What’s Good? NSR (Part Two)

This is Part Two of the What’s Good?  interview with NSR (continued from Part One)

Retail DJ: Could you tell us a little bit about the writing process for you?

NSR: I think the writing process differs a lot. I really like to write to beats. I feel like the best stuff comes when you craft your words to a beat. But at the same time, sometimes I’ll be chillin’ on the train and I’ll get inspired by something that I see or think about. And then I’m writing ideas down. I have a lot of random ass ideas that are written down. There are pages of ideas, and I don’t know of how much use they’ll be to me in the future. The worst thing for me is that I’ll think of melodies, and I think I’ll remember what the melody if I write down the actual lyrics, but then I forget all of them. So I’ll try to go back to them and it will just escape me. It depends. Sometimes I like writing late at night, alone, by candlelight, with a nice cup of hot chocolate. But sometimes I like to go in the studio with a bunch of people around and watch the whole creative process and contribute in terms of production and figure out a concept, then throw on headphones and go right to it. Or I’ll have the beat just loop and write to it on the spot. So it totally depends on what the situation is.

Most recently, I did a project with another MC named Nickname. Our group’s name is Memory Laine. We just released an E.P. called The Spotlight E.P. That was like the most intense writing situation I’ve had because we basically had the studio for a week, and we were in there night and day just writing and recording and figuring out different concepts. We did that whole album in essentially a week, aside from mixing it and doing touch-ups. It involved a lot of bouncing ideas off each other, and writing, then a lot of re-writing, then me spitting some verse and Nick being like, “Yeah you could probably re-write that a little here,” and vice-versa. It was cool. It’s definitely different from you sitting by candlelight and doing whatever you want to do.

Retail DJ: I want to ask you more a little later about your collaborative projects. Before we get to that, I wanted to find out a little more about the production of your tracks. Besides feeling bad for some of the drunken hookups mentioned in “Better With You,” I found myself wondering who did the production. I listened to that song and thought, “Oh sh*t, that’s a Chaka Khan track (later sampled by Stardust)!”

NSR: Holla! You knew it was Chaka Khan. Most people just say Stardust, not the original.

Retail DJ: [laughs] Yeah, we’re not like that. So who does your beats? They’re really really good!

NSR: Thank you. I work with an all-star producer out of Boston named Turbz. He’s a big DJ in Boston, and a producer as well. I met him at Ithaca College. He is 3 years older than me, and he kind of mentored me in radio, and we did some stuff in Ithaca. We also have a good mutual friend/fellow MC who I’ve done some stuff with as well. He goes by Terrordome. We all went to Ithaca.

So about a year and a half ago, we reconnected, me and Turbz, and started making songs. He just started sending me beats. I remember one time, he sent me a bunch of beats, and I wrote on his facebook wall, “I just wrote three songs to your beats. What’s good?” We hadn’t seen each other in probably like two years, and he came down to the city, and we just went into the studio and did “City Life” and some other tracks.

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We kinda just went from there. The entire project, The Darling Limited, was produced by Turbz. We worked foreign exchange style. He would send me beats –and this was before I had a studio at all; now I have a studio set up in my crib—and I would just record on my Macbook. I remember the first one, “Better With You,” was done with me in my bathroom, recording on the Macbook. It sounds horrible, obviously! But I was really inspired by him and his ideas, his production. We made that whole album with him being in Boston and me being in New York. He took about three trips to New York, and I took 1 or 2 trips to Boston. For example, “Adrien Brody” was created in Boston, and other things were created here.

Retail DJ: Do you see yourself ever doing any production?

NSR: Yeah, I would like to. I really would. I think that’s definitely the next step as an artist. I have a good friend and artist as well—his name is Dash Speaks. Over the past year, he’s really gotten into production, and now he’s definitely stepped up his game. He’s releasing an album on February 1st called Geography. He produced the entire thing, and I think there are 16 songs. It’s f*cking incredible. To me, that’s super impressive: to go from just rapping and singing to creating an entire sound for yourself. You can look at a lot of artists today and say, “Ok, you can rap. So what? Everyone raps. There needs to be more. You need to be doing more.”

But yeah, I would love to. I already know what my first beat is gonna be.

Retail DJ: Do you want to give us a little hint. . . exclusive??? [all laugh]

NSR: [laughs] I’ve contributed in the production process before. I used to play drums, so I’ve contributed in terms of drums and ideas, etc, but I don’t know how to work an MPC. I don’t know how to work Logic well enough to actually make beats.

