Local hip-hop artist signs contract

Michael Maldonado doesn't have to go to work in the morning - at least not as his former job at Summit Images, a medical imaging company on State Road 50.

The 25-year-old Spring Hill resident recently inked a deal to record a hip-hop CD for Warner Bros. Records. A release date has not been set. But when that happens, Maldonando said there will be a large-scale promotional tour.

He has been recording and touring locally and regionally for the past seven years.

The new album will produced by the Grammy Award-winning J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League out of Atlanta.

His promotion CD, called "Your Future Favorite Rapper," has been available for two months and is downloadable from his Web site, www.yourfuturefavoriterapper.com, and from MySpace at www.myspace.com/lawshiphop.

His single, "Rain," premièred on WILD 94.1 in Tampa a few months ago and is currently playing in regular rotation due to a high volume of listener requests, Maldonado said.

"'Rain' is gaining a lot of steam," said Maldonado, who is known in the hip-hop community as Laws. "It is the only song being carried over to the new CD because I am constantly recording new material.

Maldonado said he got his nickname, Laws, when he was a kid.

"It has kind of a cool comic book sound to it," he added.

Maldonado, a 2002 graduate of Springstead High School, said his interest in music began at an early age when his parents would listen to salsa music while the family lived in Long Island, N.Y.

"They were into the '70s salsa movement, and James Brown and Barry White were common at my house," he said.

Maldonado also is a big fan of 1960s British Invasion, and cites The Animals and The Kinks as influences.

And while he does like The Beatles, he is more a fan of Paul McCartney's post Fab Four work with Wings.

He likes "Sir Paul" so much that at some point he said he plans to do a reworking of McCartney B-sides and deeper album cuts that will be downloadable for free on MySpace.

Hip hop and rap acts that have influenced his music include Jay-Z and Nas.

Maldonado said he is not "trying to save the world" with his music.

"I am a music fan making quality music," he said. "I want this to be another CD in your collection that you could say 'Wow, this is a great CD!'"

He also wants to make his parents proud of him.

"They have been very supportive of me," he said. "It's tough for parents to see a child reject the traditional lifestyle. But when they saw that I was serious about they supported me. Without my family pushing me, I couldn't have done it."