Maine Voices Live - Spose (Ryan Peters)

Portland Press Herald Audio

Portland Press Herald staff writer Aimsel Ponti sat down with Spose to chat about his career during a live event on Tuesday, October 17 at One Longfellow Square.

Ryan Peters was born in Portland and grew up in Wells, Maine. He began rapping in eighth grade. Peters graduated from Wells High School in 2004 then attended University of New Hampshire as an English major and later transferred to Suffolk University.

By then his music career was taking off and he was offered a record deal when he was two classes away from graduating. Adopting the moniker Spose, he self-released his first album, Preposterously Dank in 2007 while continuing to work selling lobster at the Barnacle Billy’s restaurant in Ogunquit.

Spose released the We Smoked It All mixtape with rapper Cam Groves in 2009 and in January 2010, the single, “I’m Awesome” received airplay on several Maine radio stations. A month later, after the song caught on in other parts of the US, Spose signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records and announced that he would begin working on a music video. Although he didn’t end up releasing music with Universal, Spose has released a total of 10 albums since 2008, including his most recent Get Rich or Die Ryan in October of 2021.