For FAZE.ONE, music was never introduced with ceremony. It was simply everywhere. Guitars in the corner, keys within reach, drums nearby, and songs constantly moving through the house. As a kid, he absorbed it without thinking. Then hip hop entered the picture and changed everything. Music was no longer just background noise. It became something he wanted to shape with his own hands.
By thirteen, he had bought his first turntables and stepped from listener to participant. A few years later, while studying at SCAD, he invested in recording gear, microphones, and samplers, building the foundation for a creative life that would run parallel to everything else. That was the moment he began discovering his own voice, not only as a producer, but as a storyteller with something personal to say.
His sound begins with boom bap roots, shaped by icons like DJ Premier, Madlib, RZA, and Pete Rock, artists who understood that a beat can create an entire world. But FAZE.ONE never stayed confined to one lane. Soul, texture, warmth, and cinematic atmosphere all live inside his work. Influences such as Portishead, Massive Attack, Radiohead, and Gorillaz helped expand his vision, showing him that hip hop can be expansive, emotional, and unpredictable.
While music remained close to his heart, his professional life moved elsewhere. He built technology companies and design agencies, contributing to major projects connected to the Grammys, Super Bowls, World Cup, Golden Globes, New York Fashion Week, and the Billboard Music Awards. He also developed custom software for global brands. Impressive as that journey has been, it demanded time, focus, and energy. For years, he helped bring other people’s ideas to life while his own waited patiently in the background.
That tension has become the emotional center of his current chapter. Creating music is not strategic for him. It is instinctive, therapeutic, and deeply personal. Sharing it, however, has been the harder challenge. After spending decades confidently building platforms for others, stepping forward with his own art required a different kind of courage.
One of his proudest recent milestones came through producing Eligh’s upcoming solo album, The Way The Light Looks, front to back. For someone who once studied Eligh’s records as a fan, becoming the architect of an entire project for an artist he respects was a full circle moment. It also confirmed that the years of refining his craft were leading somewhere real.
Now, FAZE.ONE is entering his most active season yet, with solo releases under the name Buddy Rockwell, a collaborative project with Jon Bom, and a growing catalog of music he considers his best work to date. After years of building stages for brands, events, and other creators, he is finally building one for himself, and this time, the spotlight is exactly where it belongs.