Tuesday, December 24, 2013

2013 UCARB Artist of the Year: Andy Higgins

     When I decided to do an AOTY award I had tons and tons of artists in mind. There were so many artists featured on this blog that really had a big year and are now preparing for an even more promising 2014. After a few days of pondering who should get this award I finally came to a conclusion. As I was typing up the e-mail to send to this artist I was listening to my Ipod and on came the song "Thoughts" by Andy Higgins. This song is one of my favorites off his latest album Progression and then it clicked for me; Andy Higgins is most deserving of this award! I quickly deleted the e-mail I was about to send to this other artist and called Andy to tell him the news personally. Now, a lot of you may not be familiar with Higgins, or maybe you are familiar you're just wondering what makes him so deserving of this award. Written below are my reasons for naming Andy Higgins the 2013 UCARB Artist of the Year.

     It all started in 2012 when Andy announced he would be making a full length album. This was big for him because all of his previous mixtapes were mostly him over other beats and just making remixes. I got extremely pumped for this tape and not too long after he announced that, I made this site. The album was set to drop in January and all too soon January came and went, with no album release. This delay was due to Andy losing his best friend/business partner in a long boarding accident. Andy told me that this is something he is still dealing with because the two were best friends since they were 13. Andy also said that he decided to go through with what they planned. He stated that "Working with literally no budget is tough, but I successfully released Progression." This is just one reason Andy is deserving of this award. He faced a huge obstacle in dealing with a death, and he pushed through.

     Onto the album Progression, this was truly a great body of work. Listening to this album will clear your mind and provide an amazing listening experience. Since the album released I have yet to find a better debut album from 2013. Though, not everyone sees this. Sadly, Progression is completely under appreciated. Andy was literally giving away the album for free and still people didn't want to take a chance. Progression is more than a rap album, it's a story of how Andy has "progressed" from someone who enjoys making mixtapes and rapping, to someone dedicated to making a career of making music. I want to really challenge people to download this album, and then listen to his previous work. It's not that his previous work was bad, it's just that this album is exponentially better than prior tapes. Progression is a fun, care free, relaxing album that you can find yourself in. If you say you like hip-hop then get this album...simple as that.

    Andy Higgins is a great person all around. He's what you want out of a rapper; someone who has that charisma, that mic presence, stage presence, drive, potential, and no matter what success he gets, he remains humble. He is a peoples rapper, now it's time the people say thank you. 2014 is right around the corner and Andy has big plans. This is a train you won't want to miss. Don't forget to tell Andy Higgins congrats on being the first UCARB Artist of the Year.


* www.HigginsBoy.com
*AndyHigginsNC

*R.I.P to Andy's fallen brother, Greg Miller

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Created in 2013, The Under-Cover Album Review strives to bring the world quality music, by quality artists. This motto will continue to be our foundation as we move forward in time.

-Vinny Sciascia, Creator & Operator