So, yesterday, I was listening to Jay Electronica. To me, he’s one of New York’s best right now. He’s incredible. I think he’s from New Orleans originally. He’s working on a project with Just Blaze, and he released a song that’s kind of been blowing up the internet called “Exhibit C.” It was produced by Just Blaze. It’s one of the best hip hop records I’ve heard in a couple years, truthfully. So he has some lyrics in it that go [rapping]: “When I was sleepin’ on the train / sleepin’ on Messerole Ave out in the rain. . .”

It’s talking about his life being homeless. But I was playing with it and I kept bringing back: “when I was sleepin’ on the train, sleepin’ on the train, sleep-sleepin’ on the train. . . “ So I want to take that and make a beat out of it. Alright, excited for that? [laughs]

Click below to continue reading “What’s Good? NSR (Part One):

Retail DJ: Thanks for that! Super excited! [all laugh] So I want to go back a little bit to the collaborative projects. Can you tell us a little bit more about what work you’ve done with other artists and what’s in the pipeline?

NSR: Sure. As I mentioned before, I just did a project with a friend since high school and really talented MC named Nickname. We formed Memory Laine, and we put out a 6-song E.P over what is now an infamous project that’s gone all over the web. This guy, Alex Goose, who’s a producer out of Washington, D.C., submitted a lot of beats for Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3, and Jay scrapped all of them. And after people telling him that they were really good and they he should put them out to the public, he released them for free. There are about 16 beats.

Initially, Memory Laine formed when we were working on Grizzly Bear’s Two Weeks remix with producer Lynas, who runs the wonderful studios in SoHo where we record. 

Lynas was going to California, he left us the studio, and we decided to do a project. That night, we stumbled across these beats (they were just released), and it kinda just worked out. We put the E.P. out and we got a lot of good feedback.

My producer Turbz is doing a solo project now, so I have a couple features on that I’m working on. A couple of people have sent me beats. . . As far as the future goes for me, I have a lot of songs that really don’t have a home, so I kinda want to put them all together in one project, and put that out—whether it’s a mixtape or whatever. Then, hopefully, I’ll work toward a full length for the summer.

Retail DJ: Good luck!

NSR: [laughs] Thanks. Yeah, there are some other things in the works.

Retail DJ: So, you also DJ. I know you say you are bad, but you seem a little too modest! I listened to a mix you posted recently and it was actually really good. Can you tell us how you got into that?

NSR: I recently got a Rane TTM 57 SL mixer, which you can record mixes on through Serato, so I’ve been hooked on that, and wanting to record mixes. It’s nothing that serious. I did college radio, and it’s always something I’ve been into, but I’ve never really tried to, like, “DJ.” I like music, I know music. And DJing is fun. It’s a good skill to have.

Retail DJ: Do you ever plan on getting a Soundcloud or sharing site to release other mixes that you’ve made? Or is this totally a fun side project?

NSR: I definitely would, if I made some good mixes, for sure. For me, it’s fun. If I can get some DJ gigs, cool. I have a group with my friends Dash Speaks and Lynas called Celebrity DJs. We are kinda making fun of the fact that everyone is a DJ. For me, I don’t know. I really respect the art form and when I do it, I try to do it justice. I like to learn about the craft and take it seriously. I almost don’t even like to call myself a DJ because I know too many and I respect DJing a lot.

Retail DJ: What equipment do you use?

NSR: So now I use the Rane mixer I mentioned earlier, Technic 1200s, and Serato.

Retail DJ: When I met you, I remember you mentioning that you teach and that you have a day life as well. What do you do when you’re not performing?

NSR: I’m a part-time bartender, but I feel like when I am not performing, I am trying to perform, trying to make music, trying to sustain friendships [laughs] and have a nice life, see movies, etc. I’m also working with a nonprofit arts program called Wingspan Arts. They have a lot of arts programs in public schools in the city, so at this point, I am subbing classes and trying to pitch them a full hip hop curriculum for kids. We’ll see what happens with that. I really like working with kids and I think music education in public school is super important. You can’t deny the power of hip hop in pop culture. And I look back at my experience growing up, going to public school, and there are few different teachers who influenced me, whether it be through drama or music. They kinda shaped my path. I don’t know if I’d be here now, trying to do what I’m doing, if it wasn’t for them.

Retail DJ: You mentioned earlier a little bit about being political. I was wondering what you meant by that. Also, how do you reconcile the call to make hip hop more political and to go back to the oldschool style of lyricism, as opposed to just rapping about “bling” and girls?

NSR: I wouldn’t say I am necessarily that political. I try to be in tune with the world and what’s going on. I never really had a choice. I grew up in a household of social workers. New York Times every day, NPR every day. The first beat I ever wanted to sample was the theme song from “All Things Considered.”

