Discovering the incredible Sidney Breedlove

Sidney Breedlove will make noise in the international game, you can be sure of that. We discovered him with “Take It Low”, an addictive banger that will accompany the rest of our summer, and more. We even wondered why we did not know him before.

When quality meets creativity, you are sure to listen to something special and that’s what offers the single. His artistic recipe saves the hip-hop genre thanks toits signature between hard-hitting beats, haunting samples and above all a sharp rap flow. 

The outcome is powerful, bouncy and with such a charismatic personality, Sidney Breedlove stands out from the crowd. He proves that rap music is not dead while remaining authentic to his musical vision.

Let’s be honest, this is extremely rare nowadays! Enjoy “Take It Low” right now and add this gem to your best playlists:

Sidney Breedlove in more details :

When thinking about why his music has so much honesty, Sidney Breedlove acknowledges the person who influenced and sustained him the most throughout his life. “I give my grandparents credit for just my teaching and my upbringing. But, I give the majority of it to my mom, man,” he says. “Anyone that knows me knows my mom was my heart. She still is. We’re split images. People say I’m the male version of her. Like how I think and everything.” In addition to his mom, his grandparents, brother, a whole host of uncles, aunts, and adopted family also provided inspiration and advice that were key to his success.

Breedlove was born in Akron, Ohio but his maternal grandparents moved him nearly 800 miles south to Columbus, Georgia, at the age of two. His mother was dealing with personal struggles at the time and initially stayed behind. However, his grandparents remained a constant in his life, providing the attention and structure a growing Black boy needs. His mother rejoined the family in Columbus when Breed was seven and remained in his life until she passed away in 2018. Their influence affected both the man and his art in myriad ways.

He started rapping at age 17 in a group with two friends, and while he showed some promise as a writer very early, the substance wasn’t quite there yet. “When I was younger, I started out rapping trying to be this gangster or whatever, “admits the Georgia MC. “At the time, I was trying to rap about 99% of the stuff that we hear. I was the complete opposite of what my music is now.” However, after some time and thought, Breed encountered a crossroads requiring him to choose. Thankfully, he received some divine intervention. “This was God because I don’t know where this insight came from, but I made a conscious decision to myself that: One, I was gonna talk about some real shit. The stuff that actually applies to me. And the second thing was, ‘I love these boys. I would die for these boys. But I’m a have to separate myself to get to places I envision myself being’.”

Now a solo artist with a new sense of direction, a drive to get better, as well as continued support from his family and new mentors and collaborators pushed him to be the Sidney Breedlove you see today. From his uncle encouraging him to leave his traditional college to go to school for music and his mother informing him about the Art Institute of Atlanta’s music program while on a college visit with his younger brother, to connecting with mentors and opportunities on and off-campus after moving from Columbus to Atlanta, it started to feel like destiny was playing a role in what was happening.

At the Art Institute, its quarter-million-dollar studios and a handful of professors helped Sidney put his goals into greater perspective. While classmates took the opportunities for granted, Sidney seized them by taking a strong liking to mixing and mastering. In 2017, those skills came in handy when he decided to intern at Twelve Music Group, home to one of Atlanta’s most wellregarded recording studios. After a month of sweeping floors and opening doors, Sidney got a chance to engineer a studio session. Although grueling, Sidney was battle-tested from years of hard work plus the training he received at Art Institute.

His time spent working on others’ music helped Sidney refine his work, from mastering the songwriting process to incorporating Auto-Tune into his sound. “What was huge for my artistry was the engineering and just being around those guys and the environment as well. Just being in the Twelve as much as I was, it changed the sound of my music. People tried to put me in that box of having too many bars but can’t make a song. I love it now because I can say something and still put melodies in there, too. The process of being in the Twelve really made my music what it is today.”

Sadly, in the following year, Breed would bookend one of the most important new connections of his life with two of his most tragic losses. His grandmother, who helped make a better life for him and encouraged his musical aspirations, passed away in July 2018. Later in the fall, Breed would meet former NFL linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, who was getting into the music business. Weatherspoon would eventually sign him to a deal with his label Can’t Be Contained. Finally, and most painfully, on November 16, 2018, Breed lost his mother.

These ups and downs were challenging and evidence of the resiliency he learned from his mom and grandparents as a young man, which sustained him as he dealt with tragedy and used those losses as fuel for his creativity. In 2019, Sidney Breedlove released his debut album 11-16, I Was Lost, referring to the day his mother passed on. In addition to being a culmination of the hard work, it’s a testament to the family who supported him. You can hear their voices in interludes throughout the entire project.

There wasn’t a specific incident that led Sidney Breedlove to a career as a musician. His life has been a culmination of pivotal moments. Decisions made that altered the course of his life. The tragedy simultaneously set him back and propelled him forward. Though these circumstances don’t exactly mirror the hardscrabble situations listeners commonly associate with rap, they reflect real life. Today, fans and critics are wise enough to know that a person can seemingly have everything and still have tremendous hurdles to overcome. Just enough to make for a gritty story without completely derailing the plot. But what Sidney Breedlove understood most of all was that the most powerful story he had to tell is his story. And that story is just beginning.

https://songwhip.com/sidneybreedlove/take-it-low