For Tri-City music crew, it’s a ‘Good Day’

The song took no time to write.

It poured out of them, like it was meant to be.

Perhaps it was.

“We wrote it in about 25 minutes,” said Tri-City rapper Medium, whose track Good Day featuring Jai Kelli is blowing up online and earning radio play in markets around the country.

“When I tell people, I’m like, ‘It had to come from God,’ ” he said. “I write songs pretty quick, but not in 25 minutes.”

The track is insanely catchy — a bright, fun ode to positivity.

Medium raps about small victories, like having money leftover when the rent is paid, an unexpected day off and a gas tank that shows “a half tank, with a large cup filled with Powerade.”

On the chorus, he and Kelli sing of the joy of “a good day, ay oh ay. Feeling so free, no stress to my ego.”

Their sleek and energetic music video, directed by Richland native Justin Frick, dropped last week and has racked up thousands of hits since.

It had almost 20,000 views on Vevo and about 20,500 views on YouTube by Wednesday afternoon — and the counts keep rising.

It’s an exciting time, Medium said.

“My whole journey in music has been a roller coaster up and down. To be able to give back to the community, to show them you have people in your town that can contend with (big names in the music industry) feels good,” he said.

The 27-year-old, known off stage as Quintin Adams, graduated from Kiona-Benton City High School in 2006.

He got serious about music after a young love turned sour.

“She broke my heart and told me I would never amount to anything in my life,” Medium said.

But he turned that hurt into motivation. “I said, ‘I want to do music and I’m going to be successful. I’m going to make it,’ ” the rapper told the Herald.

Medium, who counts artists such as T.I., Macklemore, T-Pain, The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur as influences, linked up with the local crew ERZ, which included Alphy Nics and Avery Azylum, among other artists. They eventually went their separate ways, although Medium, Nics and Azylum now are part of A.N.E./Money Over Misery, along with Kelli.

“We’re all independent artists, but we have each other’s backs and push each other,” Kelli said.

She and Medium were at her father’s house in Pasco last summer, listening to beats, when the track that would become Good Day came on.

Kelli, who was born Jordana-Kelli Whitney and graduated from Southridge High School in 2009, was struggling to write positive, happier songs.

But with Good Day, something clicked. Medium started with, “it’s a good day, ay oh ay,” and he and Kelli built the track from there.

They knew right away that they had something special.

Others did too.

Fellow A.N.E. member Nics listened to an early cut and was impressed.

“The first time I heard it, I knew it was a hit. I knew it was the one. I said, ‘This is going to change a lot of stuff for all of us,’ ” he told the Herald.

Derek G is the song’s producer, with Wanz — the Seattle-area musician known for singing on Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ smash Thrift Shop — serving as co-producer.

Julius Francis was the sound engineer.

Nics and Azylum appear in the video with Medium and Kelli.

It took months to shoot and features cameos by Wanz and the Hanford High School marching band, plus animation by Tri-City native Kyson Cartwright.

Kelli said it’s meant to uplift. “It’s trying to spread a positive vibe and make everyone know they can be happy,” she said. “It’s giving that reminder that you can find something to be positive about.”

Medium is a glass-half-full kind of guy, and he hopes his music inspires others.

“There’s something magical that happens when people see someone go after their dreams and achieve them. You can see the spark come back in their eye,” he said. “Being in the position I’m at right now … being able to encourage somebody to follow their dreams is what it’s all about.”

Check out Good Day on Vevo and YouTube.

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "For Tri-City music crew, it’s a ‘Good Day’."