Matt Connarton Unleashed: Hope The Rapper returns.

0:00 Speaker 1: We gotta hope the rapper is here with us. Hello, Hello, welcome back.

0:04 Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for having me. Thank you for the last ten weeks. It's been definitely a ride.

0:07 Speaker 1: Absolutely.

0:08 Speaker 3: I was gonna say it's easy to remember when you were on last because it was, uh, well actually it was a little over ten weeks ago. But yeah, this was an idea that I think I think you had kind of pitched it live on the show. Yeah, and I said, yeah, let's do that. That's a that's a fantastic idea.

0:25 Speaker 2: Honestly, It's been the greatest experience for myself growing as an artist because when you it's kind of like going to the gym. Honestly, for me over the last ten weeks, because as you release each single, you realize like your faults as an artist and everything like that. And I've gotten really to a point where I'm ready for the next phase.

0:43 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, what is the next phase? What is your what is your plans going forward?

0:48 Speaker 4: So my next phase is kind of like an image control phase.

0:52 Speaker 2: So as like an up and coming artist, I was putting up like whatever videos I can just like putting stuff together here and there. Yeah, I'm actually taking the last ten weeks to save some money, and going forward, I want to invest in like the social media aspect of things.

1:08 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's going.

1:09 Speaker 2: To help me personally, Like people will only come back to like people. As much as people say that they support amateurs, people don't support amateurs. People support professionals.

1:21 Speaker 1: Now what do you mean? I expand on that if you would.

1:24 Speaker 2: So it's kind of like I actually had a conversation with somebody yesterday. It's kind of like the food truck guy in your neighborhood.

1:32 Speaker 4: So like let's say the food truck guy. Everybody knows the food truck guy.

1:35 Speaker 2: Everybody loves the food truck guy, but he just is always going to be known as the food truck guy. Sort of like the story of like McDonald's or something like that, whereas a small business wasn't willing to expand and somebody else saw the vision and expanded that business. So for me, what I need to do is not just market here in New England. I want to start like targeting everything that I'm doing in like Los Age Angels, New York and Miami and right here from New England. I'm able to do that through targeted ads.

2:04 Speaker 2: So that's that's kind of like an image control phase. People want to see you take that step, like that step, like if if McDonald stayed in that one neighborhood, maybe that whole neighborhood would have loved it. The rest of the world wouldn't be like McDonalds wouldn't be a problem for us, right right, Yeah, So, like you have to not just stay in your small town.

2:25 Speaker 4: You have to be willing to expand so you can see the vision.

2:27 Speaker 3: Yeah, and of course the internet makes it kind of easy to do that in a sense, but of course there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. And uh and you know to your point too, I think if you if you're not if you're not constantly moving forward and trying to expand what you do, then you you almost start to look like you're falling back exactly exactly.

2:50 Speaker 2: So like if I like so like a lot of my videos that I'm just sitting in front of my desk wrapping and stuff like that, Like if I just keep doing that for uh years and years, I'm gonna be the food truck guy.

3:02 Speaker 3: Right.

3:02 Speaker 4: But if I can now say, hey, I have.

3:05 Speaker 2: A really great job, I have some money set aside, let me invest in that people are gonna be like, oh, what what's happening with him?

3:11 Speaker 4: Now? It creates more interest.

3:12 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Hey, by the way, if you have any questions or comments or feedback anything at all for Hope the Rapper, the studio line is open. You can give us a call six o three two five oh six oh seven six oh three two five oh six oh seven. And of course you can interact endo Pine in the chat room. Of course, I see a beep an artists in there and says good morning everyone, and uh, I saw somebody else in there too, But anyway, we will we'll keep an eye on that going forward.

3:37 Speaker 1: But so what these these songs?

3:41 Speaker 3: Is there any kind of a a theme with the ten singles that you that you've premiered on the radio or.

3:49 Speaker 2: So the ten singles that I've been doing is like I wanted a different sound and then I wanted to look at the metrics without like any promotion or anything like that, and yeah, like what are people listening to right now? Actually a little bit of help that I've gotten through these ten singles is one of Joiner Lucas's producers that helped him come up, has noticed me now, Yeah, and now we're.

4:13 Speaker 4: After this image control phase.

4:15 Speaker 2: Well, during this image control phase, me and him his name's Knox Beats, we're gonna be working on an EP together. So it's okidding coming. Yeah, it's definitely a step by step project.

4:24 Speaker 3: Oh that's huge. Yeah, that's that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, very good, very good. The songs that that you've been premiering in two over the last ten weeks, are these on an album or are these all do they all just exist individually as singles or are they from different places.

4:41 Speaker 4: Or they exist individually?

4:43 Speaker 2: Because like the EP that I have is gonna have and it's gonna I wanted to be like a movie. Yeah, so once I figure out the sound, like what what people are listening to, what people like for me, I do like to like when I wrap, I do like a like a conscious groups. I would like to go towards that direction and like be more of like somebody who speaks about like being more of a world together.

5:03 Speaker 1: Yeah.

5:05 Speaker 3: So yeah, and can you tell us too about some of the people you collaborated with on these Yeah?

5:11 Speaker 2: Absolutely, So I have the actually today you have Fate one coming on. Yes, So I had that single problems that was the most collabs I did on a song so far. The reason why that song meant a lot to me is I remember growing up I used to listen to like DJ Khaled. He used to be able to bring all these different type of artists and they'd go on this one beat and they'd bring all of their styles to this one beat.

