Ben Beal | |
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| Born | Benjamin Ross Beal 06/23/1998 (20 years old) White Plains, New York |
| Nationality | Jewish, Polish-American |
| Education | University of Maryland (2016-2020) |
| Years active | 2008-Present |
| Known for | Curse Words, Places, Wandering |
| Style | Lo-Fi Hip-Hop/Rap |
| Spouse | not married |
Ben Beal (1998-present day) is a New York hip-hop artist best known for his smooth, melodic lyrics over jazzy, sampled instrumentals. He is renowned for three critically acclaimed projects that have surfaced since 2016. He released his debut mixtape Places in 2016 which gained bolstered huge numbers for the underground newcomer on Soundcloud and Spotify. He released his second mixtape, Wandering, the following year which sold out of a limited vinyl run through Jakarta Records in less than 5 minutes. Beal released his debut studio EP, Curse Words, which appeared everywhere in the summer of 2018. [1]
Biography
editBen Beal was born Benjamin Ross Beal in the summer of 1998 in New York City. Since day one, he was constantly exposed to a multitude of music genres from his father’s grand piano in his living room. His house was spectacularly musical and loud as he lived in a suburban house nestled deep in the suburbs of Westchester County, New York. Beal spent his childhood analyzing the songs her would hear his father playing which included the likes of Steely Dan, Pat Methaney, Billy Joel, Elton John and Pink Floyd. The consistent orchestral syncopation of his house would be his earliest inspiration to begin composing sounds of his own. His father, Steve Beal, was his primary mentor in facilitating his newly discovered talent for storytelling and songwriting. His earliest influences of lyricism included the likes of Ben Folds, Elliott Smith and Roger Waters. It wasn’t until he discovered the College Dropout by Kanye West where he became truly fascinated in the science of constructing and composing lyrical hip hop songs which have the ability to demonstrate not only a musical ability but placed an emphasis on lyrical genius.
After months of teaching himself to make beats on the music production software, Ableton, and engineering vocals through a condenser microphone, he released his first ever song, “Crackle.” This song, originally released on Soundcloud, started rapidly spreading throughout the hallways of his school, and eventually, the entire tri-state area. He continued his creative expansion after his father made him re-make the entire Crackle song in front of him because he couldn’t believe Ben was capable of creating such melodies and intricate basslines. Since this release in 2014, Ben has released 3 full length projects independently from his college dorm at the University of Maryland in College Park. His latest album "Curse Words" was his first professional studio album and continues to spread worldwide. His hit song “Smile” currently has a total of ten million streams on Spotify and he continues to record his thoughts in studios all over New York City and Washington DC when he’s back at school. His last few performances were scattered around Maryland with A Boogie wit da Hoodie and MadeinTYO. After one listen to his unique blend of jazz and hip hop, you will never want to listen to anything else. That’s a promise.
Career
editBen Beal started recording and producing music in his Westchester, New York bedroom as a Freshman in high school. His early influences of jazz music became the core sounds of the instrumentals he was creating. He began his musical upbringing working with small, up and coming lo-fi hip hop artists dispersed within the Soundcloud community. His first single distributed as an artist entitled, Never Waking Up (Produced by O.S.L.), was his first breakout hit which garnered him a growing following on streaming services such as Soundcloud and Spotify. He released his breakout hit song, Smile (Featuring. Sophie Meiers and Nohidea), in 2016 gaining tens of millions of streams across all major platforms. He released his debut album, Places,on his birthday the summer of 2016 which received critical acclaim worldwide. It was off the growing momentum of his recently released music that he was able to start performing shows around his home turf of New York City. He did various shows in venues such as the notorious Webster Hall.
Works
edit- Smile (Featuring. Sophie Meiers & Nohidea)
- Good Morning (Produced by Matatabe)
- Concussion (Produced by Biskwiq)
External links
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