 Asher Roth | Wale  |
Are you surprised that you’re here? Like, when you think about when you first got in the game, and to be here now and be like, “Now they call me Bobby Ray, I’m actually a musician, my album’s probably gonna be more singing on it…”
Definitely. Definitely. If someone would have told me five years ago, I woulda been like, “Get outta my room, you’re crazy!” [Laughs] I guess that’s the best part about it. And I guess where I’ll be five years from now, I will have never pictured it. Maybe I’ll be on Neptune or something. [Laughs]
Everyone wants to move to space now.
[Laughs] I know, right?
Can you talk a bit about how important the Internet has been to your career?
Man, the Internet is like teleporting yourself at warp speed, like in Star Trek, because when I made “Generation Lost,” that song, that night, it got blasted out the night that I made it, and it was on the Internet that night. And it was just crazy watching how quickly something can manifest and get into the hands of people. And the Internet is definitely a huge community, and that’s where most of the information is found out, through the Internet. Like new media is definitely something you have to utilize to your best ability, and now I’m glad that I’m at the point to where people look for me, as opposed to me trying to reach people, you know…. And really, whatever you put into it is what you get out of it. And I feel like I put in so much that what I’m seeing now is simply what I put into it, but the fun part is not knowing just how it’ll come back to you, and you’re really just watching, you’re really watching how it comes back to you, how people respond to songs, how people speak of you. It’s all interesting watching that.
Do you like that immediate feedback?
Oh, definitely. I wish I could get that feedback as quick… because, you know, in the music industry, there’s a delay. If the song’s good enough for an album, then you can’t leak it, you gotta hold onto it. But then if it’s a song that’s just like a leak song, you just put it out there just to give people music, because aside from making music, there is a side in this industry where people just need music, you know? You have to give them music, whether it be free, or just mixtapes or just even selling it, it has to be a constant flow and a circulation of music. But to see that feedback is definitely a great aspect.
Are you focused on maintaining your presence on the Internet? Or do you have other folks doing that for you these days? Like, do you have a Twitter page?
Oh, yeah, I got, I got a Twitter page. I do Twit. I like Twitter because it’s not too much, and you can Twit constantly…And I’m on Facebook. I check my Facebook every now and then, and with MySpace, I check my MySpace every now and then, but my main thing is Twitter.
Can we talk a little bit about the Grand Hustle relationship? Obviously you grew up in the Atlanta area. Were you a T.I. fan before your working relationship?
Oh definitely… Trap Muzik was definitely my favorite T.I. album. And it’s crazy, because I used to ride the school bus listening to it, and then, to just be inside of the organization is definitely an honor, regardless of what type of music you listen to, you know, because it’s a legacy. And to be to be a part of that and be a part of your own legacy, and just combine the two, it’s a blessing in itself…and I’m just glad to be on the ride.
Do you and T.I. have a lot in common outside the booth?
[Laughs] We connect, man. You know, it’s funny because it’s the regular shit you would be talking about, whether you’re just smoking a blunt talking about something, or I mean, I don’t smoke blunts anymore, I gotta smoke out the pipes, because I can’t… [laughs] Blunts make my chest tight, but uh… [laughs] You know, it’s just your regular talk, you know what I mean? I’m the type of person, I just keep good energy. But really, really, just honestly speaking, the only way that you would know that we were different is through listening to our music, but all in all, it’s just regular people. I kinda taught T.I. some guitar the other day.
Oh, yeah?
Like two weeks ago. [Laughs]
I know you keep saying he wants to learn, but he doesn’t seem to put in…
[Laughs] Yeah, definitely.
What’s the energy like? Do you guys get to work together a lot, or is it too hard to track him or the rest of the Grand Hustle team down? Or is it more you’re working on your project, and they’re working on their projects, and you guys just happen to be a part of the same umbrella?
Just getting in the game at a time when everyone says the music industry is failing, are you concerned about that?
I look at people saying that the music industry is failing, and it makes me laugh, because it’s not…. It wasn’t failing, it was just like, you get out of it what you put into it. And on the business side, the only reason that it was failing is because the record labels weren’t putting enough into it to where people wanted to buy it, and you can’t underestimate consumers, you can’t underestimate fans at all. Like, if you do a bad show, fans will know; if you put out a bad album, fans will know. I guess there was a part where our record labels started looking at fans like robots or whatever, and they would just do stuff just because. But after awhile, people started waking up, like, “Wait a minute, this is trash, I’m not buying this.”