5:35 Speaker 4: So I have him on that track. I have.

5:40 Speaker 2: What was it splash on that track. I have Santana Freco on that track, and then abm Diz who's also from Lowell. These all artists in LOLd So that was the clab on that one. I have the on my way that that one's gonna come out with a music video too, no kidding. Yeah, so that's with an artist from your boy Loco. Me and him are actually talking us because of how that sound track sounds to me. I think me and him are gonna be working on a lot more projects together.

6:10 Speaker 3: Oh cool.

6:10 Speaker 2: We just balanced out on a track like I come up with some like loud stuff and then he just like mellows out the track, which was really cool for me. Yeah, which other ones today? I have a collaboration that's gonna be with Jabach. He was is my best friends since I was like probably sixteen. Like we're really close friends nowadays that we are adults obviously, like we spend a lot more time apart and everything like that, but anytime that we come together and we're rapping, it's just a different environment.

6:39 Speaker 2: Yeah, That's what I've appreciated from him. So on My Way Problems.

6:48 Speaker 1: Was a snapchat? Was that just you on that one?

6:50 Speaker 4: Yeah?

6:51 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that was that was Jenny's favorite.

6:53 Speaker 4: Yeah, I know that that one's actually coming out with music video too as well.

6:56 Speaker 3: Oh really like that one?

6:57 Speaker 4: Yeah?

6:57 Speaker 2: No, absolutely, I'm actually collaborating with this person has on the one Eye Visuals right out and lowell, Yes, that's gonna be. So we are gonna shoot ten reels in one day, and then we're also shooting three music videos all within like a three week span. Okay, yeah, so then I'll have thirteen different videos that I could play around with. Oh wow, hold in my pocket. So then I'm just gonna start dropping those once the fall starts.

7:24 Speaker 3: Okay. Is it difficult when you have when you have all this, as you said, in your pocket, when you've got kind of a things that you know you can release on kind of a timetable, is it is that does that take some discipline to do that, because I could just imagine if you've got certain things that you're particularly excited about releasing, but obviously you know you don't just want to put it out there all at once. Yeah, but that must be kind of tough when it's like, oh, I can't wait to put this out and I but I can't do it yet.

7:55 Speaker 2: Yes, that is kind of like the most important thing you could do for yourself as an artist, Like, yeah, you want to put out good songs, don't get me wrong, but like you'll you'll make these songs, certain songs, and you're like, that needs to be held till I'm in the better position. Yeah, and you have to get yourself in that better position. I've actually I feel like I have a few songs that I've dropped. When I first started that I should have just held for a little bit because as people saw me girl as an artist, and if I dropped this song, it would have been like, oh wow, okay, and that eagerness is kind of why I straight away for dropping for so long.

8:30 Speaker 2: But then I was like, I haven't dropped in a while, let's drop. I have a whole bunch of songs right now, I probably have over fifty to sixty songs ready, Oh no kidding. Yeah, So I was like, let me just drop ten singles and learn myself as an artist.

8:43 Speaker 4: It wasn't. Yes, as an artist.

8:45 Speaker 2: I wanted a lot of people to listen to this, but I wanted to learn myself my patterns. So like, when I drop a song, am I following through with a real laughter?

8:53 Speaker 4: Am I doing this? Like? What will create the most success for each single?

8:58 Speaker 2: And I do kind of see a process that is actually going to work out for me?

9:03 Speaker 1: Yeah? And where do you?

9:04 Speaker 3: I know we I'm sure we talked about this last time, but I'm always really really curious where do you record? Do you have a is there a studio that you work out of? Do you record from home?

9:12 Speaker 4: Or yes?

9:12 Speaker 2: So I work right out of a stupid Genius Studios that's right in Lowell, Massachusetts.

9:18 Speaker 4: Yeah.

9:19 Speaker 2: And then I also work with mister Goodbars of course.

9:22 Speaker 1: Oh yes.

9:22 Speaker 2: And more recently, who I'm going to be working with I is going to be knocks beats? Have you ever heard the song isis by Joinner Lucas and logic I don't think I have Okay, he also has this song I'm Not Racist.

9:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, so that what I'm very familiar with. There was a lot of yeah I remember when that came out.

9:41 Speaker 2: Yeah, so he's the producer behind those tracks. Okay, so before Joyner was like he met Joiner whenever he was going to the same like grind Mo ciphers that I was going to, and Joinner really wasn't an artist. Yeah, and then they started working together and obviously join to put his work. But the way that this artist produced, the way that he listens to beats and everything like that. Actually had our first consulting meeting yesterday.

10:02 Speaker 4: Yeah.

10:03 Speaker 2: It's he's heard even tracks that I've put out in the last ten weeks, and he just has all these different ideas and that's what I need. And like, I'm a creative genius myself, but I don't have the years and everything like that behind what's popular. Like he he will hear a drum beat and be like that sounds like a pattern from twenty seventeen.

10:21 Speaker 4: You shouldn't be using that.

10:22 Speaker 2: Oh interesting, yeahah, what do you mean a pattern from saying and He's like, no, in twenty seventeen, they were doing this, Yeah, now they're doing this. If you want to be on like the if you're on an algorithm correctly, you have to do it this way. And just little stuff like that, little tweaks like that, that's what makes the difference between the greats and everything.

