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By : Poetic Pattie
7 min read
“You wanna know where it all started?” Back in 2002, Termanology dropped a single with only two years in the music game. At the time he was still in high school so he did a mixtape called Hood Politics and after all the singles from his mixtape dropped he began gaining popularity—even in other cities, like New York. Term kept bumping into Pete Rock who he loved so he would ask for beats every time they were together. Pete always gave him the run around like “Yeah yeah, I got you.” Until Term shouted him out on Unsigned Hype—a premier spot in The Source magazine for unsigned talents looking to gain exposure. When Term & Pete Rock came together for his album Politics As Usual they were recording in Jay-Z’s studio, Term felt like since their first song together came out good, why not do a second song which later came to be "Hold That,” on Time Machine.
Termanology stumbled across another one of his favorite producers Conductor Williams, who was making beats on instagram consistently. Term later gave Conductor his first two placements on Vintage Horns. “I love Conductor, that’s my dawg. Super proud of him for all his success, we got a secret album in the tuck too.” As you can see, this Massachusetts native heavily believes in collaborations, with albums featuring Busta Rhymes, Conway The Machine, Nas, Styles P & Paul Wall. As we have heard throughout Termanology’s 49 projects, working around different tastes and styles brings out tons of inspiration during studio sessions for him and listeners everywhere.
Growing up in Lawrence in the 80’s and 90’s, Termanology came up from one of the poorest cities in Massachusetts. The height of the crack era was a crazy struggle—that nobody will understand unless you lived it. Termanology invested everything he earned from his deals right back into his music career and always had faith in himself. He knew deep down if he did it for the love of hip hop and not the money that the riches would come eventually. It made the artist into the man he is today, and he’s very happy to see the growth of the world being in a better place. When it comes down to the commitment of his artistry, Termanology has some reflective advice to offer:
“I never really thought about quitting music. This is my job. I gave it my all and turned it into a career, the music industry will always try you and test you. It's never gonna stop, there's always gonna be a hater, heart breaks and people promising you things they know they can't keep. There’s so many heartbreaks that come with it, just tough it and stick through it. I'm just starting to get my flowers after 20 years. I always heard that from my hood but now it's a whole new thing, it's my 50th year off hip hop and I appreciate all my fans and followers.”
Be on the lookout for Term in 2024 with the possibility of five projects dropping—maybe 10. If you really wanna see all of what the artist has to offer, check out his 49 projects on band camp (termanologyst.bandcamp.com) and his flourishing website (gooddadgang.com).
—Poetic Pattie
Originally published in-print in Boston Compass Newspaper #165 January 2024
Check out all the art and columns of January's Boston Compass at www.issuu.com/bostoncccompass