By Bri Renee
The famous (or infamous depending on who you ask) West End of Louisville, KY is quite the conundrum. It's both "the place to be" and a place you don't want to get caught slipping at. It is a gem and many would argue the "soul" of the city of Louisville. Just as many would argue for whatever soul it may possess it can most certainly be heartless. Some liken the West End to the Shadowland's from the Disney classic The Lion King. For some it's undeniably comparable to the Pride Lands from the same film. From Speaking with Mr. Nova its far and away the latter.
Mr. Nova grew up deep in the West End of Louisville. "749 Pimping. S.42nd." he proudly proclaimed over Jay Z's "New York" instrumental on the now throwback favorite in his hometown called "KY State of Mind." And although the area is known for its rough nature Nova decided not to pigeon hole himself into the tough guy artist role for the sake of repping his hood. Instead he chose to do what few artist are brave enough to do, be himself. "I'm really really good in street fighter. I'll f*ck anybody up!" he boast. Nova is the kid who regularly wore a belt with a Nintendo controller buckle. A gaming fanatic before it was cool, an avid comic book reader, and reserved guy he was used to getting odd stares. Nova embraced what made him unique. Although he would sometimes withdraw within himself he would soon find the outlet that gave him a voice.
To hear Mr. Nova tell it, it's a no-brainer where his talent comes from. "My talent starts with my mother, she's a singer..." Ms. Kirby would often sing in the church. Her son took a strong liking to singing as well. Ms. Kirby helped her youngest child hone his vocals. This is a talent he would hide until later. "I fell in love with poetry" Nova states matter-of-factly "and then I got with my bro Amoré... steel sharpens steel and it evolved from there." However Amoré King (fellow successful indie artist) and Mr. Nova met, it's probably a great thing for their city and is most likely soon to be an even better thing for the music industry as a whole. The two clicked instantly and would regularly spend their afternoons until the sunrise crafting songs. When they weren't making songs Amoré would convince Nova to run around the city and shut it down. The two of them would destroy any pretentious would be rappers in cyphers and in the process gained notoriety and popularity. The combination of songwriting and rap cyphers served as an outlet for Nova to express who he was with pride and the ability to outwit most opposition only served as an additional boost .
Flash forward to today and Mr. Nova is still proudly expressing who he is through his music, except now he's also excelling in production as well. He has now partnered with industry songwriter/hitmaker Rico Love ( Beyoncé, Usher, Kelly Rowland) and the results are starting to bear major fruit. As fate would have it, through Rico the female rap duo the City Girls picked out a beat Nova produced and had sitting in the stash. That stashed beat turned into their new smash hit single "Twerk" featuring rap/pop sensation Cardi B! To say it's been a whirlwind would be an understatement but throughout it all Nova has remained humble. "The success of the record is not going to my head. He states Its good and i'm happy about it but I'll celebrate it by making more records."
Nova states he wants to also give his own album a strong promo run. The well Crafted album "No Filter" is a shining example of that. Produced, written, mixed and mastered by all by himself. It's an impressive body of work that deserves major shine. With musical influences ranging from Kanye West and Jay Z to Ras Kass and Royce Da 5'9" its no surprise the album takes you on a musical journey. No Filter came about as Mr. Nova came home to Louisville and reflected on a relationship that was full of twist and turns. The end result has been major fan enjoyment regionally. Still expect that major nation push for the album before you expect to see another project any time soon. In the mean time he says he's "stashing more records" and networking with national artists as well as the who's who of indie artist from his home town. "I have a couple of favorite indie artist from Louisville." Nova notes "Sh*t, Amoré King, BruteLife, Kleyn Kutt,Wuntayk Timmy, King Bammo,Rob Lee, Junior J, Kori Black, and Berran Lee." It's clear that Mr. Nova is very much tied into the pulse of Louisville music. It's also apparent he's still got his sight set square on making more industry hits simultaneously. See what happens when you let a kid from the famous (or infamous) West End Pride Lands shine? You get a fairytale story even Disney couldn't write.