10:39 Speaker 3: Yeah, things that most people wouldn't even wouldn't even consider. Yeah, yeah, it's interesting that you know the way some people can. And again it's through experience, as you were saying, how they can pick up on the subtleties of that and things that most people probably wouldn't even notice. I remember having a conversation with DJ Reckless Enough, you know, DJ rest Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's, yeah, our adopted son, so to speak.

11:05 Speaker 1: But yeah, he was. He had done.

11:11 Speaker 3: I don't know if I'm even supposed to talk about it, but I don't think it matters. He had done a remix of, uh, what's a Nate Smith? I think that's his name, World on Fire, the country song. He had done a remix, but I think he had done it with somebody else, and he played it for me, and it was so good. It was like a like a EDM remix of it.

11:28 Speaker 1: It was really really good.

11:29 Speaker 3: But and I was like, you got to put that out, or you gotta put it up somewhere you can, I asked him, can I play that on the show? You know? It's it's really catchy, yeah, and very The remix he did was very well done, and he was like, I don't know, it kind of sounds like it sounds like four years ago, and I'm like, four years ago?

11:47 Speaker 1: Really? You whatever?

11:48 Speaker 3: It sounds great, yeah, but he was very unsure of it, you know, about.

11:53 Speaker 2: Putting little things like that, like yeah, and it's maybe what I'm thinking about it just looking from that outside in like it's not like music nowadays isn't good, but like the music that I latched onto was a little bit older music.

12:09 Speaker 3: Yeah.

12:09 Speaker 2: So whenever I hear like these beats and everything, I'm like, wow, that's amazing. But I'm not thinking about the marketing. I'm not thinking about all those little things that are going to make me different. Be like yeah, that already came out.

12:19 Speaker 4: I don't. I don't want to be something that already came out.

12:21 Speaker 2: You want to be something brand new that people gonna be like, oh, I've never heard that before, right, right?

12:25 Speaker 3: Is there a risk of overthinking that?

12:29 Speaker 2: Yes, because then you don't want to be an artist that's too creative. So it's nothing, nothing against him at all, but like we have somebody like Kanye where he has always been dropping and he's always had success with his drops, but more recently and like with Vultures Too, he he released it, but he's releasing it as something that he's editing constantly m M and never put any like the marketing behind it. Yeah, So it was never even like like these sounds are something that people want to hear.

13:01 Speaker 2: So we're not even driving around listening to any of these songs. There's my growing up, my life. Anytime that Kanye has dropped, he's been on the radio for the next like month of my life.

13:10 Speaker 4: Right and now, like.

13:13 Speaker 2: Being too creative, we'll just make people like just look at you and then you just they look at you and then they look away because it's not something that they're ready to look at you.

13:22 Speaker 4: You have to be relevant.

13:25 Speaker 2: Yeah, It's like a beat that sounds like twenty twenty nine is not going to help me right now in twenty twenty four.

13:31 Speaker 3: I see what you mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just I wonder, I mean, so were you always kind of thinking about that or is this something you've like, like you mentioned. I'm sorry what's his name again that the produced knocks?

13:45 Speaker 4: Yeah?

13:46 Speaker 3: Or is this something you got from him? Or did you kind of already sort of so have a feeling for that.

13:51 Speaker 2: I couldn't put it in words, Yeah, but i'd i'd like hear certain songs and them I'm like, that's a really good song.

13:58 Speaker 4: But yeah, like.

14:00 Speaker 2: Whoa, I don't know, Like I don't know why I don't want to release it, like yeah, like even like a lot of like my lyrical stuff, Like I have a lot of lyrical stuff that I haven't put out because I'm like, I don't know if I'm ready to release that.

14:14 Speaker 4: For me, I think.

14:15 Speaker 2: It's more of you have to establish your voice first. It's not like gain popularity. No, you have to establish your voice as somebody that people want to listen to. Yeah, once people want to listen to you, you can hit them with the creative stuff here and there and test the waters. But when you're getting into like that water, you don't want to just like drown yourself right right. You have to like slowly step into the water, feel it, make sure that your body can adjust to it and get used to that environment, and then you can be the fastest swimmer in the world.

14:42 Speaker 3: Right right, Yeah, these these ten singles that you've put out, did any of them kind of surprise you in terms of, you know, because some of them are obviously collaborations. Did any of these kind of surprise you in how they came out? Did they come out differently than what you had initially envisioned? Obviously when you're working with other people, there's always that chance that something's gonna come out really different.

15:04 Speaker 4: Yeah.

15:05 Speaker 2: So for me, it was the on My Way single, as like, for me, I was going at that like

15:14 Speaker 2: and then he like with his verse, he was like pull up, wait and then he's just like brings.

15:20 Speaker 4: You down, And I was like, I didn't hear the beat that way.

15:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought this was gonna be like, ah, we're getting everybody hyped. But and then there was a way to bring it, like have your voice in a different octave yeah, and like like make it like a all right, we partied, let's calm down all my.

15:35 Speaker 3: Way Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, who's kind of your Obviously you're very open to collaboration, and you know, and you're working with people who are really advanced in the industry. Now, do you have kind of like a dream uh, collaboration, maybe someone you want to record with, or maybe maybe a producer that you really want to work with. Just uh, like, do you have somebody in mind who you really want to work with?

15:58 Speaker 2: So I have two people, Well, one's a possibility. One is I'm working towards. So I have working towards would be Millies right out of Boston, because that's a great artist. But actually recently got in touch with Jada Kiss his son's management, and I got a quote on the collaboration and everything like that. The numbers look amazing for like who he is son. I just found out that he had a son that could rap. I was like, yeah, wait what and he's like like young like me and everything like that. So I got in touch with his manager and everything like that.

