Gentry Fox

In today’s fast paced music industry an artist must be much more than just a person who sings songs. Many hats must be worn to put all the pieces together to achieve the recognition that a songwriter desires. Our latest find Gentry Fox seems to be the complete package in one.

The underground rapper hails from the small town of Rock Springs in southwest Wyoming. Gentry Fox relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah in 2011 to expand his connections and has built quite a reputation for himself. He gets involved in everything including producing, DJing, acting, directing, and web design. All this comes together in Gentry Fox’s record label and artist collective SUB\ROK Records where he is the President and CEO. His style is passionate and intelligent rap with samples galore to show his point. Stories are told with an aggressive edge.

At the end of the summer Gentry Fox released Rare Demo Shit (Vol. 1). The 10 track record is a selection of 10 previously unreleased demo songs written and produced by Gentry Fox during the years 2012-2014. Samples abound right from the opener “Revengeance” where the setting is set for what is an entertaining ride. The influence of DJ Shadow came to mind for me with the way the samples are manipulated to create a fresh sound on tracks such as “Fatalis” and “Overground”. The mellow beginnings of “Ascension” drew me in and Gentry’s fast paced storytelling locked the door as I was sucked into his world. The lyrics hit hard and force any listener to root for this hard working entrepreneur. The closer “Forever” is another banger with a melody that mesmerizes as it enlightens. There is something big here. Get on board the rise to fame at http://www.gentryfox.com. - Kieth Pro (Indie Band Guru)

Rock Spring, Wyoming, doesn’t seem like a hotbed for cutting edge hip-hop. In the case of this raw slice from Gentry Fox, this is a good thing.

Connectivity is a double-edged sword. It gives underground musicians a chance to be heard all over Earth, becoming world famous. At the same time, the speed of conformity is reaching critical mass, as up-and-coming musicians, in every genre, merely mimicking the flavor of the moment, trying to break into clubs and festivals. It’s like the loss of countless regional dialects with the advent of radio and television. We’re all connected, but we’re losing some of our individuality.

This is a problem for hip-hop, which started off as a voice of protest for downtrodden people. It began as a voice for African American communities, but has since spread, to become the language of the poor and struggling, wherever they may be found.

It is tempting for young rappers to emulate the slick, club-ready sounds of the glossiest top-40 hip-hop, hoping to be immediately catapulted into a lifestle of Cristal and limousines. A lot of the personality, and the protest, is being lost, as people emulate the pervasive hedonism and consumerism of mainstream hip-hop, as they cop the drilling snares and repetitive, singsong choruses of Trap music. It feels like a lot of the uniqueness and creativity is being sucked out of hip-hop, because of this.

The old school sounds of Gentry Fox’s demos are like a cool drink of water, in a parched desert. It sounds like a classic underground mixtape, complete with skits, scratches, weird samples, and warm vinyl beats. It’s got that analog flavor – chill and headnodding – while still sounding kind of militant and impassioned, like vintage Wu-Tang Clan or Cypress Hill.

Fox’s flow, while vaguely fuzzed out and not completely intelligible, is interspersed with samples from Fight Club and Office Space, which illustrates the pointlessness and rage of the working class. This is the voice of a great majority of this country, and needs to be heard. It brings to mind when Eminem was coming up, (Dido’s “Thank You” even makes a detuned appearance), speaking for the disaffected trailer park youth from places like Michigan, with no hope and no future. Gentry Fox seems like more of a positive person, a little less hateful and explosive than Marshall Mather’s, but with as deep and powerful of emotions.

Gentry Fox just goes to show that the underground, mixtapes and free downloads, are some of the most vital, interesting, and forward-looking places to find real art. He’s not only trying to win popularity and get rich; he legitimately has something to say. Peer through the fuzzy warbles, let’s celebrate the individual, and defy the conformity machine. - J. Simpson (The Drainage)

Gentry Fox is an American underground rapper/hip-hop recording artist, record producer/DJ, actor/director, graphic/art/web designer, label executive, and visionary entrepreneur from the small town of Rock Springs in southwest Wyoming.

President/CEO and Founder of Wyoming/Utah hip-hop recording label and artistic collective SUB|ROK RECORDS , Fox is also an official representative and ambassador of the Hip-Hop Roots SLC chapter, a worldwide independent music and art syndicate celebrating the elements of hip-hop culture. Additionally, he is a part time graphic designer for Revolution MFG , the Vice President of Marketing/Development/Design for independent clothing collective Snub Apparel, and the founding member, producer, and unofficial frontman of the midwest hip-hop outfit Rhyme Squad .

Out now on SUB|ROK RECORDS is “RARE DEMO SHIT (vol.1)” featuring a selection of 10 previously unreleased demo songs written and produced by Gentry Fox during the years 2012-2014.

Powerful, personal, political and social, Gentry Fox has put out an album of honest anthems for the people. The content is just right. Maintaining the hard “gangster rap” edge that wedges the album right between what is commercially comfortable and street sound.

