Royal Ruckus

25/09/2026

I went to see Wu Tang Clan in West Palm Beach the other night with my godson Rodrigo.

This was my second time seeing them. The first was at the 2012 Paid Dues festival, watching from the crowd with Pigeon John and the rest of the L.A.Symphony est. 1997 crew with a massive cloud of smoke hanging over the crowd.

Seeing them command an arena all these years later on The Final Chamber tour hit just as hard.

Young Dirty Bastard was a surprising highlight. Stepping into Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s bars and carrying his dad’s energy is a heavy assignment, but YDB stepped right into the pocket and had the whole crowd moving. I guess even a “bastard” doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Bring da mother cussing ruckus!

03/09/2026

Nine years ago, Mike W and I named our Royal Ruckus album after a bug that spends most of its life buried underground.

Streaming culture expects artists to be on all the time, feeding the feed every week so nobody forgets you exist. Cicadas run on a much older clock. They spend years in the cold dark soil, climb up into the branches for one brief season to make an unholy ruckus, and then die quietly when the weather turns.

Then they come back. The resurrection bug.

Walking through St. Petersburg at dusk with the humidity sitting heavy on the pavement and thousands of them screaming from the live oaks. summerofthecicadas.com

28/08/2026

A couple decades ago, a group came into the Starbucks right off Nashville’s Music Row where I worked and ordered a bunch of coffee carafes. We made them, they left, and then somebody mentioned they were part of Dolly Parton’s crew. She was filming something nearby. We didn’t see her. We just made the coffee.

That was it. That was the brush with Dolly. A bunch of rapper-musician-baristas brewing carafes for the queen of country music and not even knowing it until after the fact.

I was a 20-something who had just gotten a record deal in Nashville, which sounds glamorous until you learn I was also a barista. But I wasn’t the only musician behind the counter. Bonafide from grits was there, already successful and on a major Christian label and still pulling espresso shots. Flatline, my partner in Royal Ruckus, was there too. Mumbles Magee was pulling shots too. Mat Kearney was a regular on the other side of the counter. I remember us serving Travis Tritt, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Bill Gaither, Ben Folds, Reese Witherspoon. Nashville is a little like a small town wearing a big city’s clothes, and that Starbucks was proof.

I think about that place sometimes. Not because anything historic happened there, but because everything was still in motion. The record deal was new. Nashville was new. I didn’t know yet what any of it would turn into.

Dolly Parton lived eighty years and became something that doesn’t really have a comparison. Lord have mercy. Rest in peace.

22/07/2026

Last night I dreamed I was in a puppet rap universe, standing in a cypher with some of my favorite rappers. Here’s the proof.

07/02/2026

New music featuring L.A. Symphony legends CookBook and Flynn Adam, complete with video for "Let's Make the Most of This Beautiful Day"!

From the Royal Ruckus EP, Let's Be Together Today.This is from the second of three volumes from the Mr. Bennett's Neighborhood series, inspired by and in hon...

27/01/2026

New puppet music video for the jam,
“Let’s Make the Most of This Beautiful Day” featuring and of dropping this Friday at NOON Eastern at YouTube.com/RoyalRuckus! Get your puppets on down to the playground, because we gonna throw down!

17/11/2025

Shout out to the homie, formerly known as Sir Rocdomz!

Looking back at this Forbes feature. Grateful for the recognition. 🙌

https://bit.ly/4h3uf3Q

10/11/2025

Two of the GOATest of GOAT albums.

Tough one here: You got a favorite if you were forced to pick between the two? 🤔