What first drew you into music and hip-hop/rap in particular?
THE HYPE. No doubt, when I can hear the emotion in an artist’s voice as they are building up a punchline and deliver it simultaneously with the beat drop its like an addiction to me. In terms of how I began making music? In eighth grade I walked into my classroom and my best friend was writing something down on a notebook, I asked him what he was writing and he said lyrics. At first I just kind of blew it off but about 15 minutes into class I started to read his lyrics and a beat popped into my head, the holy water instrumental. I started writing my own lyrics and ever since that first rap i knew this was what I would pursue. No matter what.
Almost all of your tracks are a great example of how different genres can work together, how do you come up with ideas for tracks? Who are your inspirations?
I listen to pretty much every genre there is, so I think it naturally plays a part in the way I develop my music. I always take a minute to reflect on my mood at the time, I think it goes without saying if you’ve listened to even just four random songs on my SoundCloud, I make a variety of different styled tracks. First my producer sends over beats for me to sample and I choose whatever beat best matches my mood, then I usually try to understand why I feel the way I do and I just put that into lyrics the way it naturally lines up with the beat. As for inspirations… too many! MGK, Mac Miller, XXXTENTACION, Flume, Lil Yachty, Kid Cudi, Juice Wrld, Lil Skies, Sam Lachow and believe it or not my mom and dad! They’ve always supported me in anything and everything I do. It would take me all month to list them all but there’s a few big names and influences who push me to do what I do.
Who is your favorite artist/producer?
I’d say my absolute favorite is KYLE the optimistic vibe of his music is the way I strive to make my listeners feel. If I could feature in one of his songs id probably lose my mind.
Your track “Things you love” is our favorite track by you! From its artwork to the incredible sound we really love it! Could you tell us more about the story behind this track?
Well i would like to start off by saying not only am I dedicated to making solo tracks, but also im part of something bigger… Its called ATurn2EKC and if you see that next to the title of a song on my Cloud account be prepared to hear my partner in crime Anthony Turner on that track. He is one of my best friends and supporters. We like to brainstorm and give each other honest opinions about our ideas. So I began singing the chorus to TH!NGS YOU LOVE just as an idea to build off of and he loved it. We wanted people to feel immense joy when hearing this song. The verses were written in about ten minutes i just let my thoughts start rolling and the pen start moving, that’s all there is to it!
What are your musical goals for the future?
I will be living in California with my boy ATurner, in the near future and I plan on spending most of my time trying to land a job in a studio and hopefully end up in the spotlight of a well known label. It’s a scary thing to be banking my entire future on a career as a rapper. Not many people get that lucky, but I don’t plan on relying on luck. if I work hard, stay motivated and keep a positive mindset I truly believe I can reach millions of people with my music. Honestly that’s my biggest goal is to hear my song on the radio someday and know millions of people are feeling what I wrote, not just hearing it. That is genuinely all I care about.
What are your goals for 2018? Any upcoming projects we can get excited about?
I have one specific goal for 2018. Get my hands on some better equipment, All I have right now is a Blue Snowball mic, my Macbook Air, and a pair of JBL’s. I am a firm believer that if you are a talented artist, you don’t need much more than that to create some good music. If you are creative and willing to put in the time that’s all you need. Having a soundproof room and more in depth mixing and mastering equipment would put me in a position to produce a higher quality sound though, and there is no denying that. As for upcoming projects, I release singles throughout the week on a regular basis. The big project is a new album I am working on that will be dropped under the account ATurn2EKC. I will be posting about it on my social media accounts, so be sure to check that out!
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