Audio Stepchild

 Audio Stepchild

Audio Stepchild is an American hip-hop group from Louisville, Kentucky. They are most known for their singles "Sofa Bed" and "Another Sofa Bed" performed with Nappy Roots, “One of These Mornings” performed with Buffalo Stille and "All My Life" performed with Pill, Stille and Sabrina. 

Audio Stepchild also gained significant traction with their song “#REDPLAGUE”- an anthem created for the 2012 BIG EAST and Sugar Bowl Champion University of Louisville football team. The song was released (in partnership with ESPN) exclusively on ESPN.com and ultimately became a fan favorite after being shown during the nationally televised ABC/ESPN broadcast of the Cardinals 34-31 victory over the University of North Carolina Tarheels on September 15th, 2012. The song was performed with Buffalo Stille of Nappy Roots and produced by Jonathan Hay, Tracy Tyler and Sabrina Hale. 

Land Of The Snake Charmer (2001)

In 2001, founding members and producers, Jonathan Hay and Jason Eisenmenger released their debut album called "Land of the Snake Charmer." The album was written during a two week period in the summer of 2000 and the initial recordings were subsequently tracked at Reel Time Studios in Daytona Beach, Florida. The duo ultimately traveled to Houston, Texas to revise the demo for "Land of the Snake Charmer". These revisions were recorded and engineered at Southwest Recorders by Grammy Award winning recording engineer and music producer Michael Calderon, Tara Lacarna, Larry Greenbaum and Bryan Jackson.The updated version of the album was ultimately released through BCD Music Group, a record label out of Houston, Texas co-owned by Tony Draper of Suave House Records. Notable album features include Joe Traxx and Papa Rue.Joe Traxx performed on the song "My Life" and Papa Rue appeared on "Hot Child."

One of significant singles on the album , "When Will We Be Paid?" featured Prince. "When Will We Be Paid" is a remake of the song by The Staple Singers. Audio Stepchild also did a remake of "Colors"- (originally performed by Ice-T). In November 2001 (Issue #35), the group was featured in Juice Magazine - a
popular German hip hop magazine and the biggest of its kind in Europe. 

Journalists (2009 - 2012)

In 2009 an audio recording of Chuck D from Public Enemy and the two founding members of Audio Stepchild was released online. Moonlighting as hip hop journalists, Audio Stepchild has interviewed Chuck D, Uncle Luke, Chef Raekwon, Jonathan Stewart and Ice-T.

Every Coincidence is Significant (2012)

Audio Stepchild’s second full-length album, entitled “Every Coincidence Is Significant” was released on May 22, 2012 through Hoopla Worldwide, WIDEawake / Death Row Records and E1 Music. On its release, the album was coined as a unique concept album (the first of its kind in the “Dust Music” genre), and is one that features major artists from the past three decades

“Every Coincidence is Significant” saw studio work done by Grammy-Award winning engineers such as Rodney Mills from the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, Niko Marzouca, and others. Knoc-turn'al, Tha Chill from Compton's Most Wanted, Nappy Roots, Roc Raida, Gary Meeks and MC Breed all make appearances on the album that was produced by Jonathan Hay. 

Interestingly enough, the story goes that the album cover for "Every Coincidence is Significant" was inspired by Prince. Years ago, while at the legendary singers’ Paisley Park Studios in Minnesota, Jonathan Hay (who, after having long-since switched roles, served as the executive producer of the album) got inspired by a tattoo he spotted on a musician he saw there. Fast forward years later: during the initial recording phase for “Every Coincidence Is Significant”, Audio Stepchild's singer Sabrina (Sabrina Hale) recreated a similar design that was ultimately chosen by the group to be on the album cover. She describes the piece as "my interpretation of a design that Jonathan described on a musician that played with Prince. Also, it sort of embodies a visual trance similar to what I see when I listen to Prince. Just funky, colorful, and cool. It makes you think."

"We wanted to create something free-form and not necessarily constrained by the restrictions of a given genre of music", said group member Jason “Atlas Jenkins” Eisenmenger to Amber McKynzie of SOHH. Group collaborator Nasim added, "It was a lot of fun sitting with Audio Stepchild and coming up with concepts. We even had Krayzie Bone in the studio, and he kinda helped me out with ideas and concepts." 

The song, "WatchOutBoy (The Grand Finale)" received critical acclaim from Kathy Iandoli (of HHDX, MTV, VIBE, etc) who said, "It's full of just fun-filled vibes that all melt together into one long 11-minute monster mix. From the opening drums and horns to the interpolated Maneater hook and the samples/ad-libs, this cut is just a party in itself. Sometimes artists have a tendency to overproduce their tracks, but in this case the subtle nuances make the song. You could literally throw this track on and be taken to a totally different era - not in a dated
sense, but in a memorable one." 

Death Row Records 20 Years (2012)

Audio Stepchild group member Sabrina's single "Flying High" (co-produced by Jonathan Hay and Chad Kiser) appeared on the "Death Row Records 20 Years" album with Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Daz and others

Nappy Roots Presents Sh!t's Beautiful (2012)

Audio Stepchild is featured on the "Nappy Roots Presents Sh!ts Beautiful" album/mixtape that was released on June 27, 2012 through AllHipHop. They were featured on the single "Another Sofa Bed" that was produced by 1st Blood and Jonathan Hay with lead vocals by Buffalo Stille of Nappy Roots. 

A Different Kind Of Christmas (2012)

Audio Stepchild is featured on five songs "I'm Coming Home", "All I Want", "Interlude: Seven Days To Jerusalem", "Christmas In St Matthews" and "I'm Leaving You After Christmas" from A Different Kind Of Christmas, an album released for the Christmas and holiday season through Hoopla Worldwide / LRT / INgrooves Fontana Distribution / Universal Music Group. This album features multiple songs with Nappy Roots and two songs "Snow Bunny" and "Holiday Wavy" from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and the multi-platinum Jerome
“Bigfoot” Brailey of Parliament Funkadelic (aka “P-Funk")- one of the most groundbreaking groups in the history of modern music, also listed as one of the top “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” by Rolling Stone Magazine and VH1.