Sometimes acts or musical collectives come around that are just overall likable. They just come with an energy and positive influence that is tough to turn away. In a business that is as fickle as the music business, these attitudes are rarely held and even rarer sincere.

This is why a group such as the Aw Yeaz stand out, headed by producer Persuazion, the four person collective just feels like a family unit. Not only that, they seem to approach everything with a sort of joy. Some would call this naivety at its finest, because the industry usually digests this and leaves a cynical shell, but just talking to them leaves you with a feeling that just maybe, just maybe, they have what it takes to bring some fun back to the music industry. After winning an iStandard Producers competition, a partnership with HipHopDX in New York, Tha Aw Yeaz earned their place in DXnext.

Name: Tha Aw Yeaz.

Hometown: Union, New Jersey.

Early Influences: "First and foremost, God. That’s our biggest influence. We have our father, because he was a musician, our uncle, we have a couple influences. Family. Timbaland, Pharell, Cool & Dre [click to read] out there."

Background: "We have a heavy church background. Were always in church in the music and the singing, and that’s how it got started, in the church. We just love music and when people listen to us they just want to have fun."

Defining Success: "How well we help people. Helping people getting into a better position for success. Helping them get into a position of getting into a level of comfort ability, so they don’t have to worry about anything anymore, having the general public relate to us. Complex satisfaction, satisfied with ourselves while getting the people around us satisfied. Hoping to encourage other people to doing what they want to do."

The Name: "When you hear something good, you think about the term 'Aw Yeah.' It’s that good feeling, our name defines itself."

What They See Themselves As: "We just want to be a positive force. When people hear of us, we want them to be encouraged. The sky’s the limit have what you want, we don’t just do Hip Hop and R&B inspirational music, we love people. If you’re down in the dumps, we can help you out to find a higher power. We just want to be a big ball of optimism."

Being A Positive Force And Staying Relevant: "We're already positive people, so real in what we do. That message we are willing to say it, that’s why our in the direction to who we are. We have a message to those Rock stars, rappers, and those ears. Even if you want to bring what it is, we can touch some hearts, were open-minded for so many different subjects. For people so genuine people identify with that immediately. Genuineness that people with that we will be able to have that through our performance. People who meet us personally, people get a feeling that we are really cool. Since were so genuine our message will be heard. We’re constantly evolving. We don’t listen to the radio; we try to hear the music and figure out what the direction they are going in. We’re trying to stay two steps ahead of everybody else. We try to constantly evolve. We want the industry to follow are lead. We're not followers in the industry, we don’t have that mindset."

Versatility: "Our versatility, we have a song called 'Turn Away' that starts with a R&B feel and goes into Rock. We can mix two songs genres within our music. It might start as a ballad and turn into something else. We want to glue up different genres. We want to grow up with different types of music."

Dream Hip Hop Gospel Collaboration: "There are so many you don’t know. Marvin Winans and Beyonce, that would just be crazy. Donnie McClurkin and 50 Cent [too]. It would send shivers. 50 Cent [click to read] captivates the hood when he speaks. Donnie McClurkin gives you goose bumps when he preaches. It would create a impactful song, maybe too impactful."

What’s Next: "Thank God a lot has been picking up since the [iStandard Producers] showcases. Shout out to Don Di Napoli for putting those on. Everything has been picking up for us. We're going to be meeting with Atlantic, and other record companies. Getting placements and showing the industry and the world. Also branding, we want the Tha Aw Yeaz to not just be music, we want  Tha Aw Yeaz to be a brand, selling clothing and stuff like that."

For more information on Tha Aw Yeaz [click here].