I was drawn into music through my dad, who would play a lot of rap music around me growing up. When I was younger I didn’t understand it much, but as I got older my appreciation for it grew. I started myself off with rappers like VI Seconds and shofu, who at the time I only knew for rapping about Pokemon. When I was about 12 or 13, I started doing joke songs with my friends which were inspired by the likes of Lil Dicky. I was also big on rapping about Pokemon at that point in time, and in doing so it helped me learn skills like how to count bars, how to form good punchlines, etc. I would hear from a lot of my local friends in school that I was really good, and I would start looking for more influences to help build my sound. As time went on I would add rappers like Lil Uzi Vert, XXXTENTACION, and Ski Mask the Slump God to my list of influences. I decided to start rapping more when I was about 15, and have gone nowhere but up from there, though I am still known to this day to rap about Pokemon.
Your track “Unova Starters” is absolutely amazing! How did you achieve such a great signature sound in such a short time? Also, what is your creative process like?
The secret to “Unova Starters” is that the entire song is freestyled. I made the song as a callback to Lil Uzi Vert’s own “Dip” remix. If you look at both songs side by side, the hooks for both songs start by listing three starter Pokemon. The sound I went for is reminiscent of the “DMV” flow, a sound achieved by punching in a lot for bars, but it was also my way to attempt to create the speediness of Lil Uzi Vert’s rapid delivery.
My sound was achieved by a simple two step process I created. The process starts by asking yourself two questions. One question is: “What sounds do I like in other people’s songs?”. Because of my influences of Lil Uzi and XXX, I love a bouncy, fun sound mixed with an aggressive bass heavy sound. The second question is “How can I do this with my voice?”, which was hard at one point as I was still growing into my voice. As I became older and more experimental with my voice, I would reach the product that I have now.
My creative process is relatively simple. I find a beat, whether from youtube or from a friend, freestyle a bit to get a flow, write some bars (or just freestyle all together), and record.
Going over your Soundcloud we can tell you love experimenting with new sounds. Can you tell us more about your studio setup and some of your favorite plugins/instruments?
My studio setup is rather simple compared to a lot of other artists. I have an HP laptop, a AT2020 USB mic, and some SkullCandy earbuds I got from Best Buy.
Your music sounds very organic and authentic. Do you play any real-life instruments?
I played the bass and the drums when I was younger, though I never really developed the skills. As of right now, I can’t play any instruments.
What are your musical goals for the future?
My goals for the future are to continue improving my sound and to keep making music that I can enjoy that others can enjoy as well. I also hope to expand to other platforms like Spotify and iTunes.
What are your goals for the coming months? Any upcoming projects we can get excited about?
As of right now, I’m working on an album with songs primarily produced by UBERBEATS and XCITA. The album as of right now is untitled, but when it drops, it will be the start of a new Redster. I’m excited to put it out in the near future!
