Video Premiere: Overtime Honours His Fallen Friend with “One Last Letter”

Impassioned, poignant, and very momentous, you can’t help but be moved by Overtime and his brand new single and music video for “One Last Letter.” The song was inspired by the Montana rapper’s experience dealing with the passing of his best friend who, tragically, committed suicide. To be included on his forthcoming Self Made In America album, due out June 10th on his own label Selective Interest Group, the song will grip you with its powerful lyrics and message about suicide prevention.

With a blue-collar approach to his craft and art, Overtime has all by himself created an impressive following of diehard fans and devotees. In a career that has now spanned over 15 years, the rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor has earned himself over 100 million views of his videos on YouTube, which includes 255,000 subscribers, as well as 240,000 monthly Spotify listeners. Overtime maintains a close connection with his fans, thanks to his sheer honesty as an artist, as well as his working-class approach. He has arranged over 20 cross-country tours without the assistance of a booking agent, record label, or management group. It doesn’t get any more DIY than that.

Self Made In America will be the follow-up to 2019’s Divided We Fall, an album that charted on both the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Album chart and the Heatseekers Mountain chart. Overtime is all heart, and he proves it time and time again, confirming that a country boy can find his own way in the music business, no matter what anyone says or thinks.

With such a heavy song and music video about a topic that needs as much exposure as possible, we asked Overtime a few questions about “One Last Letter,” where he sheds more light on the song’s meaning and recording process… see below for our quick Q&A.

Tell us the story of your friend and the decision to honour his memory on “One Last Letter.”

Overtime: “Since the beginning, people have dealt with the urge of suicide. Some people go through with it, some people find their way out of that darkness. There was a musician named Christian Twite who was from around where I live. I began working with him in my studio and over time developed a brotherhood-type relationship with him. Christian suffered from various mental health things leading him to dark thoughts, anger spurts, etc. I saw the signs but ignored them like most do. After all, this is the world we live in now isn’t it?

“In my efforts to help Christian with his music career, I also spent a lot of time helping him grow in other aspects of life. Kind of ‘showing the way’ type thing. I had a tour coming up and I invited Christian to be a part of it as an opening act. About a month into promotions of the tour, I found out he was involved in some things that I won’t get into. I thought I was helping him by giving a wake-up call and removing him from the tour. I told him when he was ready to get his life together I would revisit him joining me on a tour. I left for tour and the morning I was to play in his home state of Arizona I got a call letting me know that he had taken his life.

“‘One Last Letter’ is a letter written to Christian. He passed a couple years ago and that’s when I began writing it. I don’t know how many versions of the song were written, but this final version lives in a sea of notebook paper. It was one of those ones that were perfect yet you crumbled up the paper and threw it away just to write it again. I guess I was never ready to move on until now.”

How was the recording process for the song?

“‘One Last Letter’ started as an option beat from my producer Wavbenderz a couple years ago. When I heard it, I knew which song was going to go with it. I sat on it until it was the right time. Christian Twite’s part on the song was recorded at some point when he was writing his album The Notebooks. When we were creating this song, we found the recording and used it.”

How did the songwriting approach for this single and for the album Self Made In America compare to previous releases?

“I typically come up with a melody for how I want my patterns to go. Then I fill in the sounds with words. This creates the melodic rap style that I often use and helps me stay guided on how I want the song to sound.”

Any final thoughts on this release or on or for fans?

“If I accomplish nothing else, let my music be the soundtrack for your life.”

Artwork for the album ‘Self Made in America’ by Overtime