16:33 Speaker 2: So somewhere towards the beginning of next year is what I think I'm gonna do a song with Jada Kiss the Sun outstanding, outstanding, but Milli's that's that. That's somebody that I really do want to work with. He's a local artist. He helps people out and everything like that, which I appreciate.

16:50 Speaker 4: Yeah. I had.

16:53 Speaker 2: This song that I released on my first EP called right Now, and that was with GMT Mark B and he ended up doing a song We're the ones who brought Millis out.

17:03 Speaker 4: He did a song with one of Millie's people.

17:05 Speaker 2: So I'm just kind of I'm letting that song have its sing because I don't want to be like I want to take your shine.

17:10 Speaker 1: Yeah.

17:10 Speaker 2: Yeah, but then I'm going to reach out and be like, hey, how did this happen? That I just need to get in contact with the people.

17:15 Speaker 3: Yeah. Now, we kind of assume that a lot of the people who listen to our show, you know, because of the guests that we have on in the conversations that we have, that a lot of them are musicians.

17:28 Speaker 1: Do you have kind of advice.

17:30 Speaker 3: For for people who maybe are just starting out or or maybe you've been doing it for a while, but who have made a lot of mistakes because you know, you're on you're on such a positive forward trajectory. Yea, And but a lot of people, you know, and you can you can just look at social media and see, you know a lot of people they feel like they get stuck. Some people they've been at it for a while and they feel like giving up because they they don't feel like they're advancing anywhere. They're not getting anywhere.

17:57 Speaker 3: Do you have any advice for for people who are kind of going through that, or maybe just somebody somebody really young just starting out and you want to kind of maybe maybe some pearls of wisdom on mistakes not to make and that kind of thing.

18:09 Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I think it goes back to that conversation I had with Don's Beats, which really just changed my mind a lot about things.

18:17 Speaker 4: So you want to not limit your.

18:25 Speaker 2: Capability to the visibility you're getting on social media. There's a lot of legwork that you can do outside of that for yourself as an artist, well, like that immediate social medium. Yeah, there's different avenues like like if you want to like produce beats, you can go on like beatstorm. You can make your own independent accounts away from your friends and like your family. So that way you're not scaling your success based upon how your immediate community is reacting.

18:55 Speaker 4: And that's what I feel like. When I did take that little break, I was.

18:59 Speaker 2: Like my immediate communit unity, I don't think they want me to be rapping. And when I started again, the medium community is like, why'd you stop those little things?

19:08 Speaker 4: Like you don't want to scale yourself. People.

19:10 Speaker 2: People will support you and support you and support you, but then you have to go find different support. Yes, you don't want to just have that like your initial supports. That's an amazing thing, don't get me wrong, But you need to constantly be looking and trying to put yourself out there. Like I said, target your instead like it gives you the option when you're like, first of all, don't get bots, go directly through those source. If you're going through like a Facebook, going through an Instagram, going through TikTok and they ask you where you want your ads to be, don't put it in your don't put in your local libor see.

19:43 Speaker 4: Yeah, what attention you could get from strangers.

19:46 Speaker 2: Because even when I first started, I was doing songs with people like in Florida that I'm still friends with, and I've never met these people. We just when I stopped, we just randomly stopped talking and everything like that. But I felt better whenever I was releasing music as something like for me and something that I was willing to put out for myself, because that's when you'll go the hardest. As soon as you start putting something out and then you look over and be like did I do a good job, it's eventually might somebody might be like tired one day.

20:20 Speaker 2: Right, it was all right, like I actually didn't listen to it, or like those little comments will start getting to you and start eating you out. Yeah, So the value of your success should never be based upon your media community.

20:31 Speaker 3: Right right. Yeah, I think that's good advice. Yeah. And you always want to yeah, you always want to be expanding your fan base, expanding.

20:38 Speaker 2: Exactly exactly because then like you'll find yourself like if the same people don't react, you was just like all right, all right, all right, I guess I'll stop because like these people don't like it anymore. Not knowing like you could put up a video ten fifteen times and it's going to hit the fifteenth.

20:57 Speaker 4: You just got to keep doing your reps.

20:59 Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I think that's really good advice. Yeah. You mentioned when you had taken a break before, and I think we talked about that too the last time you were here.

21:06 Speaker 1: Yeah, but I don't remember was that.

21:08 Speaker 3: Because was that because you were discouraged at the time or were you just doing other things.

21:14 Speaker 2: Or mixture of Like, so my lifestyle at the time, I was like partying and everything like that. I got caught up in that world, and then I just would like, with the people like I was partying with and hanging out every day, I didn't hear them talking about like my music or anything like that.

21:31 Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe it's not doing as good as I thought.

21:34 Speaker 2: So then I just like randomly it was no announcement or anything like that, because that's I feel like it's probably actually a really damaging thing that you could do to yourself as an artist. If you're gonna stop, just stop, because you don't know if you'll come back, right, But if you start disappointing people, they won't come back.

21:50 Speaker 1: Right, right exactly. Yeah, well, well said.

21:56 Speaker 3: Abdel, but I always butcher his name. I'm so sorry, Abdel Boggie Hamadas in the Chatterman says, uh, good evening, mister Mattuh what time is it now in New Hampshire. Here in Egypt it is four pm Egypt. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we've got nine to twenty seven a m.

