ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County-native Matthew Morman grew up in a musical family, and now, he’s trying to grow that family.
His father passed when he was young, but he said he heard rumors that he could sing. And his mom, her sisters and cousins were also on a choir.
“My uncle would sit criss-cross style and play guitar,” remembered Morman. “My cousin and I would sit and listen and that’s what got me interested in music.”
But rather than sing like his parents or play an instrument like his uncle, Morman said he preferred to make beats. He said he would bang on tables in school or create sounds on the piano.
“I couldn’t sing all that good,” Morman laughed. “And when I got older, my voice got deeper.”
To get into the music scene, Morman, 37, said he started off with parties. The first big party he remembered throwing was a “Blackout” party on Black Friday. Morman said he was responsible for putting the party together along with several other people.
Through his parties, Morman said he’s met celebrities including rapper T-Rell, Ricco Barrino (brother of American Idol-winner Fantasia Barrino), and OBN Jay, an 18-year-old rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
In the summer of 2017, Morman said he wanted to take his music business to the next level. He started his own label, Duffel Bag Mafia Entertainment.
“Mafia means family,” said Morman, addressing the negative connotation that comes with the word. “When we stick together and we work together, that’s when the money comes in, and we can support our family.”
Morman said he downloaded programs to make beats, which drew him further into the craft, and he’s currently taking online classes from the Los Angeles Film School to earn an associates degree in audio production. He’s also in the process of building his own studio. Morman said it will be another four months until it’s complete, so in the meantime, he drives between studios in Charlotte and Fayetteville.
“I like laid back, R&B style,” he said. “Something you can sit back and bop your head to.”
After the start Duffle Bag Mafia Entertainment, Morman said he would have artists come to him that couldn’t make up their mind on what they wanted to achieve. Two months ago, Morman said he was introduced through Facebook to an artist named Ryan Clyburn, also known as Fooley, from Kershaw, South Carolina.
“I listened to his song ‘No Love’,” said Morman. “He can rap and sing. He’s versatile.”
Clyburn describes his style as “unique” and said his musical influences include rappers MO3 and Nate Dogg, who are known for heir ability to rap and sing on their tracks.
Clyburn’s album “Gifted”, which Morman said will include 10 songs, deals with Clyburn’s day-to-day struggles that he said are shared by many others. Clyburn has 11 children, who he said are major source of inspiration.
“(The CD) is the best thing of my life,” he said. “You can hear my past struggles and you can hear the pain. My stories are on the beat and I’d rather put my words on a beat and share it because other people have similar problems.”
Since beginning to work with Morman, Clyburn said he’s begun to look up to him and feels they have a good chemistry.
“He’s a humble guy like myself and he had faith in me when I didn’t have any,” said Clyburn.
Morman hopes to one day join the ranks of some of the top music production companies. The artists he manages can put music on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, but he said he’s working on contracts with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to be ale to have gold and platinum artists, a benchmark of success for any artist whether they’ve released their first song or Greatest Hits album, according to the RIAA website.
“I just want to give back to my county,” said Morman. “When most get successful, they leave. But I want to bring the attention back here.”
