On June 29th, 2016 at NY's The Pyramid Club I found myself in a very cool club listening to many artists do sound check while waiting for Royal Clutch to do their own. I stood in the corner watching every artist interact with each other and support each other before the show even started. Once Royal Clutch showed up they kindly approached me and welcomed me to the event. When the event started other artists went up to display their talents. I enjoyed what I heard but once Royal Clutch went up to perform (and twice at that!) their music stood out amongst the others.
Rustic art found at The Pyramid Club
The guys from Royal Clutch are not just friends but family. They work together to make their music and this summer they did all they could to put their music out there for people to appreciate. What sets Royal Clutch apart from the other artists that night is that they produce their own music as well as perform. Their chemistry is genuine when they are on stage and they have a great connection with the audience that they perform for. Afterwards I took some time to interview Royal Clutch beyond themselves, I decided to focus on their music.
Royal Clutch's Jase at The Pyramid Club-NYC
It was important to me to highlight them in a raw and genuine way because if there is something I know about Jase, Reese, and Kos D is that they are guys who are very true to themselves and true to everyone who they meet. At the end of their set they even offered to produce music for other artists, which to me is not something you see after one of these events.
Royal Clutch's Reese at The Pyramid Club-NYC
For a bit of background about these up and coming hip hop artists Jase, Reese, and Kos D what I can say about them is just how knowledgable they are about the real world. Their hard work and dedication on their music is ever constant as they are already in the works for more projects in order to reform the culture of today's hip hop.
Royal Clutch's Kos D and Reese- At the Pyramid Club-NYC
So without further ado here is my interview with Royal Clutch, unedited, raw, and insightful.
Me: If you guys had to describe the overall "sound" of your music or rather of this album what would you say it and why?
Jase: The sound of this album really embodies how we see and feel Brooklyn in the summertime. This place called "Brooklyn" or what we like to say "DWNTWN" or "The Tropics" has a vibe we felt that was untouched, musically. So with that, we listened to some classics, chilled, and got to work you know.
Me: It seems like the lyrics you write are very different from what we hear on the radio and even at a local event, what are some of your inspirations when you write ? What events have hit home to inspire you?
Kos D: Life, in general. But that's a given. Writing this particular album, alot of the vibes came from really getting into our craft. We just came off from mixing our first album. We were really in it. In between that, we were going to parties and things. Me and J, were both working, so we had money to do whatever we wanted to..smoking, chilling. And then, all of the crazy shit thats been going on with the cops. Seeing that, made me want to make some shit that reflected all of the things that I was seeing a going through. Cops killing little kids.
Reese: Well, I did a lot of my writing when I was away at school. Just being in the mix up there was good for me. Then having those breaks where I could go home and get that New York feel kept me going when on the college scene. Shout out to Colby College. But once ya boy graduated, I got more into battle rap then ever before. Like I was always big on it but being home and unemployed, I had a lot of time to study the culture. That was big for me with this album. Shout out to Tay Roc too though, that man is wild for real.
Jase: I was just listening to a lot of music from my childhood and past experiences. With that and just really living life like Kos said. The world around us is forever evolving and that contributes a great deal to writing and putting together music.
Me: When it comes to producing music. It has came a long way to how it's done. Specifically in the days of Michael Jackson where instruments were the way how things were produced and now things are more computerized what do you take from the past to integrate it into the album that we hear?
Jase: With this album, a lot the sounds are reminiscent of the past. For example, we have a lot of warm synthesizers playing in most of the tracks. And that's definitely inspired from Michael Jackson, Qunicy Jones, Parliament Funkadelic, and Dr. Dre. We utilized samples in addition to playing a majority of the sounds ourselves to capture a groove to keep you moving and all that. Though we make the music through computers, we still aimed to capture that warm, analog sound of the past to really make you feel the music.
Kos D: Warm sounds are where its at with that. The analog sound gave you something that comes off the track, it feels different than when you're hearing something produced on a computer, but especially when its something that hasn't been worked in that way. The way we mix the music really plays a part in the whole sound, we be taking mad long to get the right sound for the music. Mixing can take a couple months to get right, especially when your tryna get a sound that jumps off the track. And we still perfecting that mix getting the technique down pat.
Me: What do you do outside of your music that you think influences the music as a whole?
Reese: We're really out here living man. Grinding everyday, hustling in so many ways, trying to get this music out, money up, meet people, doing shows and all that. To me, that hustling mentality finds it way into our sound. We're so ready for this success, we been talking bout it forever, now we're moving to get it and you can hear it in our music.
