Photo by Cedric Wooten Photography

By Kayla Frazier
Staff Writer

The switches turn on, and the track begins to play. In the recording booth, Aren Scantlebury begins to lay down a verse to a single called “Not Enough.” He walks out of the booth and listens to it and back in he goes to do his verse over. Scantlebury goes back and forth until, on one final try, he lays down the perfect verse.

“If I don’t like the way my voice sounded, if the tone wasn’t correct, then we do it over,” he said.

At just 21-years old, Scantlebury has developed a work ethic that shines in his music. He is a perfectionist. As a hip-hop artist better known as AceBrav, Scantlebury has had a breakout track, “Not Enough,” that was played in rotation by HOT 97’s DJ Enuff.

A Long Island native, Scantlebury did not always know that music would be his calling. “Since the age of two, I’ve always been hooked to criminal shows and court shows,” Scantlebury said. “However, as I got older, my passion for music began to grow stronger, and eventually, law became nothing to me.”

Managing both school and a slowly developing passion for music, Scantlebury was always jotting down verses wherever he could: on pieces of paper or in the back of notebooks. It was not until he reached high school that Scantlebury realized that he had passion for music.

“I was always writing music, but I never really showed it to anyone until the 10th grade,” he said.  “I recorded a couple of records and freestyles and put it out on the Internet, and it started a nice buzz throughout my school and town. Then I started to take it more serious.”

His sound is intricate. His hometown of Elmont, New York, a very diverse community, shows in the blend of African-American, Italian and Hispanic accents in his verses. Scantlebury calls his craft “just great music and a blend of multiple things.”

Although his heart belongs to music, he believes that having an education is an essential part to his success. He is a full-time student at Nassau County Community College, where he is studying music production.

“Handling both music and school is tough. But I always try to remember that education is very crucial to success as well,” he said. “It gets tough sometimes, but I just duke it out and stay focused on the bigger goal. It all comes down to making things your priority-and time management.”

As the buzz grew around his music through club performances and social media, his sound reached Rino Management, a management and artist development team based in Huntington. “They have molded me into the artist I am today,” Scantlebury said. With Rino Management’s support and his own strong social media presence, Scantlebury began to receive the coverage and acknowledgement that he’s worked so hard for.

“Social media is a powerful tool because everyone can see what you do at any given moment.” he said.

With the all of the attention that Scantlebury was receiving came one of the most memorable moments in his career so far. Hot 97’s DJ Enuff caught wind of Scantlebury’s work and played his new single, “Not Enough,”  in rotation earlier this year. It aired several times during a primetime slot.

“Well, the biggest moment in my career so far is being on the radio,” Scantlebury said. “After that happened, I was, ‘Okay, this is going to be huge, and it’s really going to happen. For a New York DJ to play my record and break it definitely gave me a tremendous boost to keep it going with the music.”

Since then, Scantlebury has continued to enjoy the freedom that he has with his music at Rino Management. It has allowed him to learn the ins and outs of the studio, making his own samples and learning the elements that pull a song together.

Tracks like “Flava In Ya Ear (Freestyle)” and “We Gon Make It” feature samples from some of the most memorable hip-hop legends that ever graced an era. Scantlebury’s sound takes the listener back to a time now considered hip-hop’s classic era.

“When people hear my music, I just want people to think of a good vibe,” Scantlebury said. “I want to make great music and just let people be free.”

When Scantlebury is not busy with school work or his job, he is working, with the help of his team at Rino Management, on a 40-city tour that may go overseas. But until all details are finalized, he is hard at work releasing singles and new videos for his fans to enjoy.

“I want to inspire people to chase their dreams and never give up,” he said. “Anything is possible, and that’s what I want people to think of when they hear my music.”