Jackson Free Press

Silas Stapleton III, better known to fans as SILAS, is blending hip-hop and hops for his upcoming album, "The Last Cherry Blossom."

The Jackson rapper will be partnering with Lucky Town Brewing Company (1710 N. Mill St.) to host a listening party for his latest studio album, as well as the launch of "Cherry Blossom," a tie-in beer from the local brewery. The event takes place Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and is free to attend.

"Basically, I wanted the album rollout to be as big as possible," Stapleton says. "I wanted it to be something exciting. ... I thought it would be a cool idea to say, 'Hey, come listen to some music while you're drinking some beer that's related to the music.'"

Lucky Town Operations Manager Lucas Simmons says that Brad "Kamikaze" Franklin, who manages SILAS, approached the brewery with the idea of creating a beer to coincide with the new album's release.

"We loved the idea, obviously, because we love promoting local music and pretty much anything about Jackson," Simmons says. "It just kind of made sense with such a great artist like SILAS that we'd give it a shot."

In addition to a connected name and appearance, each can of Cherry Blossom, a cherry-infused wheat ale, also includes a code for a bonus track from the album. Lucky Town brewed a small batch of the beer for now, but Simmons says he hopes it will grow in popularity, with the beer and album helping to promote each other.

Stapleton says his latest recording project has been in the works on and off for about two years, even before the release of his breakout album, 2016's "The Day I Died." The new album was initially going to be titled simply "Cherry Blossom" and released during the spring, when cherry blossoms bloom. As the time approached though, Stapleton says he felt it wasn't ready, which then gave him the idea for the title "The Last Cherry Blossom."

"For me, it just translates to something that's beautiful but tragically short, you know, because they don't really last long. The album was just me, this time around, trying to make some timeless, beautiful music. But of course, it's not a million tracks on it," he says with a laugh, "so it won't last that long."

Stapleton says the biggest difference between "The Last Cherry Blossom" and "The Day I Died" is the progress on his new album, both musically and personally.

"Going into 'The Day I Died,' I had a lot of doubt about who I was and hoping people would understand me," he says. "But I think just being grateful for the success I've had thus far, 'Cherry Blossom' is a celebration of all of that, where I am right now, and just being appreciative for the amount of support I have now."

SILAS's "The Last Cherry Blossom" is available for preorder on Friday, Oct. 5, and will be available for purchase and streaming on Friday, Oct. 19. For more information, visit dear-silas.com.

CORRECTION: The original version of the story stated incorrectly that the event requires pre-registration. The will be open to the public and not require registration. The JFP apologizes for this error.