What do you think is right or wrong about rap music right now, today?
What I feel is right about it is that a lot of musicians are striving to better themselves with their craft, whether they’re picking up new instruments or whether they’re just continuing to do more as artists. I feel like it’s something good, and I feel like artists have to be more proactive in their approach to music as opposed to just it has been in the recent past, how people were just being puppets, not necessarily thinking about our effect on society, and it has a bigger, heavy effect. A very heavy effect. And I’m just excited. I’m excited about Santigold right now; I wanna work with Santigold. I wanna work with Janelle Monae. I wanna work with Cee-Lo. I wanna work with Death Cab for Cutie, and, hold on, there’s one more [laughs]. I wanna do something with Kid Cudi. Those are my five I wanna work with, at this moment.
It’s inspiring to hear you talk abut working to push the needle in a different direction, even further than it’s already gone….
Yeah, you know, people honestly, on the artist side and on the fan side, people don’t wanna be bored anymore. They want something new, you know? Even if it is just hip hop or even if it is just R&B, just musically, people want something new. They want new ideas. Lke Coldplay just released a live album for free. And you know, even beyond it being free, they just released a live album. Something new, something that hasn’t been done. And another thing I’ll say is, artists need to get in the studio more when they collaborate with somebody, as opposed to MP3-ing things back, because the music that you make when you’re in the studio with somebody, it’s different than when you MP3 it. And this is my job, so if I’m gonna work with somebody, I wanna be in the studio with them. I don’t wanna MP3 something. You can tell when something is put together or when it’s like an actual collaboration.
What can you tell us a little bit about the album? I know everybody’s waiting on it…
I know, it’s slow. I’m waiting on it [laughs]. [But] I feel like what I put into it I feel good about, and I feel good about the album because from the album I can release an EP so people can get a taste for what’ll be on the album and just open minds and open ears for the album. And I’m still recording now, even though it’s done, I’m still recording, you know, because you may get that one song that’s really like, “Oh, man, that’s gotta go on the album.” [Laughs] And just the sound of it, I’m real excited about it. When people ask me about the album, it’s kind of challenging because I can’t describe what it’s like, because it’s so genre-bending. It’s kinda like, when you’re talking about a hip hop album, you talk about different beats and different lyrics, but then you got rock-style songs on there, and you got just different genres, and it’s kinda hard to brush on everything, but it’s definitely enjoyable. It’s definitely not boring at all! [Laughs] And I feel like I’m able to look at it from outside looking in because I’m more unattached to my music. And unattached doesn’t mean I’m not connected to it, but unattached in terms of bias…. I’m not biased toward my music anymore; now I can look at it from an objective eye.
How anxious are you to get your album out?
I’m very anxious. I wish I could just put it out now. I will tell you this: When I put my album out, I’m gonna put out another album, not immediately after that, but very close, just because I have so much music, and it’s like we’re backed up. It’s like we’re a manufacturing plant, and we’re just backed up, and we gotta get all these shipments out.
Everyone’s saying that the door’s been thrown open by 808s & Heartbreak. Do you agree with that?
First off, I feel like 808s and Heartbreak was the most obvious action to change the music industry. But it’s been going on since back in the ’90s or in the ’80s, with different artists just playing around with melodies, and it just kept reoccurring, reoccurring, reoccurring, to the point Kanye West just decided to put out a pop album. And it sounds like it’s very satisfying to him because he enjoys doing that, and now artists are starting to realize that it’s okay to do what you enjoy doing. And releasing, not just making a song to listen to around the studio, but it sounds good releasing [it], because people want that. And the lines of the genres are blurring, and it’s kinda like, “What are you?” What you are doesn’t necessarily matter in terms of limitations, but what you are matters in terms of how you express yourself, as opposed to what you have to fit into.
I wouldn’t be surprised if when The Adventures Of Bobby Ray comes out, people say, “Oh, no, no, Bobby Ray was able to make that album because of 808s and Heartbreak.” But then if you follow your career and everything that you’ve been talking about…
See, I’ve been…
…you’ve been on this path.
I’ve been rapping and singing for a very long time, and it’s very natural to me. When you listen to the music, it’ll be obvious that it’s my sound and I’m not trying to sound like anybody. And it’s a very organic sound, not even organic in the sense of just live instrumentation and congas and stuff like that, but just organic in the sense of every sound in there is just me expressing myself; me just being me.
Press play to watch the video for Bobby Ray's "Generation Lost"
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