Matlock

Raised on classic rock, Matlock began making his own music after meeting friend\producer Granite Sandstone in high school. The duo started making mixtapes, experimenting with drum-machines, samplers, and whatever wax they could get their hands on, and would go on to form Family Jewels in 1998.
Also known as Morty Goldstein, (a moniker given to him by his uncle, also a blues guitarist), Matlock made a name for himself performing at showcases, open mics, ciphers, and battles all over Chicago before releasing Crazy Artist Type in 1999. That tape would eventually fall into the hands of Kevin Beechum who played it steadily on his radio show, The Time Travel Show on college station 89.3 WNUR. More local DJ's would follow suit, and soon Matlock had a devoted fan base that helped his album sell considerably well in and around the Chicagoland area, despite the horrible sound quality.
Later, with fans extending from Chicago to both coasts in the U.S., Sweden, England, Canada & even Japan, Matlock continued recording, releasing and self-promoting his home-grown brand of basement hip-hop with Paradise Lost in 2001, touching on a wide aray of subjects from battle-rap to bootleggers, getting stoned to the self-realization of one's own mortality on the emotionally powerful "Caminando Sobre Agua". A contract dispute left him unable to release any new material until he signed with Gravel Records in '03, home of fellow Family Jewels members Rusty Chains and producer Kaz 1.
"I spit it for the kid's sake, the sober and the shit-faced/ the dirt-poor, my sick crew, the city and some inmates", Morty declares on the track "Moonshine" from his forthcoming L.P. by the same name, which he promises willl be more interesting musically than anything he has ever done previously. "I want to focus more on song-writing this time around...", says Matlock, "...These so-called artists think they're creative with a few mediocre verses, a catchy hook, and a bullshit beat, but is it a song? Does it envoke a feeling in you? Does it truly express the mood you were in when you wrote it? These guys are prisoners to their own gimmicks. Hardcore rappers can't be sensitive, intellectual rappers can't be angry, battle rappers can't do anything with meaning beacause they're too busy showing off their "skills" and not focusing on the recording as a whole. There's no reason hip-hop can't be melodic. ! ; I want to get my listeners hype enough to punch their best friend in the mouth on the hard tracks, and reflective enough to burst into tears on the sad songs. I feel I represent the common man's state of mind, which can be happy, sad, goofy, political, spiritual, and filled with rage all at once. I try not to force my writing. I write because I have something to say, not because I have to say something".
KRS-ONE, Nas, Johnny Cash, Van Gogh, J.U.I.C.E., Langston Hughes, Lord Finesse, Redman, Ghostface, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rolling Stones and Dante Allegheri, are just some of the artists Matlock credits for inspiring him. For the future, his plans are to take part in recording a Family Jewels group album with crew members Kaz 1, Rusty Chains and Granite Sandstone, tour everywhere, and be able to work with producers Prince Paul and Rick Rubin.

Matlock-discography

Solo L.P.'s
-Crazy Artist Type (Family Jewels, 1999).
-Paradise Lost (Family Jewels, 2001).

Compilations
-"Get Outta Dodge" from the Molemen, Ritual of the... L.P. (Molemen/Fat Beats, 2001).
-"Cry Me a River" from the Molemen, Chicago City Limits L.P. (Molemen, 2001)
-"Women and Children" a Family Jewels group song from the Record Playas, The Midway Sessions compilation. (Record Playas, 2001).

Cameos
-"Torment" with E.Cilla and Prime. From the E.Cilla, Natural Born Illa L.P. (A-list Audio, 2001).
-"Get Drunk Part 2" with Rusty Chains. From Rusty Chains, Battle Scars to Prove it. (Gravel Records, 2003).