22:15 Speaker 1: Eastern time here.

22:17 Speaker 3: Everywhere you're on Tomorrow Radio in Ireland can do remos anywhere evening or late afternoon, perhaps arend Ireland. I have no idea.

22:27 Speaker 4: Amazing.

22:29 Speaker 3: Hans Smith from the band Sepsis is in the chat room says hey metal. Matt Hans is asking, uh, what inspired you to get into music?

22:39 Speaker 2: My dad, So when we first moved to America, I actually like remember the first song rap song I heard.

22:49 Speaker 4: It's probably bow Wow.

22:52 Speaker 1: Oh okay, do you remember what song.

22:54 Speaker 4: Bow wow Wow?

22:57 Speaker 2: I'd like remember that because oh okay, yeah, Like we just moved to America and everything like that. We had just gotten like TV and everything like that. And I remember my dad he called me. I was like in the room or something like that. He called me over, like George, Georgeorge, check this out, check this out. And then he's like he's young like you, and like, bout is your part for me? So like that gave me like a scale. I was like, oh wow, that's cool what he's doing. And then he started playing NAS for me.

23:24 Speaker 3: He oh that's right.

23:25 Speaker 1: I remember we talked about that before.

23:27 Speaker 3: Yeah.

23:28 Speaker 2: He had this one DVD that NAS put out that he bought it best By.

23:34 Speaker 4: It was they Hate Me Now music video.

23:38 Speaker 2: It was like, uh, back back in the day that used to come out with music videos. Behind the scenes, it was a whole different thing, like making the that was a TV show actually on MTV, so like I'd watched that over and over again.

23:49 Speaker 4: And then so my mom found out that I was listening to at music.

23:53 Speaker 2: It was like no, no, no, no, no no, because we are like a religious family and some content can't affect people, and so it just became something I listened to like on my own. And then my friend in my freshman year of high school, his name was Cody, he told me that he could record music with a rock band Mike, and I'm like, what are you talking about? And you just plug the USB into your computer just like you would like anything else, and then you can use this program called Audacity. So I went and I got the instrumental for I'm Still Fly by Drake, and then I recorded my first that was the first like recorded song, was a remix I'm Still fly by Drake.

24:48 Speaker 2: I recorded them and then I showed it to my dad, and my Dad's like, okay, so make a CD and I'll get you to the CDs. And so then I made a whole little like mixtape thing because I was what was popular at the time for rappers, like you made mixtapes, yep.

25:07 Speaker 4: So I got one hundred CDs. I forget the website I got from.

25:11 Speaker 2: But I got one hundred CDs and then they sold out and I was like that I sold out.

25:16 Speaker 4: He's like what, He's like, you sold out. I was like, all right, we'll get some more.

25:21 Speaker 2: And then so we got some more and then like I did that till like I I pretty munch should have realized, like I sold everybody that was willing to buy. Yeah, this point, I sold like three hundred CDs from my first w please, which was looking back, I'm like wow, like yeah, I was fourteen, fifteen years old.

25:40 Speaker 3: Just that's fantastic with a.

25:41 Speaker 2: Box of CDs, Like who wants these? Yeah, and people were buying them. And people still bring that up, like remember whenever you sold.

25:48 Speaker 4: Me a CD?

25:49 Speaker 3: That's awesome, that's awesome. Yeah, that's fantastic. Heather Stockwell is in the chat room and says, uh, did you ask about the name Hope? How did that name come about?

25:59 Speaker 4: Uh?

25:59 Speaker 1: Where does you derive hope from? Personally?

26:02 Speaker 3: Oh?

26:02 Speaker 1: Great question, Heather, Okay, perfect.

26:05 Speaker 4: So Hope was the second name I chose.

26:09 Speaker 2: So when I first gone into music itself, like producing music itself, it was so I was into rap because my dad, but producing music, I got into DJing. Yeah, so I was DJ unsigned minor and then at a certain point I told myself that's not marketing.

26:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of like it. That's kind of cool.

26:31 Speaker 4: Like if for me, I was like, you're not going to be a minor forever.

26:34 Speaker 3: Well, that's true.

26:35 Speaker 2: Yeah, turning into like I think I was turning like thirteen fourteen, I'm like, no, you're getting older now you're teenager. You're not a minor, right, But I was still a minor obviously. Yeah.

26:45 Speaker 4: So then I was thinking of like different names, and I was like, what do I.

26:48 Speaker 2: Want to talk about like at the end of the day, Like, if I'm gonna like have a rap name, it has to be something I talk about.

26:54 Speaker 3: Yeah.

26:55 Speaker 2: At that point, I just decided most of my raps are going to be more of a positive, hopeful message. Yeah, I Hope the Rapper. And then I was upset actually because a year or two after I came out with Hope the Rapper, Chance the Rapper came out yes, and I was like, I thought it was so creative and he blew up before me, right right, So, like I was for my own to just remind myself, I came out with Hope the rapper for us. I always look up like when he came out, and then like when I came out and he was like all right cool, yeah, yeah, not going crazy.

27:26 Speaker 4: Yeah.

27:27 Speaker 3: I can relate to that a little bit because you know, with the name of the radio show. Whenever I see Unleashed in something the name of somebody's radio show or podcast, I'm.

27:35 Speaker 1: Like, oh, like I did that.

