Luc Duc 'Smoke Affair' album

The fertile Florida music scene has seen a lot of artists come and go, while a few have managed to maintain longevity, and even cult status, to legions of fans.

Luc Duc was initially inspired to begin songwriting, singing, and rapping when Jit, a local promoter, took him out on the road with JT Money and Trick Daddy. Although he always knew in his heart he wanted to do music prior to his road trip with the Southern stars, the experience gave Luc a direction to go with his musical background. He grew up in the church and played percussion for several years in his school band, but it would ultimately be the songs that came from his soul that drove him to share his gifts with the world.

A group called Suicide took Luc Duc under their wing, and gave him some insight on songwriting. While he was seeking an outlet for his music, doing shows and recording songs to potentially get an album deal, an acquaintance, Carl Bosse, brought Luc into a circle of talented Florida emcees that would come to be known to the world as Iconz. Luc paid for his own demo and entered the situation with an already distinctive sound. Everyone agreed he would be a good addition to the collaborative group of artists.

Luc Duc’s voice was all over the Iconz 2001 album Street Money. Initially Luc was not on the song “Get Fucked Up”, however he was an undeniable part of the vibe they were creating. At the last minute the group decided to add his voice to the track when it came time to do the video for the single. The title was changed to “Get Crunked Up” for mainstream radio play, and went on to be a very successful hit for Iconz. After the single blew up and the dust settled, the collective disbanded and Luc found himself back on the road and in the studio as a solo artist.

His first solo album, In My Own World, was released in 2002 on Artemis Records, and received a strong buzz and respectable sales. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before shifts in the industry led Luc Duc down the path of complete independence again. Kindred Miami artist Society reached out to Luc around that time. “I had label offers after the first album, but nothing came of it,” explains Luc. “One day I couldn’t find a studio anywhere, and he paid for me to go to a state-of-the-art studio to record. When he heard that song, he was like ‘I want you to come and do a song for me’. It was a hook for a song called ‘Jungle’, which wound up being on my upcoming album.”

February 2005 will mark the release of Luc Duc’s sophomore solo album entitled Smoke Affair, being released through Hard White Entertainment. The collection of songs is as smooth as it is edgy, and Luc prides himself on his mature versatility. “I already went back to the roots of Miami with my first album,” Luc says. “On this one I’m trying to do more ‘feel good’ music instead of scaring the world. The name of the album is Smoke Affair, because when people get together and smoke, that’s one time you never hear arguments, that’s one time you see happy faces. I want to make people feel good when you hear my album.”

Rather than keep smoke-talk at a trite level, Luc expounds upon some political topics with listeners. “I remade that old Jamaican song ‘Pass The Dutch’. I’m talking about how the government doesn’t make weed smoking legal, but at the same time it’s legal to smoke cigarettes, which is the number one killer of Americans. You’ve got alcohol, which is legal, and anytime you look around at an accident after two o’clock in the morning, nine times out of ten it was from a drunk driver.”

At the end of the day, Luc Duc wants to give his fans a taste of various levels of his songwriting. He describes ‘The Game Don’t Change’ as ‘a Nappy Roots type joint’, while ‘The Jungle’, speaks on wanting to simply get away from it all. Luc also lends some insight to the break up of the Iconz collective and how he views the situation.

Prior to the release of the full-length album, Luc has released a mixtape of exclusive tracks, and will release an EP this December. Luc has every intention of interacting with his fans through his new website, and will be on the road in support of Smoke Affair throughout 2005. While some refer to Luc Duc as the ‘Hip Hop Ron Isley’ or even the ‘Nate Dogg of the South’, it is his own special style that ultimately shines through.

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Luc Duc - Smoke Affair