Gentry Fox immediately establishes himself as one of the promising artists in the hip-hop underground. Though taken from demos, this album is nearly, creatively flawless, with every song punching the listener in the throat. The beats are loud, in your face, and each track shudders with reverberation, adding a vibrantly edgy authenticity to every verse, hook, and bridge, which takes you straight back to that 90’s rap feel.

Gentry Fox does not disappoint with “RARE DEMO SHIT (vol.1)”. It actually surprised me by how good it is and how much the production reflects the artist and vice-versa. Each song seems to be precisely tailored to Fox’s style of rapping, and he stays true to what he represents in each and every song. You can play the album from start to finish without the skipping of tracks like we normally do with most of the current albums out, and that’s saying a lot.

Out of the box, from the opening track, this album is for those rap fans who are tired of soft, gentile, mushy, molly music! Fox’s lack of fear to experiment with different types of production sounds comes full circle on this album. With an awesome combination of amazingly honest lyrics and phenomenal beats, Fox shows his crazy range and firm grasp of hip-hop.

You can checkout standout tracks like: Fatalis, Adoxography , Ascension , Memores, Downcast and Forever , but all-round “RARE DEMO SHIT (vol.1)” is just a top-notch hip-hop album, it reminds you of the type of album that you would have listened to with your friends back in the 1990s while cruising through your neighborhood. ‘Substance over style’ would be a key phrase in better describing this album.

I’ve listened to “RARE DEMO SHIT (vol.1)” front to back numerous times and I’ve finally come to a conclusion, this album is simply amazing , considering it’s based on a demo set. It’s both focused but also chaotic, makes sense right? In a market flooded by auto-tuned hacks, with recycled beats, this is a true revelation.

For me, “RARE DEMO SHIT (vol.1)” is not an album that you blast in a frat party, this is an album where you turn up the volume, turn off the lights, close your eyes, and experience the intense emotion and raw detail that it contains. - Pete Jamm (Jamsphere Magazine)

When you come across an album name like this one from Gentry Fox, Rare Demo Shit Volume One, well – you never really know what you’re in store for as a reviewer. It could be a cold, hard stroll through the B-sides of a contractual obligation, or simply the cutting room floor from the last sessions…who knows what you’ll hear bump through the speakers. But the best case scenario, is the one that we have here today, where the music flows along like a high-quality mixtape and still contains a cohesiveness within the diversity to make it all feel like it comes together as one.

Rock Springs, Wyoming’s Gentry Fox has been busy, that much is clear. With a new album, The Inversion LP due out in December; this set of ten tracks serve as an extreme glimpse & preview into the mindset & music of Gentry Fox upcoming. And it comes at you quick! From the moment the intro track “Revengeance” slinks away through its Morgan-Freeman style opening, the beats come at you quickly and intensely as Fox displays his talents both on the decks and on the mic through blazing tracks like “Fatalis” and “Adoxography.” What I really appreciate is the old-school feel that comes along with the music of Fox; it’s aggressive, but it’s based completely in hip-hop.

A lot of the combinations of filters on his voice can add some busyness to the mix, but it’s all with a completely intended result; these tracks have a real genuine atmosphere swirling them, and it’s all due to the sheer style of Fox and his rhymes. “Deliverance” will give you a great example of what I mean by all this, and I would also assume that most people will be able to tune themselves into what Gentry is doing after a couple listens. Again – it’s a stylistic choice; you can hear the massive production on the following track “Ascension,” which we’re also playing during the extended review on Gentry Fox on our current episode of SBS Live This Week. The point we were trying to make by playing it? GET this song however you can. With a true display of conviction & belief – Gentry Fox’s delivery on this track is second to none.

Listening to “Memores” definitely confirms that old-school hip-hop vibe hidden in behind these modern-beats. I dig the jazzy aspect of this track; it’s simple and allows for the smooth flow of Fox to come through clearly over the mic echoing its signature swagger. It plays in good combination with the track to follow, “Overground” which brings in some incredibly innovative music with horns and strings backing up the constant beat, perfect verse delivery from Fox and a wicked sample from “The Humpty Dance” from the infamous Digital Underground.

Rare Demo Shit Volume One really seems a lot more thought out than some simple ‘throw-away’ demo songs and sample ideas, there’s a ton of meat on this musical bone. “Downcast” – have a listen to that and you’ll hear the strength and ingenuity of this natural born entertainer. In a down-tempo’d masterstroke, this track includes a sample from Eminem’s “Stan” and really goes on to recreate its own world with a dramatic piece from the movie Fight Club echoing off into the distance as this track fades out to set up the final two tracks in this sonic adventure.

Starting into the finality of the album – “Alive,” to me came out instantly addictive from the moment it started. At this point, I’ve got my ears fully dialed into the flow & style of Fox; and with this incredible backing beat smooth enough to make heads turn, this is a true gem on this album of strong beats & material already on display. Dropping into the more dramatic and dynamic final cut “Forever,” Gentry Fox puts it all on the line for this final track that rises, builds and swells to a massive size. It’s tracks like this where you can hear that hunger, that passion, that commitment that’s going to keep Gentry Fox heading full speed toward the top. - Jeremy Gladstone (Sleeping Bag Studios)