Garrett Merk Continues To Pave His Own Path With “10 Minutes Late”
Between the rise of artists like DTheFlyest, Van Buren, and SeeFour, Brockton’s hip-hop scene is currently among the most prosperous in New England. Garrett Merk is another name you can add to that list.
First he went by Merk, then he went by Garrett, and now he’s Garrett Merk. Through the name changes, the talent and drive has remained consistent and the music keeps getting better. Some of his earliest work can still be found on YouTube, dating back to 2010. In 2014, he released an album called “Highly Overdue” as part of a trio called Pak x Emh with singer Justin Lucas and producer Frace, both of whom are motocross racers who he met during his time in the sport. The album gained a ton of traction and reached the Billboard 200 chart. In 2015, he released a project by the name of “THE 6YS” on SoundCloud, which also took off. Through the success of those projects followed by popular singles like “Cereal”, “Bygones”, “GTR”, and “Sometimes”, Merk has spent the last few years developing quite the following. For that reason, his new album “10 Minutes Late” managed to reach the top the 30 on the iTunes hip-hop charts following its release last week.
Merk’s unique style is what has set him apart. His rapping and singing are done in a seemingly effortless, freestyle-like fashion, yet he makes it sound so polished. His lyrics are a direct reflection of the thoughts swirling around his head. Some of it connects, some of it is sporadic, much of it is reflective, and all of it is real and genuine. He’ll even occasionally pause in his verses as if to collect his thoughts. This organic and candid style is refreshing as it doesn’t leave much room for fabrication, creating a unique level of trust between the artist and the listener.
On “Chop Suey”, he raps about sipping from a Brita filter. On “AWOL” he raps about wearing socks and sandals. Somehow he makes both of these things sound really cool.
“AWOL”, the lead single off ’10 Minutes Late’, was released with a video back in December. It was followed up with “Top Flight” in January. The full project came out on February 20th and has been met with rave reviews.