AVGUST

On the screen, August Brainard-Brunelle, known as AVGUST, enters Sunshine Records: a vinyl shop in Ditmars Steinway, New York. Inside, a woman leans over the checkout counter while two men sift through the stacks. The bleach-blond boy darts his eyes around, fidgeting restlessly. He reaches a stack, running his fingers through the saran-wrapped records, and pulls out an album with a yellow and black ombre. He carefully removes the vinyl and slides it into his bag. He moves quickly towards the exit, leaving the sleeve behind. Bumping into the two customers and locking eyes with the cashier, he pushes through the front door and bolts down the street. Back inside the store, the two men look at one another in confusion as the camera pans back to the discarded vinyl sleeve, revealing its cover: a dark-haired AVGUST sitting against that ombre background, staring off into space. “on the flipside” flashes across the screen in white cursive letters, followed by “26 September.” 

Releasing the trailer in late August of 2025, rapper AVGUST hopes to generate excitement about his first-ever upcoming album, on the flipside. 

‍Sitting in his home recording studio, AVGUST bounces between the eight songs on the album, nodding his head in rhythm. Soundproof foam covers the walls, string lights run back and forth above his head, and two speakers sit on either side of his desk. On his computer screen are multiple open software systems oriented toward mixing, producing, and recording. The upcoming album’s composition includes four pairs of original songs, each both a musical and conceptual inverse of the other. One song in each pair is originally produced by AVGUST’s college-friend Chase Miller; followed by a second song made from a sample taken from the first. The album, therefore, is a sample of itself – a creative process referenced in the trailer: AVGUST steals his own vinyl in the same way he samples from himself to make something new.

The approach to making on the flipside not only marks a new endeavor from a musical and lyrical perspective for the rapper, but also a new approach to releasing songs, planning the rollout of a finished collection of music, and promoting himself. The album’s originality simultaneously represents a beginning and an arrival for the rapper.

At 11 years old, AVGUST fell in love with writing raps. He found an immediate home in double entendres and organizing bars in a verse. Even though he wasn’t ready to share his work, creating a clever rhyme over a beat or on paper offered him a comfortable form of self-expression. He remembers keeping his newfound love of lyricism to himself for years. 

‍“From 11 to 17, I didn't show anyone anything. Now I'll write with a goal to write a song or finish a verse, but I used to not know what I wanted to do with it, so I was just writing, and I would edit and add to a verse for months. I'd write like a 70-bar verse with no structure or song planned at all.”

‍With age, AVGUST felt increasingly confident sharing raps with his friends. Within the first month of his freshman year at Cornell, his roommate, Elon, pushed him to record his verses. 

‍“He was like, ‘Why isn't this recorded?’ He had a confrontational way about it. Every day after I would show him something, he’d ask, ‘Did you record that yet?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, I don't even have a mic.’ And he was like, ‘Okay, well, you need to get a mic.’ He was on my ass about it.” 

‍While in school, AVGUST grew a following on social media by rapping over trending tracks. His original writing mixed with a popular song allowed him to hone certain skills, but with time he realized he wanted to do more than just write the lyrics. Embracing an authentic and involved approach to music-making became his new priority. 

‍“If I want to be a Tik Toker and try to make money on TikTok, I could keep doing this, but I really want to make music. I knew I was probably going to lose a lot of viewership because they're not going to hear a beat they can’t recognize immediately, but I chose to pivot.” 

‍AVGUST spent a post grad year in Ithaca working with Miller on songs made from scratch. Not wanting to cough up the heavy fee of having someone else mix a song for him, he bought a 500-page book on mixing methods and began teaching himself. The rapper waited tables at a restaurant near campus and would work throughout the night on his music after his shifts. He grew increasingly obsessed with the production process, and slowly more of what he made came from his own creation. After his year in Ithaca, AVGUST moved to New York City with the goal of becoming a full time musician. He landed a serving job at Zou Zou’s in Manhattan, where he’s learned to work on his music on subway commutes and while waiting tables.

‍“Once I listen to a beat over and over again I can memorize the BPM and tempo of it which allows me to write while I’m at work, just on the same pad I take orders on. I feel lucky I get to pick my schedule – it’s mentally and physically draining, but that’s the case for so many artists. And the beauty of the industry is that you never bring it home.”

‍Once he’s back in his home studio, the rapper dives into his projects. Now that mixing, producing, and rapping all fall into his lap as avenues of his own work, AVGUST can easily spend all day creating a song. 

‍“I'll have the engineer half of me wanting to change something on the mix side, and then the artist half of me wanting to change something vocally. It can make recording sessions take four or five hours because I'm doing two things.” 

‍While in the studio in early 2024, AVGUST and Miller were playing around with a track their friend Dan had sent over, and the idea of creating an album that sampled itself popped into Miller’s head. 

‍“He just goes, ‘What if we made an album sampling ourselves?’ And then I started guiding the direction of it: I wanted the pairs to be opposites of each other, and I wanted it to be an homage to Hip Hop, because Hip Hop started with sampling in the 70s in New York City, and I’m here now.”

‍Once the concept was hammered down, the team was off to the races. Chase produced, AVGUST rapped and mixed, and their network of musicians, producers, and rappers added featured bars and instrumentals. With song pairs like “Night In” / “Night Out,” and “Swirl” / “One Way,” the album showcases inversions in both sound and meaning. AVGUST remembers recording and producing “Dawn” / “Dusk,” the first two songs he released, with excitement. 

‍“Dan sent us the guitar loop with the vinyl crackling in it, then Chase made the drums, and then I sang and rapped over what we called “Dusk.” Then, we isolated the guitar and the lines from the hook for “Dusk”, and made the beat for “Dawn” with new drums and a sped up tempo.”

‍The album’s songs speak to the rapper’s experiences, relationships, and dichotomous outlook on life through lyrics that now have more dimension to them than the double entendre-heavy lines he grew up writing. Every pair shows off original tracks that reflect AVGUST’s hip hop journey. Instead of rapping over trending tracks, he’s rapping over songs that are the remixed version of his own originals. While he began by taking inspiration from movies like 8 Mile and rap battles on YouTube, he’s now rapping bars that match both a personal emotion and intention he’s set out to achieve. Since making the switch, he’s earned a following with his music online, finding himself on a mission to earn appreciation for his completely original pieces. on the flipside represents the rapper’s arrival at a new level of authenticity, and the beginning of the rest of his career. ∎