It took Watsonville rapper Sincere three years of being away from his hometown to be able to write and record the album he’s always wanted to make, one that voices the pain and hardships of growing up in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Watsonville, a town with a particularly bad gang problem. He also put a positive spin on it.
“This album is the brightness for me, like picking up from all the bad things in my life and taking 10 steps forward and no steps back,” Sincere says.
Sincere, ne Casey Gowen, moved to Watsonville when he was in the second grade. Growing up with very little money, raised by a single dad, he saw from an early age a side of life in which gangs and violence were an everyday experience. “Everything you hear from me is something I’ve been through. It’s not a cool thing,” he says. “It’s my life. It’s real raw. I hope that some people can relate to it.”
Reaching out to people is something that comes naturally to him. In 2006, he and some friends started putting on live shows at the Watsonville Youth Center so kids could have something non-gang-related to do on Friday nights. Though the shows were well attended and proceeds benefited the center, the city discontinued them after a few months, Sincere says, because police were uneasy about having crowds of kids in gangs gathering for rap shows.
“It was a big deal for me, cause I come from that problem,” he recalls. “Everyone talks about the gang problem. All this stuff goes on out here, but no one wants to help these kids out.”
After the death of his best friend Aziz in 2008, Sincere shifted gears and moved up to Berkeley, where he got more involved with the Ineffable Music Group, a company he co-founded. Ineffable does everything from promoting shows to managing tours to viral marketing for bands. While away he was able to gain some perspective on growing up constantly in survival mode and losing people close to him, all of which fueled his new album, The Calm Before the Storm.
As on his previous recordings, the beats on The Calm Before the Storm are hard-hitting and aggressive, but this time around they’re more polished and better produced. The lyrics are raw and painful, but with an underlying positive message: Your past doesn’t define you.
“I always want to tell people things to change their mindset of not being able to succeed in life just because of where you’re from,” Sincere says.
With The Calm Before the Storm set to release on Sept. 30, Sincere is back in Watsonville focusing on his music and, naturally, helping out where he can. “There’s a lot of kids out here, and their parents ain’t really around. And they hit me up. They see me on the street. I try to give them the best guidance I can,” he says.
As for his show this Friday at the Atrium, he couldn’t be happier. “I definitely love rocking there,” he says. “There’s always love. I had my last album release at the Atrium and that sold out. My goal is to be able to sell out the main stage. I don’t think I’m very far from that.”
SINCERE CD release party with Nima Fadavi
Friday, Sept. 30, 9pm
Catalyst Atrium (16+)
Tickets $8 adv/$12 door
