![\"Press_BubbaS_16\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Press_BubbaS_16.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cI grew up listening to everything, but country music was most prevalent in my household because that\u2019s what my dad listened to,\u201d says Sparxxx. \u201cAnd then when I fell in love with music, it was all about hip-hop, but I always kept my finger on the pulse of country.\u201d<\/p>\nSparxxx distinctly recalls the first time he heard hip-hop music and, like his exposure to country, it came from a family member.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first hip-hop I ever heard was Beastie Boys\u2019 Licensed to Ill<\/i> album,\u201d he says. \u201cI think I was faking sick from school, actually, and my older brother came to pick me up and he was playing \u2018Brass Monkey,\u2019 so that was the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He quickly began indulging in any hip-hop he could get his hands on in the small town of Troup County, Georgia, starting with old-school rap like Run DMC and eventually discovering the first wave of gangster rap with Too Short, NWA, and Eazy-E in the late \u201980s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when I was head over heels in love with hip-hop,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was around the time when people first started putting speakers in their cars and the west coast rap guys had the 808 kick drum in their production, and that definitely made it sound good with people riding around with big speaker boxes in their trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sparxxx will be stopping in on Rock of the Woods during a tour of the west coast that has him playing 17 shows in 21 days. He just released his second album in nine months, Made on McCosh Mill Road<\/i>, for the independent label New South, and is already planning a third album early in 2015. Previous to that, he hadn\u2019t released an album since 2006.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m incredibly excited about being an independent artist now and having the opportunity to proliferate and put out more music at a faster pace,\u201d says Sparxxx. \u201cI\u2019d taken a good bit of time away from the music business and when I got the urge to start creating again, it\u2019s been cool to put out another album when I want, instead of having to wait for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while country rap may not be for everyone, the mainstream appears to be catching on with pop-country artists such as Toby Keith and Tim McGraw incorporating elements of hip-hop into recent hit songs.<\/p>\n
As for Sparxxx\u2019s brand of rough-around-the-edges country rap, he\u2019s thankful that he\u2019s been able to build an audience since his debut album in 2001.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re never going to please everybody, but I\u2019ve definitely had enough people like what I do to make a very good living in this business for the past 13 years,\u201d he says, \u201cso for that I\u2019m very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
And with his Rock of the Woods appearance looming, he\u2019s excited to come back to BC for the third time and hit up one of his favourite cities: Vancouver. And to play a farm on Vancouver Island? Even better.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rock of the Woods people have certainly been good to us,\u201d says Sparxxx, \u201cso we\u2019re looking forward to getting there and just rocking for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n