday with my Head Coach because after I signed, Miami gave me that college winter workout program so I'm using that with my coaches stuff integrated into that. The only break I take is on Wednesdays just to let my muscles rest and I do speed and cardio on that day."
Someone that is with Lewis III in every step of the process right now is his recently-retired father, Ray.
"He's helping me a lot because he's already been through it and knows what it takes. In college, it's not just the physical aspect of the game because you also have to be a student of the game and make sure you're the smartest person on that field. Somebody can say 'you're small, you're slow, you're this, you're that' but if you know what they're gonna do before they do it, then nothing can be said from them. MY coaches have talks with me about the mental side all the game too. Mentally, I know that nothing from before matters and I'm ready to take that next step to the college level."
"The Resurrection" can be downloaded here: http://www.datpiff.com/Ray-Lewis-The-Resurrection-mixtape.463224.html
