A QUICK CONVERSATION WITH YENT

YENT takes a fresh approach to Hip Hop with his blend of a somewhat pop-punk sound and emotional chords. His music ventures off from the classic, boom bap style of rapping  of the previous millennium and welcomes more melodies and somber tones. I asked him a few questions to get a full scope of his influence and his newest project, ‘TIME’.

Where are you from?

YENT: I’m from Wake Forest and Raleigh, North Carolina.

When did you first gain an interest in music and know you wanted to pursue it?

YENT: I’ve really been surrounded by music my whole life. My grandpa and some cousins were musicians, so I picked it up from them. I didn’t really start pursuing it on my own until I was maybe 6 or 7. I saw a concert by Green Day on TV when I was little and I knew that’s what I wanted for my future.

How did you discover hip hop, have you always been a fan?

YENT: I was around 6 or 7 and my dad had this stash of CDs and I had an old CD player in my room. I specifically remember hearing ‘World Tour’ by A Tribe Called Quest and that was what really got my into hip hop. Ever since then I’ve been a fan.

Who was your first #1 fan, who is it now?

YENT: My first #1 fan was probably my dad. He would always listen to me writing songs and playing guitar. He’s always come to my shows and showed all his friends my songs when they drop.

Who are your musical inspirations?

YENT: Growing up my biggest inspiration was Incubus and it still most definitely is because of the vocalist. He would sing but it was like he was rapping, too. They were like a perfect representation of like all my favorite sounds mushed together.

Your oldest song on SoundCloud ‘Crazy’ is much different from your ‘Blur’ EP, what do you think has influenced that change the most?

YENT: My trying to be more myself everyday. Crazy was a song I dropped to impress all my friends in high school. Blur is more me trying to figure my self out and it’s really down to the beats I picked from Jag and everything.

When you were looking through beats, what sound were you looking for? Did you know at the time?

YENT: When I’m looking for beats I almost want them to speak to me through the vibe, whatever I’m feeling at the time. I don’t personally like writing because it makes me filter through my thoughts too much. If the beats speaks to whatever I’m going through at the moment then that’s all I need!

How would you best describe your genre?

YENT: I feel like I’m definitely more on the alternative vibe sound wise, but I feel like I have my own spin on all the Rock and Hip Hop I grew up on. So, it’s really hard to kind of pin me to a specific genre but most people would just call it Alternative Hip Hop.

What was the biggest inspiration or the story behind this project?

YENT: My biggest inspiration behind this album was the need to get a bunch of stuff from my childhood experiences and a lot of the problems I faced with people switching up around me and trying my best to move on and be an adult. I listened to a lot of Lucky and Incubus while I would come up with ideas.

Click here to listen to his newest EP ‘TIME’ on SoundCloud.

A QUICK CONVERSATION WITH NOAHH OF TLG

Noahh is one of six members of The Lo$t Generation, pop-hip hop blended collective currently taking the music world by storm. The group, though still underground, has one of the most passionate fanbases on the Internet, and the talent to keep them coming back. I had a quick chat with Noahh to understand how the group was put together, what inspired him to start creating music and what we can look forward to on ‘Lo$t Tape 2’.

What sparked your interest in music?

NOAHH: When I was younger, my dad would always take me to live concerts. His homie was a drummer and handed me his drumsticks after a performance. Since that day, I always told myself I wanted to be a performer and touch people with music the same way their music had touched me.

Who was your first musical inspiration?

NOAHH: Weird Al Yankovich was my first music inspiration. I bumped every single remix he ever made and that was my sh*t in middle school. As I started making music in high school and taking it serious, though I’d definitely have to say cloudy Nueve, Emilio Zapata, all my brothers in TLG, as well as Post Malone, Kanye west & Justin Bieber.

Has where you live influenced your sound?

NOAHH: Where I live has definitely influenced the sound. Before I moved to NC, I was surrounded by country music in Kentucky, not ideal for the music I would want to make. When I came here, I was blessed enough to link up with my brothers and create a sound the city hasn’t had before.