27:38 Speaker 3: Yeah. But the good news is, you know, it's extremely unlikely that I'm ever going to find another Matt connorton Unleashed because exactly Connor, there actually is another Matt connord in New Hampshire. Yeah, but he's my uncle, so it doesn't count.

27:50 Speaker 4: Yeah, family, Yes, yes.

27:53 Speaker 3: Hans is also asking do you have a favorite song of all time?

27:57 Speaker 2: Uh?

27:57 Speaker 3: He lists a few genre genres here metal, hip pop, or reggae. I don't know if you listen to metal at all, but although hanging out, hanging out with mister goodbars, you might have heard some stuff.

28:06 Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I've I've heard metal.

28:09 Speaker 3: And he produces everything. He's he's like the most diverse producer.

28:14 Speaker 4: First, Like, so I it was a whole Me and him were just like internet friends.

28:18 Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I went to a studio for the first time, and I realized his diversity, and I'm like, this is this man's creative He's not He's not just it's not just a rapper I'm looking at.

28:27 Speaker 4: This is a musician.

28:28 Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah it all.

28:30 Speaker 4: I know it all. You can rap, you can like just get it. Yeah.

28:35 Speaker 2: But so I can say metal is just a category that I've been just getting into. One of my employees at work, Gavin he like just has been introduced me to artists because I'm trying to have more of like an open mind when it comes to music.

28:50 Speaker 4: No woman, no cry.

28:51 Speaker 2: If for talking reggae, yeah, and rap.

28:54 Speaker 4: Music, that would be that's a hard one.

29:03 Speaker 3: It probably probably changes, right.

29:05 Speaker 2: Yeah, So if I were to say I know I can't, is that I don't know if I can.

29:10 Speaker 4: I know I can buy nas? Yeah, Yeah, that's that.

29:13 Speaker 2: That was a song because that if I think back to like really like looking at that music video and everything like that at the time, like hard Knock Life came out, that song came out, but that song a little resonated with me a little bit more and just hearing like the kids in the background. Ye, I want to be on a song that big one day. Yeah, maybe not the kid in the background, but I want to be on a song that big one day.

29:32 Speaker 3: Yeah. I think my favorite is uh it kind of changes over time, but I think Jay Z ninety nine problems.

29:41 Speaker 4: Once you hear that guitar is just like different. Yeah yeah yeah.

29:46 Speaker 3: Rick Rick Rubin did an amazing job on that. Yeah. I thought I saw another question in there, but maybe not. No, I guess not the But you as far as producing now currently though, you everything's pretty much self produced, right, I mean obviously when you're collaborating with people, but I mean the songs like like Snapchat that's just you on that, right, did you?

30:11 Speaker 1: Did you do that all yourself?

30:12 Speaker 2: No?

30:13 Speaker 4: So that I have a producer that I work with close.

30:16 Speaker 2: His name's Chaz Oh Okay, he actually runs a stupid genius studio. Oh right right right, So self producing, I like do that like on my own right now, I'm really learning how to like get that down. But I found like whenever, like I was first releasing music, that was like a stress.

30:34 Speaker 4: Factor for me.

30:35 Speaker 2: Yeah, and like I'd have a really good song, but I listened to it so many times. I'm just like mm hmmm, yeah, but like having like for me having it like that produces there for me. Were we bounce off ideas back and forth, so like snapchat like started out with like a different like tone and everything like that, and he's like bring it up a little bit, like and we did those little tweaks to the song. Yeah, just having that creative mind in the studio with me, bouncing ideas back and forth has been the most helpful for me.

31:05 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting because some people are kind of the opposite where they can't and and maybe some people I think maybe it's ego or they just or they get nervous letting someone else, you know, have any control over anything.

31:18 Speaker 1: But some people can only self produce, you know what I mean.

31:21 Speaker 3: Yeah, because it's like it's like they can't they can't else And.

31:25 Speaker 4: Yeah, I know it's overwhelming and like that that too.

31:28 Speaker 2: So like I I one hundred percent was there, But then I was just thinking about for me, my like releasing the music, like I want to be able to not really necessary basically have no effort, and like I spent all this time recording because when I write and like stuff like that, if I'm like actually writing and not just like rapping as I go, it's it's a research process for me, like I look up references and everything like that because I want you to be complete. Yeah, so I'll look up like if I say something about like a bottle of water, I look up like the history of water and try to come up with a line for the next line based on what I've learned.

32:07 Speaker 2: So it if you like look at it lyrically, you could actually learn a lot.

32:11 Speaker 3: Are there other artists who who you know who who do that, who have said that they do it that way? Because there are there are some people you listen to and you think, how do they how do they come up with these words?

32:23 Speaker 4: No, so that I feel like that's an untalked about world. Yeah, in the rap world, like how did you write this? Like what what were you doing?

32:31 Speaker 2: Because like I think as an artist, we think like there's some songs that like it'll sound like the happiest song in the world, but you weren't in the right place whenever you wrote that song, like you were trying to get yourself out of that right and that's songs that would helped. So I think talking about that's that's an interesting question you asked about that because like talking about the writing process, I don't think I've ever sat down with another rhye and be like, what were you doing whenever like you wrote this, Like how do you what's your what's your process?

32:57 Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody's like it's like the secret recipe.

33:00 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah. I've always been kind of fascinated by that. That and the uh the memory skills that it must take that I assume you just develop over time, right, Yeah.

