Andy Mineo reveals release date and cover of new album 'Uncomfortable'

Andy Mineo announced when Reach Records will release his sophomore LP on Wednesday, as well as what it will be called,Uncomfortable. 

Uncomfortable will drop on Sept. 18.

After parting with Lupe Fiasco, six-year wait for debut LP worth it for Gemstones

On May 5, Gemstones released his debut album a decade in the making. Not only did his fans have to wait four long months since the original release date was pushed back, but the artist formerly known as Gemini left an entire fan base hanging when he walked away from the mainstream industry years ago. 

Now, Blind Elephant has made the Chicago rapper’s dreams come true.

“I can give you words, but those words won’t even describe it because to have an album is something that I’ve dreamed of since I was a child,” Gemstones said. “This has always been my dream, to have an album that people who don’t know you can go in the store and purchase it and play it in their CD players and their iPhones. It’s always been my dream and it’s awesome, an awesome feeling. I’m blessed.”

The original February release date was pushed back because the album just wasn’t ready.

“Along this process, making this album, I wanted to give up 50 million times,” he said. “But my support system was great. There were so many people in my ear saying, ‘Stones, you can’t give up.’”

Even though the album process was frustrating for Gemstones, it was worth the wait.

“The delay made it sweet,” he said. “It was a conversation piece. It gave you something to talk about. When you speak of other albums out, it made you say, ‘I can’t wait for Gemstones’ Blind Elephant.’”

Years earlier, Gemstones was signed to Lupe Fiasco’s 1st and 15th label. Under the name Gemini, he toured with Lupe and was heavily featured on his first two albums, Food and Liquorand The Cool.

“Some of, if not the best tracks on Food and Liquorfeatured Gemstones,” said Ural Garrett, senior features writer for HipHopDX.

“I was young. I knew I wanted to be a famous rapper, singer, but I didn’t know where I was headed in life,” Gemstones said of his time in the secular music industry.

Gemstones continued by saying that everything the world has to offer was at his fingertips: women, drugs, money. But he couldn’t find fulfillment in any of it. He became a follower of Jesus and decided to walk away from the secular music industry and a multi-million dollar album contract with 1st and 15th.

“The world was mad at me because so many people had been waiting on that album,” Gemstones said. “I walked away from a lot, but I gained more than I walked away from since I left. What God has given me the world can’t offer me.”

“Gemstones would’ve popped after Lupe,” Garrett said of the hype surrounding the rapper. “Maybe not have blown up, but he would’ve had a chance.”

Around this time, Gemstones changed his name from Gemini. He was being threatened with a lawsuit because he didn’t own the rights to the name. He said nobody called him Gemini anyway. One of his many nicknames was Gemstones, and it stuck.

“It was like everything changed right on time,” he said. “I walked away from the industry. I just got saved. I had lost a lot of weight. I changed my name. It looked like it was all set up. Now that I look back on it, it was just God doing that all at once so that I could be an inspiration to someone else who was watching.”

Now, Blind Elephant debuted at No. 20 on the Billboard Christian Albums chart and No. 17 on the Heatseekers Album Chart. The idea behind the theme of the album is a reflection of Gemstones’ journey to realizing his own talent.

“As a kid when I would rap, it’s like, ‘Yo you don’t know how cold you are. You don’t know how dope you are as a singer.’ If I could receive a penny for every time I’ve heard someone tell me, ‘You don’t know who you are, how good you really are, or who God has called you to be,’ if I got a penny for every time I heard that, I promise I’d be the richest man on the face of the planet.”

The meaning for the title is, “Everyone sees how big the elephant is except for the elephant,” Gemstones explained.

He said each person is given a gift from God that he or she doesn’t fully understand. Gemstones wants to encourage listeners through songs such as “Press Harder.” He wants them to see their gifts as he has learned to.

“This has been a long road,” he said of being a blind elephant himself. “I’m finally able to get it out. I’ve come to a place where I’m okay, it’s time to face it. I wanna name my album Blind Elephant, so I wanna help other people. I wanna help the other blind elephants around the world, the other people with big gifts who downplay their gifts and don’t see how big their gift really is.”

Gemstones hopes his story can show other people the path to true success. He said that he had to learn the industry all by himself. He has seen firsthand all of the people who compromise in order to gain worldly success.

“This planet can offer nothing that’s worth losing your salvation,” he said. “It’s not worth it. We all have a choice. God gave us all free will. He gave us all free will to make our own choices. And we all come to that fork in the road whether do I go left or do I go right? You gotta make that decision.”

He believes his own transformation from a power hungry rapper to a humble servant of Jesus Christ serves as evidence that there is a higher form of accomplishment.

