Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 16/05) - Hip hop recording artist Aaron "Godson" Hernandez released his latest CD today.

Arctic Reign is the third album in a trilogy that the prolific DJ started in 2003. It's his seventh recording in eight years.

"This CD was the hardest one to do because I wanted to make sure everything I wanted to put out came out right," he said. "I'm proud of it because I accomplished something I set out to do."

The music on Arctic Reign takes on a more positive vibe than previous recordings. Hernandez said he thinks carefully about how his messages are received by youth.

Several of the tracks tackle Northern issues, including the title song and Ice Vibe, in which Godson chronicles his hip hop experience in Yellowknife.

Mind Therapy is a song Hernandez wrote shortly after the RCMP's Project Gunship crack raids. Freeze is a club tune with a Northern theme.

Many of the songs stray from old school rap into more lyrical rhythm and blues, he said. This is also the first album Hernandez didn't produce entirely on his own. Besart Hysniu produced Told My Mama That and three producers from Italy and the U.S. mixed a few of the others.

Hernandez will be at CD Plus in the Centre Square Mall from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. tomorrow to sign T-shirts and CDs. His first tour date will be Lutsel K'e on Dec. 29.