33:11 Speaker 2: No, So the memory skills are interesting because I wonder how other rappers do it. Me I because I like I had the history with music. I'll use like parts of like the beat, the tone and everything like that. I'm like, once it drops an octave, that's when my voice starts.

33:25 Speaker 4: Yeah. And I have a song.

33:28 Speaker 2: That I was writing recently that like I wrote it in my car because I could hear it a certain way, and then I want to go play it in some different speakers and I didn't hear that drop. Everything was off and it took me a while to like get myself back to that point.

33:40 Speaker 3: So it can backfire, yeah, yeah, because I you know, I've I've played in rock bands and uh, you know a rock song, you know you got two or three verses, maybe four lines on the age it's easy, you know, you just you just learn it. It's if you listened to it a few times, you you know the lyrics. But uh, but I pop song, it's like there's a lot of words. That's something I've always been really fascinated by. And I think too, And I've I've had this argument with people because and uh, somebody specific does come to mind, and Jenny probably knows who I'm thinking of this someone we know in particular who's very critical of hip hop, who just doesn't like it.

34:19 Speaker 3: But the thing that I've always told people too is, you know, one of the things that rappers don't get enough credit for is just being able to remember all those words and and then and being able to recall that and deliver those words, especially like.

34:34 Speaker 1: Like battle rappers.

34:35 Speaker 3: Yeah, like those and they show up prepared with all that, Like how do they remember all?

34:40 Speaker 1: That's amazing to me?

34:41 Speaker 3: It must be like like memorizing dialogue from a movie script, like like because I can't imagine being able to do that either.

34:48 Speaker 1: And I think I have a pretty good memory, but I don't know how.

34:50 Speaker 3: I don't know how actors managed to do that. I'm fascinated by that.

34:53 Speaker 2: I'm that that that I'm fascinated so me, I would have to say the reasons why am I right makes sense is because of like the memory part, because like I'll remember like the storyline behind as I'm rapping. Maybe not everybody I was able to see it, but I always have like a different vision.

35:11 Speaker 4: Battle rappers to me though, are some of not.

35:15 Speaker 2: If not the most like influential for me because like they have no beat, They're they're telling a story and they don't miss a beat. I'm actually funny you mentioned battle rappers. Next Saturday. Next yeah, yeah, next Saturday. I'm actually opening up for one of the biggest battle rappers in the world in Massachusetts. His name's Charlie Clips.

35:43 Speaker 3: Yes, his name came up recently, I think. I think when we were talking with good Bars, actually his name came up and and I ended up going one because I I'm really fascinated by that stuff. So I found some of like what was the I think did he battle Daylight? Yeah?

35:58 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think that was one of the ones I watched.

36:00 Speaker 3: Daylight. I'm kind of fascinated by.

36:02 Speaker 4: Yeah, he's uh he Daylight.

36:04 Speaker 2: A lot of people don't give him credit, like he's he's a little weird, but like, yeah, he writes for a lot of industry rappers.

36:10 Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't know that.

36:11 Speaker 4: If you look up.

36:12 Speaker 2: His accreditation, this the songs that you wouldn't think that Daylight wrote, and he wrote that.

36:16 Speaker 1: I didn't know that.

36:17 Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, like he might.

36:19 Speaker 2: So at first, I was like kind of unwilling to accept him because of like how abstract it was, like we were talking about earlier.

36:26 Speaker 4: But then I realized, like, no, he's just doing that because he can't.

36:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, oh he's brilliant.

36:32 Speaker 2: Yeah no, He's talks about things that like you will have to do research, and then once you do the research, like oh.

36:38 Speaker 3: Okay, yep, yeah no, those those guys are fascinating to me. I I recently saw some battle raps on YouTube, guy named and then and then I found out he was just murdered. Pat Stay, Yeah from Toronto. Yeah no, Pat Stay, he's I saw a couple of his and then and then I so I looked at more about him, and I'm like, oh my god, he died.

36:59 Speaker 1: He's like thirty six or something like super young.

37:03 Speaker 2: I was like, oh no, yeah, Pat's dam I'm not sure if it was him or diabolic but Eminem actually made a movie on battle Rap, another.

37:10 Speaker 4: Movie on Battle Rap. Oh, I didn't know that him or Diabolic are in it.

37:15 Speaker 2: And it's about a young kid who's just like a middle school student or a high school student and he just is trying to make it in the Battle of the Yeah, that world. So it's like very eight mile ish. Yeah, but I think you can see it actually on two B.

37:31 Speaker 3: Yeah.

37:31 Speaker 2: No, it's a it's a really good a lot. I'm surprised that eminem didn't get it on Netflix or something.

37:35 Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't even know about it.

37:37 Speaker 4: Recently, just came out and really good.

37:39 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll be damned.

37:40 Speaker 3: Yeah, I had no idea. Yeah, my favorite is my all time I go back and watch it every once in a while. Cortez versus Daylight.

37:48 Speaker 4: I don't think I've seen that.

37:49 Speaker 3: Yeah, you got to see it. It's really Cortes is amazing too. Cortes is just just so so good. Yeah, because there's that oh King of the Dot, apparently they're still around.

38:02 Speaker 4: Yeah, they're actually gonna be.

38:03 Speaker 3: Karen Lawrence, right, they do like some stuff and Lawrence.

38:06 Speaker 2: Yeah, they're they're gonna be doing a battle soon and within the next two weeks with the Talk of the Town folks.

