SYDTHEMAN: Don't Get On This Guy's Nerves

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com.

​This is SYDTHEMAN. (Or his record; his picture is on Page 2.) We accidentally stumbled across his music at a networking event about two weeks ago. And wow. He sings and he raps and he cusses, all to varying degrees of goodness.

As such, he made a record called Singin' Rappin' & Cussin'. It is just about excellent, with several parts of it - generally the parts where he lets loose his near pristine falsetto - scraping up against being transcendent. For certain, there aren't a lot of people who can combine even a semblance of musicality with commentary on the banality of John Everyman's day-to-day, but SYDTHEMAN does so fluidly and with (what appears to be) little struggle.

So we invited him to join the Artist of the Week family, asking him about things and more things. He gave answers and then more answers. Roll tide.

Rocks Off: First, tell everyone everything they need to know about Syd the Man in exactly six words.

SYDTHEMAN: If I had to describe myself in six words, they would be: Creative, controversial, comical, demanding, trustworthy and misunderstood.

RO: Of course, the one song that immediately brought us to you was "On My Nerves." Can you talk a brief bit about how that song came to be.

SYDTHEMAN, "On My Nerves"

STM: The idea to rap about people getting on my nerves came from another local Houston rapper while we were both hanging out at a friend's house. I thought the idea was funny, but I had no interest in recording a song with that substance. Then, one day while in the shower, I began to make fun of the idea by singing the chorus that you hear on the recording.

I kept on singing the chorus over and over until I realized that this could be very catchy. So, I called my friend, William Thomas, and sang it for him. He immediately suggested that I record this song. The first version was recorded in 2006 with other local rap artists featured on the track. It wasn't until 2009 when I decided to re-record and re-produce the song featuring my older brother, J. Reed.