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Cecil Tso, aka Tsoh Tso, is a local Flagstaff musician, beatmaker and rapper. His first solo hip-hop album released on Feb. 18, titled "Finding Our Balance," and focuses on themes of identity, home, grief and the balance of life and death.

"Finding Our Balance" guides listeners through Tso’s perspective on life, music and love through a uniquely northern Arizona perspective.

His artist name Tso Tsoh (pronounced So-So) is a play on his last name Tso, which is derived from the Navajo word Tsoh meaning big or large. In English � although Cecil remarks it is grammatically incorrect � Tsoh Tso could be translated as “Big Tso.�

Most known for his collaborations and group work, Tso has often preferred working with others. He is one half of the rap group An Illustrated Mess, a hip-hop group with Clint Slim, and CoCec with Colin Haviland. He is also a producer for musician Tre Orona and countless other independent artists.

Tso says his music story began in high school, “way back in like 2009 or 2008. Originally I wanted to rap but then decided I didn’t really want to do that, so I started making beats." 

Tso uses popular music-producing site Ableton Live to make his beats. Elaborating on his creative process, Tso is “always [making beats] from a place of emotion and feelings, 'cause it has to feel right, even if it sounds cool but doesn't feel right I won’t even save it.�

Tso dabbles in many areas of music � writing, producing, film scoring, DJing and rapping � but says making beats remains his favorite. The beats are always inspired by spontaneity, emotion and feeling. When making beats, Tso “just follows where it takes me, and sometimes it doesn’t take me anywhere.�

But Tso elaborated on his creative process, saying “weirdly enough, I don’t necessarily listen to a lot of music. I often watch movies or play video games. So then when I do sit down [to make music], I just go in with a blank slate and I just play something, and wherever it takes me is essentially where it lands.�

Although "Finding Our Balance" is a solo album, Tso says that it was still a collaborative team effort. The idea for a solo album came from his friend and collaborator Ceschi, the owner and founder of the East Coast independent hip-hop record label Fake Four Inc. Tso grew up listening to artists from Fake Four Inc. and says it is “a dream come true to just be on the same splash page as others I listen to.� Tso accredits Ceschi as the person “who literally just asked me to make a solo album, and I said yes.�

“Growing up it was always kind of a balancing act for me. I’d have one foot here and one foot there," Tso says about coming up with the album's title. “The reason it’s finding 'our' balance instead of finding 'my' balance is because I had friends who decided to help me share the narrative.�

"Finding Our Balance" explores themes of grief, identity and conflict. While Tso composed, arranged and produced each song, the majority of the tracks on the album are collaborations with his friends. A few of the tracks are strictly Tso’s vocals and words, providing an inner glimpse into his perspective.

Tso recommends listening to the album in order, with the track list being intentional. He says that the themes of the music start dark and gradually become lighter. Tso’s first vocal track on the album is “Burn Marks,� a song about being biracial. (Tso’s mother is Navajo and his father is not.) “Burn Marks� focuses on Tso’s relationship with his own racial identity and the social constructs surrounding him.

“Small Talk� is another track on which Tso leads the vocals, focusing on darker aspects of mental health. “The Falls� is an acapella song reflecting on growing up around a lot of death but still working to move forward.

"Finding Our Balance" goes beyond intimacy, with a regional focus on Flagstaff in some of his songs. Tso describes “The Woods� as a realistic portrayal of Flagstaff, and “Thorpe Road� as a personal callback to the first road Tso ever lived on in town.

Tso says his friends call “Winter Shakes� a song about reflecting on being a “border town Native.� Tso says, “I tell people I simultaneously grew up in Flagstaff but also the rez. I lived out on the rez, but I would come into town for school and work, so I lived in both worlds. ‘Winter Shakes� is about that juxtaposition.�

“Needle Point� is a collaborative song that features fellow musicians sharing their own stories on “having to balance between where you are at, where you want to be and what you are dealing with.� It features artist heirMAX (from Texas) in the first verse talking about the alienation from the skateboarding community as a Black teenager. Ersatz Splynter (from California) has the second verse speaking about being Mexican and being in Advanced Placement classes and how people from his community gave him a hard time about it. The final verse comes from Prowess The Testament (from Washington D.C.) and addresses being a Black queer woman in spaces that weren’t particularly welcoming.

A prominent song on the album is “Dead Indians Part II,� which is a callback to Tso’s group An Illustrated Mess. In 2019 they had released a song called “Dead Indians.� The song pays homage to hip-hop groups such as the Dead Indians, an Indigenous Canadian hip-hop group, and Ill Methods, one of the first Navajo rap groups that inspired Tso and Clint Slim to get into music.

“Dead Indians� by An Illustrated Mess was dark and political � which the group felt was appropriate but did face a bit of backlash over. So with “Dead Indians Part II,� Tso wanted to contrast the original and create an uplifting and supportive song. Getting the chance to collaborate with HellandBack, a Canadian artist who worked with the original Dead Indians group, and with U B O, an original member of Ill Methods, made completing this song a full-circle moment for Tso, he describes it as a wholesome and fulfilling experience.

The album's final song is "T’á� hwó� ají t’éego," which translates to “It’s up to you.� Tso uses this song as a positive reminder to keep working, elaborating that “no one else is doing it for me.�

"Finding Our Balance" took Tso took a year and a half to produce. After the loss of a beloved family member, he decided to deem the album complete. Losing his loved one occured at the same time as writing his album, causing him to "literally and metaphorically come home." He said that if he didn’t cut it off he would still be working on the album today, working even more through themes of love and grief. Ending it when he did helped him find a “sense of resolution.�

"Finding Our Balance" released on on Feb. 18 and on and everywhere else on Feb. 21. If interested in purchasing a CD copy, find it on Fake Four's Bandcamp.