Is The Lo$t Gen your first musical group? How did you guys become a group?

NOAHH: The Lo$t Generation is my first and only group. We started in 2014 in my junior year of high school... It was just me Jaheal, and Brody at first. Overtime I became close with the twins (Koke and juGGa John), and convinced them if they took their freestyles and popularity serious, they could make something big out of themselves. We made our first song & the rest is history. Soon after we discovered Emilio and were able to recruit him in as the final puzzle piece. We’ve been going hard ever since. I’m so proud of all of them, for real.

What do you think sets the six of you apart from other hip hop groups?

NOAHH: What sets us apart from other groups is many things. First we’re really supported in our hometown, most artists gain love outside there hometown, then the hometown stops sleeping on them and supports after. We do the opposite. Raleigh loves us and we love them, which is gonna help carry us to the top. Another thing is the family aspect and diversity. Before any music we’re a family first. Those are my brothers for life beyond music. I’d die for any of them no questions asked. Each of us make different sounding music individually and even different sounding music when we get together. Always keeping our listeners on their toes and never knowing what to expect next. I think our boy band image and how we brand ourselves helps too, haven’t seen anything like us since One Direction. LOL.

What moment made you realize TLG was really taking off?

NOAHH: The moment I realized TLG was taking off is when I went to Rolling Loud and got noticed in the middle of a crowd of people... I was 12 hours away from my hometown & got noticed amongst 60,000 people that was shocking to me . Above that, being able to do a show in your hometown and have over 250 people you’ve never seen before show up singing, word-for-word, to songs you wrote in your room really makes you take a step back and go, “Damn” you know.

Will there be any solo content from you in the near future?

NOAHH: There will be solo content real soon! We’re each working on solo projects to put out and show the world what we each have as solo acts. We’ve just been pushing the group stuff and branding it so when we drop our solo tapes it’ll get the same praise and love as a group album or song would. Wanna make sure the timing is right when it drops so it doesn’t land on deaf ears.

Will there be a tour for ‘2’?

NOAHH: We’d definitely love to do a tour for the album. We’ve got connections to lots of venues, lots of artists and people in different cities. If we’re able to fund it ourselves or get somebody to book us, or bring us along, then you’ll see ‘2’ coming to a city near you! You can definitely expect a Raleigh show, though. Shoutout our engineer Rob (@thatshitsoundslikerob) for always making us sound amazing. Shouts out to everybody who supports me individually as well as The Lo$t Generation.

THE LO$T TAPE 2 drops this Saturday. Follow The Lo$t Generation on Instagram @los.gen & Twitter @tlgmg

DRUG SICK BY TOMMYICE

Fans of Atlanta’s breakthrough artist tommyice have been not-so-patiently awaiting ‘drug sick’, the first of, hopefully, many collaborations between the artist and Internet Money. The track, co-produced by multi-platinum producer Nick Mira and PrettyBoyRon from Ontario, is a melancholy confession by tommyice, opening up about his life and thoughts lately, “lost in my head no coming back... lost in the cash and lost in the weed...”. The young artist is surely taking in his all of his success, deservedly. He hasn’t lost his morals though, stating he’ll never take Xanax or lose a friend, especially to the drug- hence the name of the song. The song is catchy and the producers did an excellent job of getting you to bounce along to the beat. I’m sure we’ll hear more from him soon.

Click here to listen.

Have You Seen This Lost Boy?

YBN Cordae has taken fan engagement to the next level with the release of his debut album. Cordae and his team created a missing persons style poster in support of his “The Lost Boy” project. The flyer dawns the typical age, weight and height information along with a picture of the young lyricist and a number for the “reward” if found. Some fans have actually text the number and found that there is much more to this promotional campaign.

