The DOO WOP RAPPER

A Journey Into Doo Wop, Poetry, & Identity

“It’s original. Second Hand King has it’s own thing going on…”

— Brandon Backus “SYFFAL”

”…an artist capable of blending and switching gernes to his liking”

—- Natalie Gallagher “The Pitch”

“He wears his heart on his sleeve, combining temporary hip-hop elements of vintage popular music including doo-wop & rat pack-era saloon singing”

— Bill Brownlee “KCUR 89.3”

The Doo Wop Rapper, the new EP from Second Hand King, is the culmination of six projects all leading towards one solitary goal: “Don’t fight it - feel it.”  For Joseph Stanziola, the creator of Second Hand King, that feeling first arrived after listening to “The Duke of Earl” by Gene Chandler.   He knew, in some obscure transient way, that someday his music would reflect that feeling. 

Here — a decade into this once hip-hop project, Stanziola has reinvented himself into a poetic crooner influenced by as much Allen Ginsberg as Sam Cooke. Teaming up with one sole producer for an entire project for the first time in Tyler Banks, Stanziola has redefined what the made up genre of “Doo Wop Rap” means.

To better understand why, why make up a genre or why has Stanziola championed the said made up genre for almost a decade - you have to understand the heart of Doo Wop. What it feels like to listen to it & what it feels like to always feel young & in love. Banks & Stanziola have aimed straight for the heart in this five song EP that feels an ode to a too short relationship.

CLICK TO LISTEN: PLAYLIST OF “THE DOO WOP RAPPER EP”

TRACK LISTING
1. Phone Number
2. Can It Be Us?
3. Don’t Play With My Soul
4. Muddy
5. Lonesome Town

WATCH: GO SO WRONG | PERFECT DAY | COLD SHOULDER