Grieves' new album with Rhymesayers Together/Apart has been doing some impressive climbing on the charts since it's release. Grieves is doing his first headlining tour with Budo starting in September. Find show dates HERE. Listen to 'Lightspeed' HERE.
You've clearly got a lot talent, you probably could have done any style of music. What brought you to hip hop?
I've always loved hip hop and it has always been the direction I'm leaning in. In the style it is recorded, I get to do anything. It coulda been soul songs but it's the thing I've been working on. It's the thing I've been focusing my talent on. I didn't start out writing amazing rap songs though.
And specifically terrible lines you started out with? Or songs that are memorable?
A lot of songs just don't really...when when we sat down and made this record, we made 40-50 songs over the course of a long time and then we picked through them all. If a song starts turning into something I'd be embarrassed about, I'd trash it. I wrote a song about a dude who is too old to go to parties but still does...since the album was demoed at home I'm not wasting money on the studio. Then I took them to a bigger studio to re-record.
Some of those songs aren't the caliber that I want and got abandoned. Some of them just didn't match the record. Some will surface, some will just absolutely never surface. Together/Apart has it's mood and its theme; some songs just weren't there, at least to the point where they're album worthy.
What is the mood or theme of album?
The mood is smooth, it's more of a relaxing album, it has a lot of melody. I wouldn't say melodramatic cause that's not right, it's very personal. To me, songwriting is taking the world around me and turning it into this tangible thing for me; all the things that are around me, it can be a way for me to build or kill something. That's what songwriting is. Every song that I write pertains to something in my life. Whether I'm building it or killing it, that's up for you to decide. Maybe it's not something I'm killing for me, maybe it's for you, or somebody else. That's the beauty of it, it's all open for interpretation. A song like 'Vice Grip', which is a very face to face confrontation song.
You could have painted, but instead you chose words. What makes your words, or words in general, important?
I can't paint worth a damn, and when I look at a painting it doesn't affect me the way a song does. It doesn't interest me, it doesn't hit me, I've never gotten gooosebumps off a painting. That doesn't mean paintings are stupid, it's just not what resonates with me. I'm affected in the way that I project and affect other people, it creates a symbiotic thing in my life.
What do you respect the most about Rhymesayers? Why are you happy to be working with them?
I'm not sure if I would be working with a different label if I wasn't with them. The direction I was going was I was gonna just do it myself cause I had left a s@#$ty situation that was leading me nowhere and me and my business team were deciding that we weren't gonna do that anymore. I talked with Sadiq about what I could do as an independent artist and a business. We had been getting calls from other labels and that didn't thrill me, it kinda scared me. I don't think I would have been dealing with another label. Rhymesayers definitely gave me an opportunity to knock it out the park, and to be a part of something I've always admired. Joining up with them was like two like-minded things coming together and doing something positive for both sides. It feels really really good, I love it over there, that s@#$'s family.
The album has done really well. What expectations did you have for the album?
I'm not one of those people, so I really don't know. I made this record, I was happy with it, a lot of people had a lot of expectations, I want it to do well, I want other people to be happy with the work that we're doing. When I got the first weeks' numbers back, and the momentum and steam it picked up it made me happy, and all the people around me happy. I'm still riding on a cloud from that. And booking this headlining tour and seeing the same thing happening, with such a positive response, from promoters and fans and press, is just really really cool.
What are the biggest challenges being a duo where each person has a clear responsibility and doesn't really get much say in what the other does? Or do you get say?
I write the lyrics and all that stuff and made some beats with Budo, made some beats solely by myself, and Budo would come in and revamp some. 'Pressure cracks', i made that, and Budo played a little bit on the bridge. 'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'Sunny Side of Hell', all me. This one was the most production I've ever had that I didn't have my hands in. I definitely give credit; Budo sent me a shell (of a song) and I'd say I really don't like that part. When we were doing 'Light Speed', the original came with a different hook, it was like two different songs. So there's a lot of constructive criticism that goes back and forth...but he knows not to question my lyrics, I'll freak out (laughs). We'd sit down and make songs and sit down and just be like nooo, that's not it. That's the beauty of it, we don't take that s@#$ offensively, we know what we're trying to do and we know when we do it.
Any last words?
My mind is so blank right now, I literally just woke up to your phone call. Definitely people come check us out, it's an exciting thing to do a headlining tour. We just got off the Warped Tour and to be able to bring some new and old fans in a club setting is great, plus we get a full set. So even if we don't play the song you wanna hear, we'll play a a s@#$load of other songs.