Gregory Hutchinson has experienced so much in the music industry and perhaps more when it comes to the intersection of life and music.

The Brooklyn-born drummer was a child of the 1970s in the Big Apple borough and witnessed everything first-hand – from the great Reggie Jackson Yankees teams to the rise of hip-hop throughout the city. He also remembers the Caribbean Day parades and the high rate of crime that co-existed hand-in-hand, but he always felt a sense of something soon to pop off.

Hutchinson was introduced to music at a young age, as his father was also a percussionist. As a child, his dad introduced him to Earth Wind & Fire, Bob Marley, and Elvin Jones, among others. There were also personal moments that stuck with him forever and piqued his interest in wanting to make creating music a lifelong passion.

“Pop's used to sit me on his lap, he’d have his joint in his mouth, and he would play one drops on his drum set,” Hutchinson told BET during a recent interview. “I’m bouncing along to the beat and I'm getting a contact high from him and feeling the rhythm of what he's playing. It just intrigued me.”

As he got older, the rich tapestry of cross-cultural influences he was exposed to growing up in a Trinidadian household, mixed with the open-minded approach his parents provided him, helped Hutchinson develop his musical identity. As he took up drums, he began playing with bands in many capacities with the main goal of eventually playing with George Benson. Eventually, he worked with jazz greats like Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr., among others.

Hutchinson has also collaborated with artists like Karreim Riggins, Ledisi, James Poysner and Common, whom he hit the road with for his Like Water for Chocolate tour during the early 2000s. All of this provided him with immense experience that he still carries with him.

And while Hutchinson has spent decades working with legendary peers, he was still relatively in the background of the musical endeavors he would take on. It wasn’t until recently that he decided he wanted to be at the forefront of his sound.

In September, Gregory Hutchinson is slated to release his debut album Da Bang, a 15-track offering and the first time fans and admirers will be able to hear a work completely at his own direction. It’s a proving ground for him, with the lessons of his past guiding him.

In the intro of his April-released song and video “Straight from the Heart” off of his forthcoming album, Hutchinson says: “I’ve been patient for a long time, and I’ve finally got the courage to do what I want to do, so I’m putting this forward to y’all. It’s a whole new side of me.” It’s this message that he sending with the project.

“It really took this time to force me to say, I want to do something completely different, something more challenging, and a different genre of music that people don't really know me for,” he explains. “But I figured I can definitely bang out. That's kind of the motivations, like I'm putting my ass on a limb here. I don't mind because I don't have a model that there's no can't and there's no fail.”

Da Bang is a montage of sorts, mixing a myriad of genres from rock and R&B to touches of electronic and his native jazz. Hutchinson’s full producer prowess is on display as he taps singers, rappers and other vocal artists to lend their craft to his first solo LP. And while it’s music for all ages, he notes it isn’t trying to impress anyone young simply for a buzz.

“I'm not trying to appeal to the 20-year-olds because I'm not 20, but I want to have music that bounces for everybody. I want my s**t to be ageless, colorless, genderless I want everybody to dance,” Hutchinson explains. “I just want everyone to move and feel good and that's what I'm about: this feel good s**t. To me. It's so important because we don't get enough of that.”

Slated for a September 29 release, Da Bang is a prime example of perseverance, mixed with a lesson that anyone can accomplish anything in life – even if some of your goals are completed when the time is right for such to manifest.

“Life is a game. It's all a damn game. We all played in different genres of life that we're in, but in the end, you want to get ahead and you're trying to make the best product or be the best you that you can be,” Hutchinson says. “I know everyone like, ‘This m****rf****r is corny.’ No, this is some true s**t. This is what life is about, and when people wake up and see that I think a lot of things will change, the music industry will change for the better, the way we treat each other as people will change for the better but we got to get to a quick though because time is wasted.”

Listen to Gregory Hutchinson’s singles “New Dawn,” “Blow Your Mind / Let’s Take It Back,” and “Straight from the Heart” from Da Bang below.