“I’m here to tell you, you do not have to do that to gain success,” he said. “I didn’t do it. And I got an album that, praise to God, it made the Billboard charts.”

KB GIVES HIS OPINION OF CAITLYN JENNER NEWS ON SWAY IN THE MORNING

Today, KB‘s first appearance on Sway In The Morning was released on YouTube. The Reach Records emcee spoke on the Caitlyn Jenner news, Christian hip-hop, ‘Tomorrow We Live,’ and more in his interview with Sway.

LECRAE’S “SAY I WON’T” FT. ANDY MINEO VIDEO TO PREMIERE AT BROOKLYN NETS GAME

Reach Records emcee, Lecrae, is gearing up to premiere the music video for his track titled “Say I Won’t,” at the Brooklyn Nets (versus Miami Heat) game on December 16. The song features his label-mate Andy Mineo, was produced by 808XEliTE, Gawvi, & Andy Mineo, and appears on Anomaly.

Also, Reach Records is putting on a “Say I Won’t” video contest for the fans. Those who enter the contest will make a 15 second video showing Reach that they’re not scared to be different, and they could win various prizes (including a paid trip to Brooklyn to watch the game with Crae and Mineo) [Details HERE]. A list of prizes is below.

On April 4 of 2014, Lecrae performed at an Atlanta Hawks game. The Reach Records co-founder’s relationship with NBA players and NBA teams is well-documented.

Do you think we are going to see more Reach Records performances and video premieres at NBA games in the future?

Derek Minor 'Empire' & Marz Ferrer 'Blur' Albums Charting on iTunes

Today two highly anticipated albums, Reflection Music Group artist Derek Minor's 'Empire,' and Marz Ferrer's 'Blur' have made their way onto the iTunes charts. Currently Derek's new album 'Empire,' which is scheduled for it's full release on January 27, 2014, has climbed up to the #10 spot on iTunes Top Hip-Hop/Rap Albums chart off pre-orders alone, and Marz Ferrer, who you've heard on Andy Mineo's latestNever LandEP and a few other features, has landed her solo debut Blur at #13 on iTunes' Top Alternative Albums chart.

Congrats to both artists.

Pre-order Derek Minor's Empire on iTunes and buy Marz Ferrer's Blur on iTunes aswell.

LECRAE NOMINATED FOR MULTIPLE 2015 GRAMMY AWARDS

Lecrae has been nominated for multiple 2015 Grammy awards. What may be most impressive is that one of them is in a mainstream category, “Best Rap Performance.” His track, “All I Need Is You,” is up against Childish Gambino’s “3005,” Drake’s  “0-100/The Catchup,” Eminem’s “Rap God,” and Kendrick Lamar’s “i.”

“All I Need Is You” was produced by Dirty Rice and Joseph Prielozny.

Lecrae was also nominated alongside Erica Campbell for his feature on “Help” for Best Gospel Performance/Song. The other nominees in that category are as follows:

• Karen Clark Sheard – “Sunday A.M.” [Live]
• Mali Music – “I Believe”
• Smokie Norful – “No Greater Love”
• The Walls Group – “Love On The Radio”

The Reach Records emcee even sparked a nomination under the Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song category for his song “Messengers” featuring Australian brother-duo for KING & COUNTRY. Below listed are the other nominations in that category:

• Francesca Battistelli – “Write Your Story”
• Crowder – “Come As You Are”
• MercyMe – “Shake”
• Needtobreathe – “Multiplied”

Lecrae now has five Grammy nominations overall on his resume. [2011 – Rehab/2013 –Gravity/2015 – “All I Need Is You,” “Help” (Erika Campbell’s song], “Messengers” feat. for KING & COUNTRY]

He won the Best Gospel Album Grammy in 2013 for his project Gravity.

In addition to his nomination for Best Gospel Performance/Song, Mali Music also received a nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album against Jhene Aiko’s Sail Out, Beyoncé’s Beyoncé,Chris Brown’s X, and Pharrell Williams’s G I R L. On another note, Natalie Lauren has also had some contributions to a Grammy nominated album as a writer for select tracks on Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic, which was nominated for Best Rap Album.

The 57th Annual Grammy Awards will take place on February 8, 2015 from the Staples Center in LA and broadcasted live on CBS.

Lecrae's Anomaly Charts #1 iTunes Overall & #1 Amazon Overall

Lecrae and Reach Records had a huge day with the release of their latest release - Anomaly! Lecrae charted at #1 on the iTunes Hip Hop chart and fought hard for #1 Overall but despite a rare top banner takeover, he could not get past the English-Irish pop boy band, One Direction.

Buy Anomaly on iTunes or buy the CD on our store now.