Spec: ‘Vacancy’ would’ve been finished sooner if artists didn’t keep buying my hits

California-based rapper/producer Spec released his first retail album, Vacancy, on May 19, which is later than he expected to drop it.

“My records for the past two years kept ending up on different people’s albums,” Spec said.

Json’s “Love to Do It,” Flame’s “Surrender” and V. Rose’s “Battery,” as well as unreleased tracks by Thi’sl and Flame, are just some of the songs that were supposed to be on Vacancy, Spec revealed. He explained that his version of the songs were finished, but he offered them to his associates when they asked what he had available.

“We actually did about 40 songs for this album, so we chose what fit,” Spec said. “The next album is almost done.”

In 2009, Spec met Flame at the Grammy Awards. When Flame launched his record label Clear Sight Music soon after, he hired Spec to produce and A&R. Since then, Spec spent most of his time producing, which is also why he had not released a project since Trax, Christ & Videotape in Jan. 2013.

The overall message of Vacancy, portrays is the journey that Spec took to find God and how he filled his vacancy.

“I followed a lot of father figures trying to fill the vacancy of boyhood,” he said. “When I found God I stopped chasing all these father figures.”

Spec also shares how he has dealt with multiple diagnoses, including bipolar and high anxiety. Sometimes he’s really positive. Other times, he’s not.

Though Vacancy is not entirely “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” he said, Spec does take pride in being a Christian rapper because he believes that hip hop isn’t hip hop unless you’re bragging about what you’re truly about.

“I know God trained me like this,” he said.

Spec was producing for many years before he became a “Christian rapper.” He helped produce tracks for Jay Z, 50 Cent, Tech N9ne and more big-name hip-hop artists. After years of producing music for both secular and Christian artists, though, Spec decided to give up producing music that his faith did not align with.

“I might be super successful. I might not be super successful,” Spec said. “I don’t care because I’m doing what God told me to do.”

Though it took some time, Spec and his crew produced the entire Vacancy album without a label.

“I hope people really hear God in it, and I hope people hear a real voice,” Spec said. “I didn’t try to think about what people would want to hear and give them that. I literally gave them me. My heart’s on it.”

Buy Vacancy on iTunes, Amazon or Google Play.

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