The Cardiff Brothers, a rap duo from Warwick, Rhode Island, just released their first homemade album which surpassed millionaire artists on the iTunes Top charts in one night.
Brothers Jake and John Cardiff always planned for a successful future, but they never imagined to be in the place they are today. Jake explained how three years ago, he released his own mixtape on his birthday named “Untitled”. Since then, the brothers have released multiple remixes, as well as original songs. Their fanbase began to grow after singles “Big” and “Chill.” In 2014, the brothers released “The Beginning” EP which featured songs “Marriott,” “Broke,” “Rain Drop” and “Something Else.” The duo played shows in the surrounding area including Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. Jake and John explained that they continued to work on expanding their fan base throughout the year by using social media to their advantage. John used Snapchat to update their life to more than 1,000 fans and Jake said that he continues to be very active every day on both Facebook and Twitter. “Being active with each fan makes people be more motivated to be a part of our journey,” Jake said. “It’s like a chain reaction process. Our followers show their friends. One person catches on, then more and more.” For a while, the boys’ career remained at a stagnant level, with an increase in followers, but not enough as they hoped for. Jake said that when the album dropped, everything changed. Their first album, “All From Home”, was released on Sept. 27, and in just one night, the album hit number 28 on the iTunes Top charts. The album was a project that they had been working on over the past year. Jake explained how they brought back songs that were even older than a year that were just left behind; started but never finished. Jake said that over the past year, both brothers have been through multiple personal encounters, including relationships, breakups, struggles, parties and “fake” people. The lyrics from “All From Home” stemmed from all of these issues and so far, the brothers believe that fans are feeling very connected to what they are saying. “Every line is a true experience of what we go through and what is real,” Jake said. “This album is all about telling our story.” A lot of albums have a song or two that “stand out” but with All From Home, John feels that each song stands on their own. Their fans have expressed their favorite song off the album, and there’s not a particular song people favor over the rest. John said that if a certain song isn’t a person’s style they can still appreciate it because their songs are so versatile. After the album dropped, the brothers began to release 100 hard copy CDs, which have already sold out. They have ordered 250 more and once those sell out, they plan to buy more merchandise to sell. Throughout this process, both brothers are learning what it’s like to make it in this industry by themselves. John explained that “there’s no handbook for this stuff, you learn by experience.” For the rest of the year, the brothers plan to lay low and work on new music while shooting music videos for songs off of “All From Home”. By Christmas, they will release tour dates for the 2016 “All From Home Tour”, which is set to hit 10 stops along the east coast as well as various mid-eastern cities. They plan to take their music even further after the 2016 tour, hitting states across the country. Since Jake and John have been continuously releasing songs, they hope to release free music soon and start another project. They have already written 10 new songs since the album dropped and will continue to write and record as much as possible because “there’s no room for stale material.” “The key to success is staying humble and staying motivated,” John said. “When you’re not working, someone else is. You get out what you put into it.” Jake and John encourage both new and old fans to tune in to their new album because over the past three years they have progressed immensely and it’s important for people to hear their new music. “We’re going to keep expanding and putting out new music,” Jake said. “Keeping people on their toes is big–we don’t want them to know what to expect next.” The Cardiff Brothers have their first headlining show since “All From Home” was released on Dec. 19 at Simon’s 677 in Providence.