On February 14, 2012, Kirby Maurier released her EP, Class of '96 which is easily considered a classic to people in the United States, London, South Africa and other places across the globe. Class of '96 was one of Live Mixtapes highest rated R&B mixtapes from an independent artist the year it was released. The release has earned over 1 million combined streams and over a quarter of a million downloads. People up to this day still listen and enjoy this body of work. It all started with the recording of one song.

In late 2011, Kirby was riding high from her debut single "You" (released on Valholla Entertainment) which later featured Broward MC, Ace Hood. The single garnered radio play in select cities in the United States, and other places overseas. With a follow-up in the works, Kirby started recording new music with production duo, Jackpot Music. (One-half of the production team included producer of her 2015 independent album debut, 'Doing The Most')

Before the end of 2011, the singer/songwriter recorded and released a remix to The Notorious B.I.G.'s classic "Sky's The Limit" which received such a great response. "Why not make an entire project of songs that have R&B remakes to Hip Hop classics?" said the project's executive producer, Vince Valholla. Then Kirby came up with the genius idea that all the songs must be remixes of hip hop releases from 1996. That's when the idea for Class of '96 was born.

After finding instrumentals of numerous Hip Hop hits from 1996, Kirby picked the songs she would record to and started writing to them. What many people don't know is, outside of the recording session for "Sky's The Limit", Kirby finished recording Class of '96 in one session (yes, in one day). That session was one to remember. The studio was filled with people and included lots of champagne and fruit. The champagne of choice was Moët Nectar Impérial, which was the go-to champagne for signings within Valholla Entertainment.

The vibe was set and that session was legendary. Kirby recorded 5 songs during that session and the project was arranged, mixed and mastered by the time the morning came. One fun fact about her recording of "Da Lick" was she wrote the song the night of the session and J Nics, which is featured on the song did as well. Once the project was done, it was time to prep the release.

We did a photoshoot for the cover on the same roof in Miami where we shot Doing The Most and she wore a jacket from her alma mater, Miramar High. She didn't graduate in '96 so we had to add the "96" to her jacket with Photoshop (I bet you couldn't tell it wasn't digitally added before). The cover was also shot by our long time friend, Staylookingout.