Once you text the number, it send you a link to YBN Cordae’s website which holds a maze game named after his album. The game times your attempt to escape the maze and once completed, it sends you a congratulations. Not just for finishing, but because you’ve earned your reward from the missing persons poster. The prize: two plane tickets to see YBN Cordae perform in New York on November 8th. Way more than anyone was expecting!

If you’re interested in entering, the number is 424-379-5678.
Credit to @YBNCordaeFanpag on twitter for discovering the contest!

Photo credit: Adam Woodard

WORRIED SICK BY CONVOLK

                       

For long time fans of artist Convolk, this is the moment they’ve been waiting for. “Worried Sick”  has been long anticipated and a milestone, symbolic of growth and progress in his career and sound. “Anxiety”, the fourth song on the seven track LP has already soared to the heights of two hundred thousand plays within the week of release. The melancholy beat mends his somber storytelling and connects with listeners. His style bridges the gap between Indy-punk and rap. It’s the perfect mix for that sluggish, not-really-feeling-it mood. Convolk is right there with you. 

Click here to listen. 

Come Again by Bernard Jabs ft. Iann Dior

The dynamic duo Bernard Jabs and Iann Dior are back on a track together after their widely successful collaboration “Molly”. This time around, it’s Bernard taking the reigns and Iann adding his magic touch to the track. There’s no doubt this one will be another fan favorite. “Come Again” is an upbeat, carefree track. The young rappers express their inability to be tied down and all the women that come around. Bernard Jabs’ distinct vocals open up about his love life that he simply can’t get together with his career taking off, but he’s trying.

Click here to listen. 

The Unprecedented Rise of Iann Dior

Iann Dior is a 20-year-old rapper from Corpus Christi, Texas. He began his musical career using part of his name, his stage name eliminated Michael from Michael Olmo. It wasn’t until approximately the beginning of 2019 that he began using the alias Iann Dior. His music first gained traction amongst gamers and streamers on Twitch, connecting him with big name streamers and producers such as FaZe Banks, owner of gaming group FaZe Clan and Nick Mira, one of the hottest producers with a futuristic, emotional influence to his beats. This proved to be a killer combination as Iann’s first official releases on SoundCloud skyrocketed by millions. Iann Dior’s developing success is like no other.

His music seemed to resonate with younger audiences immediately. His first track, Cutthroat, produced by Nick Mira, broke into the New & Hot list on SoundCloud only a month after being posted. His music exploded without traditional advertising or marketing. Instead, video game streaming led the way. Nick Mira often creates loops and tracks live on stream for other producers and fans to follow along with. From collaborating and creating in this way, and creating a Discord for his fans, Iann’s music was being pushed to their audiences in real time. Fans could get sneak peeks and incredible VIP access to the process. From there, the Internet did its thing and FaZe Banks and other members of the streaming community caught on, playing his new, somewhat unreleased tracks on their streams. This was the rapper’s first big break.

The Texas rapper made one of the best decision he probably could early in his career: working with one of the most influential executive producers and A&Rs of the new age- Taz Taylor. Taz Taylor, owner of Internet Money, has proven to have one of the best ears for finding new talent. It appears this trio cannot be stopped. Since the success of Cutthroat, Iann has released two visuals and a handful of collaborations with other Internet Money artists such as PradaBaby and Bernard Jabs. Obviously, there was something special to him as an artist as he quickly picked up a feature from PNB Rock on his song ‘romance361’ and later, possibly controversial, King of Emo Rap: Trippie Redd for ‘gone girl’.

At this point in his journey, Iann Dior’s path appears to be the future for underground artists. Promoting music directly to your audience provides an artist a bond that labels can’t create. His supporters could see each of his moves as they occurred. They know about all the hard work and engineering that went into each of his tracks, videos, and photoshoots. This relationship, between an artist and fans, gave pop star Justin Bieber his start over ten years ago via YouTube and manager  Scooter Braun. If Iann can keep up this momentum, there’s no telling where he’ll be a year from now.