TERRANCE SCOTT is a busy guy.

He founded and helps run the Jus Family Records label and Executive Branch, a management, production, marketing, and consulting company. He's the man behind the annual Portland Oregon Hip-Hop Festival and The Breakout Show, a weekly program on JAM'N 107.5 FM. He has managed tours for Bay Area rap stars E-40 and Kreayshawn and booked tours for Devin the Dude, not to mention his 24/7 jobs as a husband and father (of three kids ranging in age from four to 23).

Oh, and then there's his solo rap career as Cool Nutz, longtime face of Portland's hiphop scene.

In recent years, Scott's behind-the-scenes stuff began to usurp his work behind the mic, he says. The birth of his son four years ago helped illuminate the fact that his art had taken a backseat, a trend Scott wants to reverse with his strong new album #BRUH.

"Having him, it's changed a lot of my world up in terms of how I was moving with the music and the artistic and creative side of things," he says. "I wasn't in that rapper zone a lot of the time. This record, I feel like it reps who I am, where I am now. It reps where I've come from over the last few years, and coming back out and going full throttle on the rap side."

Since the mid-1990s, Scott has released a dozen Cool Nutz albums, plus countless mixtapes, collaborations, compilation appearances, and more, earning him the unofficial title of Ambassador of Portland Hiphop. Scott appreciates that role and takes it seriously, but he worries that his business hustle overshadows his talent.

#BRUH, then, is Scott's effort to reintroduce himself through beats and rhymes. In an era when rap albums are too often padded with skits and throwaway tracks, #BRUH feels sturdy and efficient, powered by tracks that blend a street sound with a pop sensibility, and feature guest appearances by big names like E-40, Krizz Kaliko, and Mistah FAB, as well as locals Vinnie Dewayne, Tope, Illmaculate, and Mikey Vegaz.

"I feel like musically I'm the best I've ever been, just in terms of knowing who I am, what I put into the music, being comfortable with certain things, the live performance," Scott says. "This album is almost like a coming-out party for me because... there's a lot of stuff on there that's from a real perspective of what my life is right now, and what my experiences have been and putting that into the music in a real polished and effective way."

Scott summarizes his aim as a rapper in 2015: Be relevant without coming off like a 42-year-old trying to sound like he's 24. This is a grown man who is finding a way to balance his artistic and business ventures with family life and other interests. On #BRUH, it sounds like he's figured out that balance, and he hopes folks will hear it in the music.

"I just really want people to listen to the album," Scott says. "People get bombarded so much with music, I just want people to really tune into the record, look at my journey, look at what I've contributed to the Northwest music scene and really listen and see what it's about and enjoy it."