Orono rapper’s music gets personal

When Affiliate left Boston several years ago to come to the University of Maine on a football scholarship, he had plans to focus on sports and school and that’s it. Sure, he’d been writing and rapping since high school, but he put that on the back burner when he came to Orono.

Four years later, the tables have turned.

“I couldn’t get my grades up. I wasn’t playing football, so I was in my dorm room making music,” said Affiliate, now 22, whose real name is Garland Webb. “I didn’t know who to deliver it to. You don’t know who are hip-hop fans around here.”

He had built a small amount of buzz around the UMaine community when he performed with several friends under the name Gritty City Mafia, but was at a loss at how to promote himself and book shows. Fortunately, he found Sean Smith and TJ Jozefowicz, co-founders of Flophouse Records and the force behind Queen City Productions, the promotional group responsible for bringing big acts like Bubba Sparxxx, Talib Kweli and others to the Bangor area.

“I found [Sean] on MySpace and I basically asked him for advice on making music and supporting the hip-hop scene. I was ready to head back [to Boston] at that point, because I didn’t see my music taking off,” he said. “But we started talking and ended up linking up and working together. And from then on, it’s been major.”

“I’ve had [tons of] people in this area come up to me to show me their skills,” said Smith. “[Affiliate] is one of the only guys that has the drive, the ambition, the patience and the personality to really make it, I think. He’s the real deal.”

The fruits of that partnership have arrived, in the form of Affiliate’s debut album, “Trash Bag Money,” which dropped this week on Flophouse Records and is the result of nearly a year’s worth of work, from makeshift dorm recordings to a full-fledged studio effort.

Produced by Andrew Clifford of Green Tank Productions, “Trash Bag Money” is full of hard-hitting, radio-friendly club tracks, but it’s also a deeply personal album, telling the tale of a young man growing up on the streets.

“It’s the typical story of a young black male with a single parent,” he explained. “I grew up on the streets of Boston, in the South End, so when I talk about violence and profanity in my music, I’m just speaking from experience. I’m speaking for my city, for my neighborhood. I’m trying to be the voice of the situation.”

“The feedback that we’re getting has been phenomenal,” said Smith. “We were just in New York. People want to work with him, and these are guys that are producing for the Game and Busta Rhymes.”

The association with Smith and Josefowicz has become so important to Affiliate that he currently has no plans to return to Boston, or to try to strike it out on his own in New York – he’s staying put in Bangor, and helping to foster the hip-hop scene here.

After the controversy surrounding Queen City’s show at the Bear Brew Pub in Orono last month, where a performer was arrested, Affiliate wants to let the public know that incidents like that are very much the exception to the rule.

“When you see the news, all you see is negative stuff. As soon as there’s an issue, it’ll get painted in a negative way. We’re just trying to support the scene,” he said. “We have a great deal of people that follow us, so now we’re just waiting for clubs and radio to catch up. We’re ready to take it to the next level.”

“Trash Bag Money,” the debut album from Affiliate, is available at Bull Moose Music stores, and will soon be available at Best Buy. For information, visit www.myspace.com/grittycity. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net, and you can also check out her blog at www.community.bangordailynews.com for the latest information on music and nightlife in eastern Maine.