100 Miles speaks out in his latest song “White Space”

Miles Ray-Burks, better known as 100 Miles, is from St. Louis but now an alias of L.A. This hip hop artist is also a self taught producer. He creates rap music and independent beat mixtapes using his own swag. After releasing two debut singles back in 2016, he fell in love with the creative process and dedicated himself to his own artistry and 100 Miles was born! His musical influences are Kid Cudi and Earl Sweatshirt. His most recent creation and our song to tune into is “White Space”!

I truly love the treatment of this song. There is a unnatural yet natural feel to it that gives you the best of music and spoken word. Although lyrics are similar to poetry, there is nothing like spoken word. And to blend it with music is truly genius. I feel like spoken word is becoming an endangered species and only the realest survive it. Floetry is a group that blends this well! I enjoy the vocal choice in this particular song. Her octave and tone is perfect for this feature. I love the lyricism in this as well. To hear music and get a feel or mood from it instead of just hearing the same “trends” is a breath of fresh air. “White Space” allows you to get captured in a moment where you are vibing with a poet.

Listen to 100 Miles' new single "white Space" here and get to know him below!

I go by 100 Miles and I’m originally from St. Louis. I’ve moved back and forth from the Lou to LA for most of my life. My mom moved out here with my sister and I for the first time back in 2007. I moved back to STL in 2010 and I started writing poetry in 5th grade English. From then on, I wrote all the time and moved back to LA in 2014. Throughout my life I dealt with a lot of abuse from many angles and, as a result, struggle with things like anxiety, depression and PTSD. These mental illnesses were and are the main reason I began creating. I wasn’t allowed to feel things outwardly so anything I felt or thought I was forced to hold onto and keep inside. After a while one can only take so much so, I created whatever I could. Poetry and music are what stuck with me the strongest so, I started making music back in 2017 while I was a part of this poetry group called Get Lit Words Ignite after my friend Atlas Speaks shot me a couple extra beats he had. I released my first song, Sinister, in July of 2017 and then started producing my own beats in November or December that same year. A couple months after I entered the world of production, I released my first EP Muted Colors on March 16, 2018. From then on, I spent the next year working on my latest album White Space which came out March 18, 2019.

For a while I had a hard time finding music I really connected with and when I did it was often few and far between. As I mentioned I wrote a lot of poetry and things like that so feelings were in abundance for me and given I knew I felt these things I figured someone else out there also felt something similar. My main focus in music is to normalize the broad spectrum of human emotions. Not everyone feels the same or to the same intensity so I want to give those that feel like they have to hide behind a wall the understanding that connecting with what you feel is a good thing. Even if those feelings aren’t happy or “positive.”

White Space is the intro song to my album titled “White Space.” The song takes various idealistic forms but the main direction it takes is a guide to the rest of the album. The making of this album was a parallel to Muted Colors in the sense that I took my time this time around. I was so stressed to get it out and be the best and do this and say these things and make it like this, that I started to lose touch with what it really means to make things and WHY I fell in love with music. My close friend, Lady Unloved, is the vocalist for the first half of the song and she wrote that section beautifully. I really love how she executed it. She has her own meaning for it and why she wrote it but when I hear it that’s what I connect it with. My verse touches on the intersections I’ve had with Blackness, wanting/searching for change, and love/intimacy. The fear of falling in love and that exhilarating feeling of connectivity being matched with the terror of what could happen to you as a Black person in Amerikkka gives a direct summary of what I said in the verse.

The inspiration behind White Space was a mix of the relationship I was building at the time, being in very racially tense environments, the constant brutality being shown by police in communities and on the news and, trying to remind myself where and who I come from. I really wanted the music to ensnare what the album would give you emotionally.

I hope and believe my music career will take me to places that will allow me to return the wealth and knowledge I accumulate to the people that gave me the support I needed at the hardest points of life and the communities I’ve been a part of overtime. I hope it will allow me inspire people to stop accepting the death of their dreams and believe in what is right. Fuck societal standards and beliefs. Be who YOU are and develop and grow into the person you are meant to. I hope to tell all the kids that doubt themselves exactly that and give them the tools to do exactly that.

Main goal of 2019 is to play more shows, network with people and make some new music. I’ve been working on some visuals for the album and I have some new tracks I recently finished that may come out later this year. Been thinking of making a lo-fi beat tape also, but we’ll see.

Follow 100 Miles on social media now!

Instagram: www.instagram.com/miles.burks

Twitter: www.twitter.com/HunnitMiles