Kos D: I love to read. i read everything, when i'm in the bathroom and aint got shit to read i'll read the labels on the back of the toothpaste tube, you know? I'm always on wikipedia or reading a new book about some shit, it's important to educate yourself. So i'd probably say that in doing that i try to expand my mind, and have new things to talk about or even new sounds, crazy visions as we like to call it. I write stories, draw, i'm in the process of writing a movie script with J, so all that shit ends up funneling into the music, its all about fluid creative expression, one thing connects to the next. Everything is everything you know.
Me: What are you guys working on now? How different or similar is it to what is already Out there by Royal Clutch or even anyone else?
Reese: We got this Royal Clutch album in the works, it should be out by May 2017. You'll definitely be able to get a deeper sense of who we are as Royal Clutch and who Jase is, who Kos D is and who Reese is within Royal Clutch on this album.
Kos D: The shit is like a full on project a whole album, where DWNTWN niGGaz was short and sweet (even though there aint nothing sweet lol) But it was definitely a more condensed project, with this next one we letting shit sprawl out a little more, round out the story that we started with Welcome Back to BKLYN and DWNTWN, and really bring what Royal Clutch experiences have been, what made us who we are, and what made us sound the way we do. So with out a doubt that shit's gonna be different than what is already out, cause theres a lotta trash out, but this gonna be different than anything people have heard.
Me: What is the overall message you are sending to others with your music? With the lyrics? With your sound?
Jase: Not to sound cliche, but music is life. Imagine life with no music, no songs, no nothing. That'd be weird right? Our music is about our experiences and stories that I'm sure other people will feel and relate to. To me, our music is about living and overcoming. If we went through it and overcame it, our music is to let you know that you can do it, overcome it, and be yourself in the process.
Kos D: The overall message I think from the sound to the words is do your thing. Don't let nobody tell you what you can and can't do, and whatever you do do just make sure its you. Life only come around once far as we know, why not live it doing what the fuck your about.
Me: What goes into choosing which songs will be performed at shows?
Jase: Choosing which songs to perform at shows is somewhat a process and not a process all at the same time. Obviously, we choose a few our singles that are out and doing well as releases, so that's easy. But, then the hard part comes in. You have to find which songs fit the audience that attending the show. If it's a more intimate show, we'll probably pull out some of our more intimate sounding songs like "DWNTWN niGGaz" but, if its a larger show with a wild crowd, we'll probably bust out some crazy shit like "E&J and Andres" so people can wild out to.
Me: Do you think the topics that you perform about will change over time?
Reese: I don't see how it wouldn't change over time. As people, we're always growing, like our interests change, we start to think differently on whatever. Our environment, people we interact with, routines will likely change and that's probably going to spill into the music and performances. It's all about changing for the better.
Kos D: Definitely, that's what getting older's about. Growing experiencing new things and through that the things you talk about and how you relate to shit change. So the music will reflect that, and that's what makes a great artist. One that can change adapt but still remain true to who they are and what made them the shit to begin with.
Me: In general, what is your music's biggest challenge?
Reese: To me, the biggest challenge is--well it's not really a challenge for us but more so, for people who haven't heard us--maybe taking a chance on music that's different, feel me. Like, it's easy to listen to the next rapper when he sounds like homie before him. Most people don't like change so it's a challenge to make music that is still us but also appealing to people who check for that generic mainstream artist. It's not that tough but it's something I think about every now and then. I know Jase and Kos be feeling this way too. Like let's just make some trap shit and get on, but nah. That's not us.
Me: Anything that I haven't asked that you want others to know about your music. Or any comments you wish to be let out that are important to you guys as artists or even just concerning your music?
Kos D: Concerning music, as an artist i'd say it's important to me and for our music for people to experiment. Do different things enjoy yourself, open yourself up to new experiences, that's what life about. And experimentation shouldn't stop at your music. We live in a world full of technology, and new ways to do and make music, there's no excuse when you hearing artist, not all of them, but a good amount that all sound the same. It don't make sense for different people to sound just like each other, they're different people, they don't think, talk, walk the same, how the fuck they do tracks and you can't tell who's who, what's what. That shit is karaoke shit, and it's cool if people wanna enjoy that, but i think it's setting the bar low for music as a whole, and to the genre that straight up changed the world.
To Learn More About Royal Clutch
