Stevie Crooks. If you are from Moreno Valley, then you heard this name before; I mean, it's kind of hard not to take notice of the 6-foot emcee. But, it's also a bonus once your eyes land on the young vet and you see him rip the stage not only with his stage presence but his bar flow. And as of today, the IE native is gaining more attention with his release FIORAVANTI. It's a 12-track album packed with a music production that makes you feel like your out in Miami sipping Casamigo’s getting a suntan with a baddie. Yeah, it's that good.

As far as the wordplay, let's just say Crooks slides on every single track like he's Olympian Shaun White. Yeah, he's that good, and he knows it; "Angel wings on my wordplay flying on wax, but I rap like I drive a devil red Maybach." He raps on Cruise Control, a two-minute song where he flows, and you get the understanding that he is clearly in his prime. Some other stand-out tracks are Daytona, Bullseyes, and Flamingo Lane. You can listen to the album below and also check out my conversation with the Hip-Hop emcee below.

You are coming from the IE, a county where a lot of greats were birthed. Although a lot of heavy hitters are from the IE and Moreno Valley, do you feel like your city is still getting slept on? I don't feel we are slept on; I do think we need to support each other the right way; everyone is beating to their drum and nothing moves in unison like a place like ATL or Detroit. Once we figure out, it's US vs. the world, and things will shift; till then, I'm just doing my part as Moreno Valley's own.

This project feels very different; from the lyrics to the song selection, it's a very cohesive album, even down to the lyrics. I'm sure it wasn't an easy walk in the park though, what was the journey like? Honestly, I've been making concept albums since 2008! I love the art of music, so the challenge of capturing a concept through sound has always been my favorite thing to do. Executing that isn't easy, but it's not something I have a hard time with. I enjoy it … that extra "thing" on top of songs like following the story or aesthetics ……… that's my specialty.

South Beach vibes are all over this project; how has that city inspired you? It started with the Testarossa actually looking at pictures and eventually watching Miami Vice, where the Testarossa is the mascot car; I wanted to create a world around it. Just so happen Miami was perfect ( 1980s Miami ) from the lights to the beach. It hit my soul and gave me the spark to make FIORAVANTI. 

I've seen you have been sitting in the producer's seat. Did you produce any tracks on here? I produced every song that you hear on FIORAVANTI except track 3 and 10 JÜNE and LzRunitUp blessed me with those two; other than that, I spent many, many nights locked in my room trying to learn the machine and how to capture my sound it all paid off in the end.

Now that this has dropped, what do you hope to accomplish next? I want the IE and my city to be respected first, but this is just another stone to the castle I've been building in the sky. I'm just getting started. A new project is on the way as we speak. More shows, more flows, more business and bankrolls.