FYÜTCH

Early life and education

Simmons was born in Gary, Indiana on September 17, 1988. At the age of 6, he won the city-wide speech contest and began gaining local popularity as a public speaker. He performed his speeches at various events, such as Mayor Scott L. King's campaign banquet and in Washington, D.C. on the steps of the Congress building concerning the National Deficit. When he was 8, his family moved to Nashville, Tennessee. In 2006, he graduated from Hume-Fogg High School, where he played alto saxophone in the jazz band and volunteered for several local youth organizations. He then attended Belmont University, where he became a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, and graduated in 2011 from Belmont's Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business.

Biscuits and Gravy

In 2006, at the age of 17, Simmons and a few of his friends started a band called The Legendary Biscuits and Gravy, with him on lead vocals and alto saxophone, Eric Sexton on keyboard, Brandon Holt on drums, and Wesley Winfrey on tenor saxophone and bassist Brady Surface. In 2007 the band was nominated for the Southern Entertainment Awards Best Indy R&B Artist of the Year. In 2008 and 2009, the band performed at the Next Big Nashville music festival alongside other nationally-recognized Nashville bands, such as The Pink Spiders and Sam & Ruby, and opened for Kanye West, GZA, and Nappy Roots.

Future (the Artist)

In April 2009, Future the Artist released his first solo EP entitled The Sci Fly EP that he wrote and produced. It received good reviews and was nominated for a Nashville Music award for Best Urban Recording of the Year. Between September and October 2009, Future the Artist began the Overnight Mixtape series, in which he recorded and released six mixtapes, recording each mixtape during an overnight studio session and releasing it for free download the next day. The Nashville Scene spotlighted the Overnight Mixtapes in the 2009 Year in Music issue, stating that Future the Artist dominated the local underground hip hop scene. Overnight Mixtape, Vol. 4 featured live skits from Bun B and GLC. During this time, Future performed local support slots for Wale, Pharrell, Little Brother and Afroman.

In 2010, Future the Artist began traveling and recording his next project. After graduating college in May 2011, Future the Artist began releasing singles and videos on the college music website GoodMusicAllDay and other music websites such as MzHipHop and The Smoking Section. Fyutch and Nashville rapper Chancellor Warhol's song "Bonus Lvl/Fly Away" featured on the HBO Canada series Less Than Kind and E! reality show Khloé & Lamar. In March 2012, Future the Artist made a showcase debut at South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, TX and sharing the stage with other GoodMusicAllDay artists.

In September 2012, Future the Artist changed his stage name to FYÜTCH (pronounced Fuetch), explaining the change in his song "Identity Crisis". Sean Maloney from The Nashville Scene commented on the name change: "Clearly, we have hit Peak Rap-Name Status. When you start getting this freaky with vowel placement, when you have to throw around umlauts, you know that things are getting out of control. But then again the Future-formerly-known-as-The Artist-and-before-that-The-Unknown definitely has been eclipsed by the sudden chart-topping success of R&B artist Future, and you can't blame the dude for wanting his own Google hits."

Mr. Flattop

On September 24, 2012, FYÜTCH released the mixtape Mr. Flattop. It contains 12 songs and begins with an intro from executive producer and DJ Robb 'Sir' Lazenby. Music City Interactive journalist Shad Reed compared it to J. Prince's intros on Rap-A-lot records. Mr. Flattop has features from rappers Mike Stud, Futuristic, Mello Rello, singer Whitney Coleman, and production by G-Pop, Wick-it the Instigator, and The FANS. Sean Maloney from The Nashville Scene wrote, "Mr. Flattop, the first release under his new nom de plume, is a well-executed post-collegiate party-rap tape with plenty of pop hooks and big bumping Down South bass." He adds, "the real gem on Flattop is "Set Me Free," produced by longtime collaborator and P&B favorite Wick-It. It's got a gorgeous hook and a deep, mournful groove that you might not expect if you hadn't been watching both of these artist develop over the last half-decade." FYÜTCH began his promotional tour for the album at the A3C Hip Hop Festival in Atlanta, GA.

Peace, Love & FYÜTCH

In April 2013, FYÜTCH released a 5-song hippie/psychedelic concept EP Peace, Love & FYÜTCH. All 5 songs are produced by G-Pop and are full of world percussion and obscure samples. The EP also features original cover art by Bonehead (Christina Maycann). FYÜTCH released the EP online via HotNewHipHop, Live Mixtapes, and Good Music All Day; and hosted the release party at Nashville clothing boutique Love Is Earth. The EP is available for purchase on iTunes and streaming on Spotify.

The Other Future

In March 2014, Nardwuar interviewed Atlanta rapper Future. Narwuar asked Future if he knew of any other rappers named Future before him, then informed him. "There was another Future that was out there. Started in 2003. It was this gentleman right here, Mr. Flattop, from Nashville, TN. And he originally was called Future, then he changed his name to Mr. Flattop, and now he's called FYÜTCH. He actually was called Future in 2003 but he had to change his name because you got big." Nardwuar handed Future a copy of FYÜTCH's album Mr. Flattop. At that exact moment, their parallel universes intersected and altered the course of the "future" forever. A week after the interview, FYÜTCH released a remix of Future's hit single "Move That Dope," and titled it "The Other Future (Don't Sell Dope)." HipHopDX debuted the song and called it a "Future, YG, and Migos Diss."

Freestyle Champion

August 2015, FYÜTCH moved to New York City and began competing in freestyle rap competitions. He won the Supreme Bars MC and Producer Tournament in October, December, and January 2016. FYÜTCH won End of The Weak MC Challenge in April. December 2016, he won the Supreme Bars Tournament as a producer, becoming the first person to win the competition as an MC and a Producer.

Awards

EP

Singles