NEW YORK / ATLANTA / MIAMI – Picture a kid, age 12, sitting in his father’s studio. He’s grown up seeing hundreds of musicians go in-and-out of his father’s studio, learning how they perfect their sound and style and discovering a love for witty lyrics. His father has a high standard for excellence, and so it comes as a complete shock when the boy’s father turns to him and says, “Why don’t you lay down some bars for this track?”
That’s the scenario in which the artist known as Tao found himself. His father, renowned producer Gerard Fox, was working with a pop artist at the time and he needed something special for the song they were working on. Eager to show his father that he had something special, Tao hopped on the mic and spit a 16-bar feature that would not only impress his hard-to-impress father, but also launch a music career that today is turning heads within the music industry.
Today, father and son work together as manager/producer and artist. Since that moment at age 12, Tao has continued to rap. Recently his career has developed to include singing – mostly because of inspiration he’s found in fellow artists Chris Brown and Tory Lanez. It all comes together in a new singles called “Same Page,” which is currently available for download on all digital distribution sites.
“I think this song showcases my style and how different it is from anybody else,” Tao said. “When I come off the track, I might sound cocky but I also sound confident. When I speak, I speak what I know and speak on what I do. My music has all the meaning to it and could possibly change some lives. I want to inspire people. I want people to say, ‘Yo! I’m feeling him! I’ve been through that!’”
“Same Page” is a single that Tao said people will be able to relate to immediately because it tells the story of a relationship and the controversy that can arise when things start to get serious.
“I really put my feelings into it a little bit,” he said of the single. “It’s ultimately about me and my girl being on the same page. We’re moving through the world with no problems because we’re making the best of it. Everything’s better when you’re on the same page.”
It’s a song that he said was inspired from his life and developed, like most of his music, while taking a drive at night. That’s how he gets a good process going, he said, by free-styling in the car before returning home to write down lyrics and thoughts. He then takes those ideas into the studio with his father and lays them over the beat, putting it together like it’s a puzzle.
“My dad will hit me with a beat first and ask me what I think of the track,” Tao said. “Sometimes I’ll feel one and another time I won’t feel one. But when he hits me with that certain track that I can’t get out of my head, I’ll play it in the car over and over with a good sound system and just start free-styling with it. That’s how ‘Same Page’ came about. I just started free-styling about how me and my shorty were going through troubles and making our way through the world, doing what we gotta do and hopping through those obstacles.”
The single will soon have a music video to go with it, which Tao said he hopes to release later this summer.
To listen to Tao’s music, or to follow him on social media, please visit the following:
Instagram: @isthattao
Twitter: @IsThatTao
Itunes: Same Page
Youtube: SAME PAGE
Snapchat: @yeaboytao
