Today West Coast producer/rapper Ayce Nyce releases his new single “DTLA” featuring Bay Area pioneer Too Short and rap wordsmith, Freddie Gibbs. While Ayce is more commonly known for his work behind the boards with Too Short and other rappers, Ayce Nyce steps in front of the mic on this one that he said, “could be the new strip club anthem.”
“I feel like this could be the next strip club anthem. And who better to do that than Too Short? Then you got Freddie Gibbs and you got me the young buck on there bringing back that West Coast vibe. I’m trying to make sure that I evoke elements of Dre and other great producers out here and I think you can hear that on this record,” Ayce Nyce said.
Starting off as a producer working with Too Short, Ayce Nyce began producing and engineering for the Bay Area legend at Short’s studio in downtown LA everyday. It was during that time that Ayce Nyce came up with the idea for the song.
“I named the song DTLA for Downtown LA because me and Short go to a lot of clubs and he took me to this one spot called Sam’s. Ironically Freddie Gibbs took me there too and so it gave me the idea for the song called DTLA – it was just authentic. Short liked the beat and the hook and then I took it over to Gibbs and he knocked it out.”
The anticipated success of “DTLA” is a huge turnaround for Ayce Nyce after growing up without his mother in the rough Los Angeles neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, where nobody thought he would make it out alive.
Spending his youth jumping around from school to school as troubled youth, Ayce Nyce was no stranger to bathroom fights, gang violence and more which eventually lead to his expulsion from school after he brought a gun to school for protection.
It was then that Ayce Nyce turned to playing the piano and music as a way to overcome the personal struggles of losing his mother and thus acting out in school.
“I was born in Compton, but I wasn’t really raised there because I had different issues at school from an early age. When I was 9 I brought a gun to school one day for protection because I was being bullied and I ended up flashing it during an encounter in the bathroom,” Ayce Nyce explained.
“After that I basically started playing the piano when I was about 13 and from there I was able to channel some of my frustrations with life. I remember after I got expelled, I thought Carson was going to be a walk in the park or the suburbs or whatever, but it was really just like Compton. There were gangs there too in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade, so I’ve been around the gang culture my whole life and experienced the effects of it. I never joined one because I never wanted to, but I think Carson made me realize and open my eyes to fashion, music, art and all the other things in the world out side of gang violence.”
Going forward Ayce Nyce has performances planned for the Fall to go along with the release of more content.