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TCU 360

Freshman releases first album on iTunes

A high school tennis injury forced Michael Smith to find new ways to spend his free time.

Smith, a freshman business major, said he’s been pursuing rap music ever since.

Along with Charles Croley, a freshman at Texas A&M University, Smith formed the band “Crew of Two.” Smith wrote the lyrics and rapped for the group, and Croley created the instrumentals. They released their first album “Two Fly” on iTunes Jan. 8 and are working on their second album to be released sometime next year.

Smith said he hoped to challenge himself by studying other songs for the next album.

“We’re pushing the boundaries a lot more,” he said.

Croley said he found inspiration for the instrumentals by listening to other artists and genres. He said guitar and complex heavy metal rhythms inspired some of his work.

Croley said he wanted to use different instruments for the new songs.

Smith said the duo hoped to put at least 10 songs on the new album.

“I’m going to be drawing from my life experiences,” he said.

The two said they would like to turn their music making into a career, but the competitive nature of the industry would make succeeding difficult.

“We’re kind of looking at [making music] as more of a hobby than an occupation,” Croley said.

Smith agreed.

“Right now, it’s just for fun… but we’re still working just as hard on this, so we’ll see where it takes us,” Smith said.

He said the group is hoping to make enough money selling their music on iTunes to invest in their second album.

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