Seattle emcee Porter Ray cultivated his deeply reflective approach to lyrics by channeling experiences of trauma, loss, and suffering into song. A series of personal tragedies prompted an intense period of mixtape output that drew the interest of Sub Pop, leading to his signing with the independent powerhouse in 2015. Following numerous informally issued projects, the rapper delivered his atmospheric full-length debut Watercolor in 2017.
Raised in Seattle’s Central District, Ray had composed and performed rhymes throughout much of his life, yet withheld any public material until 2013, years after losing his father and witnessing the fatal shooting of his younger brother, who had been an innocent bystander during a violent confrontation. Further hardships mounted when several relatives and close companions were incarcerated and he was forced to abandon high school. He redirected those emotions into music, issuing multiple mixtapes throughout 2013. BLK GLD, WHT GLD, and RSE GLD surfaced that year, with Fundamentals arriving in 2014. On these initial efforts Ray refined a method of pairing agile, confessional verses with spacious, slow-moving production. The rapper secured his Sub Pop contract after an encounter with Ishmael Butler (Digable Planets, Shabazz Palaces) and contributed to THEESatisfaction’s second release for the label, EarthEE. While preparing his official debut, he issued the independent EP Nightfall in 2015; Vinyldigital.de later pressed the project on vinyl in 2016. Electric Rain, another mixtape, also emerged during that period. Watercolor, his first album for Sub Pop, appeared in spring 2017 as a psychedelic, occasionally near-ambient interpretation of hip hop featuring Stas Thee Boss, Shabazz Palaces, Cashtro, and additional guests. Late the following year he returned with the EP Eye of the Beholder.