I wouldn’t necessarily say I am political, nor can I speak that in depth on anything in particular. I feel like it’s important to know what’s going on in the world. Going to your last question, about rapping about bling vs. talking about something that is actually substantive in the world, it is what it is. I think music is a lot about context. And if you’re in the club at 1 am, you may not necessarily want to hear, like, “Yo, whattup? This is Public Option!” You don’t want to hear healthcare raps. You may want to hear “Pour champagne on them t*tties!” [all laugh]

Retail DJ: You know, that’s what I do every Friday.

NSR: I just think there needs to be a balance. If you have a song like that, you should also have a little public option as well.

Retail DJ: Or both, you know, checking out your healthcare options and pouring champagne on t*tties [all laugh].

NSR: Pour champagne on Nancy Pelosi. [all laugh]

Retail DJ: Ok, so on a more serious note, what are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a hip hop artist and what is some advice you could give other artists?

NSR: Some of the challenges I face daily relate to trying to get myself heard. I feel like that’s the biggest one. You can put out music that you’re confident in, that you think is great, and that you think other people would love, but it’s really hard to get your name out there and to get yourself heard because there are so many artists out there essentially trying to do the same thing. Not to say they are on the same level than you or one is better than the other, but it’s really hard to put your name out.

But that goes back to what we were talking about as far as Asher Roth is concerned. I know a plethora of MCs who are better than him—technically, lyrically—but, especially in hip hop, there’s a lot more to it now. There has to be more of a package. My thing is, like, I’m up and coming as well, so if I were to give any advice to anyone, I’d say do what you think is right and be real. As long as you’re real to yourself, people will respect that. You have to have some talent, that helps, but if all those pieces are there, you will hopefully be successful. You may not be touring the world with a major label backing you, but you will be successful. There are lots of artists out there who are successful in their own world, and they’re doing it.

Retail DJ: In my opinion, another big part of that is connecting with your audience. How would you describe your audience, at present, and do you have a different target audience from your actual audience?

I would hope that people who are listening to my music and can relate to it and will want to pass it on to the next person are people who have been through real life experiences, regardless of any specific demographic, age, race, etc. I just want to speak on things that I know about and also have fun with it. To me, music is fun. That’s why I started doing it. And especially as a white MC, you can’t take yourself too seriously.  

Retail DJ: Why not?

NSR: Well, you have to take your craft seriously, but you have to acknowledge that you are pursuing a black art form at the end of the day. You need to recognize and respect that. But if you’re not having fun, and people can’t see that you’re having fun, no one else will be either.

I don’t feel like I have a specific target audience other than it being people who enjoy good, at times thought-provoking, at times alcohol-provoking…ah I can’t describe myself

Retail DJ: So speaking of alcohol and audiences, has there been any groupie development since you’ve starting performing? Any weird stories?

NSR: Nah, I wish there were. That’d be cool. [laughs] No, but really, the only thing that happens—and this has happened to me a bunch of times— is you get a bunch of drunk dudes who will up to you and be like, “Yooooo man, like, I’m really feeling your sh*t!” and you’ll say, “Yeah, thanks, thanks.” Then you’ll just be constantly berated by more of that. So it’s mainly just drunk dudes.

I think the performance aspect of hip hop has gotten lost. Doing what you’re supposed to do as an MC – being the master of ceremony, controlling the crowd – has gone by the wayside. You have people with known records—no disrespect—who go on stage, smoking mad blunts, with 20 other dudes behind them, and they’re not putting that much into the other aspect of it. Recording, sounding good, putting out a good record—these are all obviously super important. However, I feel like performance is just as important. So I like to go up, have fun, and try to do my thing, show my energy, show that I’m really having a good time. I really think that translates to the audience.

So if I wanna pick out a girl from the audience and bring her on stage and rap to her, everyone’s seeing this organic thing happening. They should be as much into as I am. I have been known to pull girls from the audience on stage, but I think that makes it the best. Like I said, the hardest thing as an up-and-coming artist is having people actually hear you, especially if you’re rocking a show and the people there don’t know your music. There may be people there who are seeing the dude ahead of you or after you, so you have to make your presence felt. And if it takes you going into the audience and straight up having some fun and really interacting with the crowd, as opposed to going on stage with an attitude of “my music is so good that I’m going to do my thing and everyone’s going to love me and I am going to let that speak for itself,” so be it. You’ve really got to go out there, get creative, and put your all into it. I like to do something different every time. 

- Retail DJ

Tags: alex goose, chaka khan, dash speaks, jay electronica, lynas, memory laine, nickname, nsr, stardust, terrordome, turbz, what's good?