Tawaine Hall

““Leftovers” is a tale of overly accessible women equating to nothing more than stale salami that overstays its welcome in the refrigerator. T-Hall invited Paris Pershun and Dave from the rap duos, A.D.d+ and The Mohicans, to throw down some verses and essentially have the male version of “girl talk.” Coming far from the humble beginnings of engineering his first track with DJ Big Mike, this is the first track that T-Hall has ever released as a solo artist, and fans may find that they want to savor these leftovers for awhile. ” - Alex Byrd

“I happened to stumble upon a free album download the other night by a local Fort Worth rapper called Tawaine Hall. After listening to the record and giving it the proper re-listen, we have to proclaim, T-Hall is the real deal! While I admit, my hip hop expertise is pretty thin, I still from time to time recognize the good ones before they break out on the national scene. Failure is available. Go download it and give it a listen, it will definitely make you proud to have such great tunes coming from right here in the Fort.” - Casey Mack

“Despite the fact Fort Worth producer/rapper Tawaine Hall’s debut album is called “Failure” if you take a listen you will see it is anything but that. Tawaine Hall’s style brings that of the next generation of Texas rappers who are looking to move past the “Man Hold Up” era of rap with higher lyrical content, consciousness, and versatility. The 14 track southern style smorgasbord has something for every real hip hop fan to appreciate from the futuristic “R.E.M. (200 mph)”, to the 70's sampling “Mackin 101“, and the self analyzing “Voices” where Tawaine Hall takes listeners into the mind of his music. Sometimes the city of Fort Worth tends to get lost in the shadow of big brother Dallas in the music scene but with more acts like Tawaine Hall on the scene they will be able to claim their stake.” - Murr

Tawaine Hall is not afraid of work. His weeks are divided between his job and his music. From making beats with The Necksnappers to his work as solo MC or with his group The Union. He was able to carve out a little time recently amidst his busy schedule to chat with me. It was easy to see his productive energy on display, as he kept moving throughout our conversation, tidying up his place and attending to his son Tahj. Curiously, the four year old seeing me fiddle with my digital recorder asked, “What are you trying to do?” I told him I had planned on interviewing his dad and asked if he thought that might be acceptable. Fortunately, he obliged and went on his way to watch some cartoons in another room.



We find T-Hall between releases, scrapping to support his “Failure” record, which was released back in June. Looking forward, he’s got his eyes on the release of The Union’s first album, Mind Wine. Bringing together featured players that have worked with him over the past year, The Union consists of T Clair, T Hardy, Miles J and Jordan Coakley. With a tentative release date set for November, Tawaine emphasizes his healthy skepticism where the production process is concerned. Technical issues with his debut forced him to re-record the tracks a second time, “It took eight months to record it twice, but we had to get it right.”



Hall takes his work as a producer seriously, which has served him well in his work with his production team, The Necksnappers. He and his partners, Roderick McDowell and Shamar Wytch, have worked with a broad range of artists from all over, including the infamous Houstonite, Paul Wall. All of these projects lead into one another and they all make use of the thriving creative energy swirling around the artists involved. “I have a team that’s very capable, we’re just trying to push beyond the stereotypical sound. I listen to all kinds of stuff and I like to bring in different colors to give our music its own flavor.” The various projects can be sampled at the website of Hall’s management, Free Artistic Movement, found at http://www.indeeditsfam.com/.



The Cellar was the host to the first of many Faded events at the start of August. Despite some miscommunication concerning the age limits, the event was a packed house success. This is a good sign that people are hungry for hip-hop in Fort Worth, Tawaine Hall and The Union are more than happy to give them what they want. This Saturday (9/1) brings us Faded First, this time at the Red Goose Saloon downtown. These guys will engage you on the dance floor and catch you off guard sometimes, “You can’t just stick to a script and give people what they expect, you gotta swerve sometimes - Lyle Brooks

A sit down with Tawaine Hall - GOOSE PARTY