Skotty Benz

A local hip-hop artist isn’t holding anything back in his new album.
“It's real personal,” artist Skotty Benz said about “Clarity,” his new album set to be released Saturday at The Stones Throw, 304 Eau Claire St., in Eau Claire. “People who are listening to it kind of feel like they’re behind the scenes.”

Benz, an Eau Claire native and 2004 Memorial High School graduate, said he’s gotten himself into some trouble in the past and those experiences helped to shape the album.
“It kind of gave me a reality check of needing to get my (expletive) together and focus on more positive things and to really show people what I’ve been going through and put it all out there,” he said. “The tracks are from ... the beginning of the summer to about two months ago (when) we pretty much wrapped up the project. So everything I’ve been going through in my life is pretty much on this tape.
“There’s a lot of things I’m not proud of, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be shy and not share and put it out there,” he added.
“Clarity” has 12 tracks, many featuring or produced by musicians from around the country, like Qbala from Colorado and Matic Lee from Nashville, Tenn. Benz’s friend EJ is featured on and produced a number of tracks and local artist Jason Anhorn designed the album cover.
Overall, Benz said he likes to keep his music as real and fresh as possible.
“I don’t use autotune,” he said. “I'm not like a real believer in any of that crap. I like to keep it real hip-hop and real Midwest.”
More local venues are starting to appreciate hip-hop, Benz said, and ThrottleClan — a group of artists who support each other and help push projects — is becoming known around the area. The term hip-hop shouldn’t scare anyone away from checking out “Clarity” or attending Saturday’s album release show, he said.
“When people say hip-hop, for whatever reason they always think gangster music, or it has to be extreme; it’s never just in the middle,” he said. “They assume it’s going to be something really hard or negative for whatever reason. Our shows really aren’t like that. It’s more just about the love of music and just spreading positive energy.”
Benz first got into music as a teenager, he said, when he was having issues with some kids at school and started writing down his thoughts and poetry. Friends and fellow musicians encouraged him to pursue the rhymes musically and start performing. His first live performance was at The Stones Throw, he said.
“That was like my first, you know, real feeling of butterflies and adrenaline, and ever since then I’ve kind of just been stuck on it,” he said. “I really fell in love with it and it’s helped me just grow as a man.”
Benz said he is excited to be back at The Stones Throw and release “Clarity” to local fans and music lovers. He said the show will feature a few other artists to set the mood, and there will be stickers, shirts and other merchandise for sale. - Leader Telegram

Growing up as a biracial Wisconsinite, bearing down legal issues, even a simple stint of too much tequila at last night’s function: Situational adversity is a horse pill without a choking hazard advisory for rapper Skotty Benz (Chapin Turner). One thing is certain for the native Eau Claire artist: There’s been a history of more elements blurring his vision than just the clouds of smoke he puts in the air.
After a decade of practicing his craft, Turner – a member of local collective Throttle Clan and veteran of the Chippewa Valley’s patchy but ambitious hip-hop scene – is decidedly returning to the starting block with his sophomore album, Clarity.
And, after a year of development, the project stylistically delivers on what the name suggests.
“The content is taking a shift. ... It’s important to consider he’s begun working with a lot of producers that he’s already in close contact with. Clarity is his mantra – his lifestyle. Having a clear vision led him to a better place.” – local rapper EJ on Skotty Benz’s new album
“The reason I started writing poems and stuff down in notebooks was because I was dealing with a whole bunch of racist kids back in high school ... just a bunch of bigots,” Turner said. “My counselor told me this would be a way to channel my thoughts; I think he was just worried about me bottling it all up.”
Taking a more personal approach than he’s known for, each of Skotty Benz’s cuts play out like pages ripped from these old notebooks. The result – perhaps surprising to even himself initially – is a more honest and consistent product.
“My vocabulary has expanded, that allowed me to better capture myself in this album ... I don’t feel like I sound like any other artist at all,” Turner said. “I feel like I’m doing something only I could do and nobody else can imitate.”
Nate Ejuwa, or EJ, shares a stake with Skotty Benz in shaping the local hip-hop scene. Already long acquainted with Skotty Benz, EJ was a supplemental influence on Clarity, producing two of the tracks and contributing verses to a selection of others.
“The content is taking a shift. ... It’s important to consider he’s begun working with a lot of producers that he’s already in close contact with,” Ejuwa said. “Clarity is his mantra – his lifestyle. Having a clear vision led him to a better place.”
Turner and Ejuwa have exciting demands of themselves in terms of spreading the album’s sound. The comrades cite New York, Colorado, the Bay Area, and Texas on their Clarity bucket list – even passing mentions of Barcelona to film visuals for the project.
If those plans are any indication, Skotty Benz’s personality supersedes his small-town upbringing.
“It’s not about the money, but if that happens it’d be a lovely thing,” Turner said. “I do it because I love it. ... I don’t care if I never made it further than I am right now, I’d still be doing this.”
To listen to Skotty Benz’s new album, visit soundcloud.com/skottybenz or connect with him at facebook.com/SkottyBenz. - Volume One