38:12 Speaker 3: Oh okay with Gussie Hendrix. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah. He was interesting to talk to. He's got he's got a lot going on. I was, but have you been on his podcast yet?

38:21 Speaker 4: Yeah? You have been?

38:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, so little little side interviews that it shows because I mainly collaborate with him for a lot of shows. Yeah, so we got two show, one show this month, one show next month. So he his work ethic, that's why it's an amazing person to have in your circle.

38:39 Speaker 3: Yeah.

38:39 Speaker 4: He just goes and goes and goes and goes, and like he sees the vision like he did.

38:44 Speaker 2: It's tunnel vision for that and that's the kind of tunnel vision I want to try to adapt.

38:48 Speaker 3: Yeah, because I looked online and I was like, oh, he makes a lot of content.

38:52 Speaker 1: He's very, very busy.

38:53 Speaker 4: Absolutely outside of that, he's working too, so right crazy.

38:57 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, well but that's what it takes, right Yeah, so.

39:00 Speaker 1: No, good, good for him, Good for him.

39:02 Speaker 3: So now, what's so we've done the ten weeks but you did mention so you have another single you're working on now or yes?

39:09 Speaker 2: So that that single I'm really excited for. It's just got the final version this week. So one thing about music is, like I said, my mom shed we've grown up in a Christian home. She just kept it together that way, and so she's always asked me to make like a Christian song.

39:27 Speaker 1: Yeah, you had mentioned that last time you were here.

39:29 Speaker 4: Yeh, yeah, So I have this this one song.

39:33 Speaker 2: One of the first people when I was on that rock band Mike, to get me off the rock band Mike. He brought me to the Boys and Girls Club in Nashville, which has a studio for the kids to use.

39:46 Speaker 1: Really yeah, oh that's cool.

39:47 Speaker 2: That's shout out to the Boys and Girls Club in Nashville, because that place gave me a lot of hope because it was the first place I saw a soundboard. It's the first place I saw an actual booth. And so he Rich Rhymes or is c s Lit Now his name was Rich Rhymes cs Lit. He brought me there and like got memberships and then that just became somewhere that I like, that's how I got from transition from the rock band Mic to the booth.

40:17 Speaker 1: Oh no kidding, Oh, that's very cool and that and that's that studio.

40:20 Speaker 3: Is still there.

40:20 Speaker 4: Yeah, studio is still there. It's in the teen room.

40:23 Speaker 2: So if like you're a teenager and you're a national New Hampshire and you're looking to make music and you don't know't necessarily what to do, you go to the boys Club and there's.

40:31 Speaker 3: A spot for you, no kidding, that's awesome.

40:33 Speaker 1: Do they have somebody there?

40:34 Speaker 3: I assume they have someone there who kind of shows the kids how to Yeah, there must be some sort of a class, right that they offered us.

40:39 Speaker 2: I don't think there was a class, but there is like an in house producer. Yeah, but like that's awesome. The awesome part is is yeah, so like, yes, it would be cool to have an in house producer and everything like that. We were left alone to learn a lot of that. Yeah, so like we learned how to mix a master on on they had they.

40:57 Speaker 3: But that can be an advantage long term too, when when you're forced to figure it out exactly.

41:02 Speaker 2: Yeah, you're given you're sixteen years old, somebody puts fruity loops in front of you and you're just like, yep, I mean I have everything I can to make the song.

41:11 Speaker 4: So if I want to make it and this is how I have to do it?

41:13 Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, And For listeners who don't know Fruity Loops is a recording program. Some people might think you're talking about cereal.

41:22 Speaker 2: I remember the first time that people were like, did you get Fruity Loops? And I'm just like looking at you, I'm like, what do you I'm asking how to make me right?

41:29 Speaker 3: Right? I was literally imagining you looking at a bottle of steiler right right?

41:34 Speaker 1: What do I do with this?

41:36 Speaker 2: Love?

41:37 Speaker 4: I know that honestly one of my favorite cereals.

41:40 Speaker 3: Social Oh really yeah, well, so all the time goes quickly, but and this ten weeks flew by.

41:47 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm so glad. I'm so glad we were able to do that.

41:50 Speaker 3: And again, you know, going forward, anything if you you know, we'd love to be the first supremiere it anything that you put out.

41:55 Speaker 2: Absolutely, I'll probably send that a song to you guys that I've dropping in in like two weeks.

42:00 Speaker 1: Oh please? Yeah, yeah, awesome? And uh what else should we not do?

42:03 Speaker 2: You?

42:03 Speaker 1: Do you have any shows coming up or anything you want up?

42:05 Speaker 2: So next next Saturday, have the show with Charlie Clips that's in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the Talk of the town folks and go on talk of the town's Facebook page to get some more information on that next month we're doing. It's gonna be interesting on one eye visuals versus talk of the town is completely friendly yea. But like artists that work would like typically perform at Chalcola Town are just that typically perform with one eye visuals. We're gonna be in Lowell, Massachusetts doing a show over at the Smokehouse.

42:34 Speaker 1: Cool.

42:36 Speaker 2: And then other than that, what I'm going to be doing for myself is I'm dropping a lot of videos. Yeah, expect a lot of videos, a lot of content, proper marketing towards every single one, Yeah, and just really elevating things to the next lab level and working on image control.

42:50 Speaker 3: Oh, very cool, very cool? And uh, where should people go online to keep up with everything that you're doing?

42:55 Speaker 2: So Instagram is Hope the Rap. You could look up Hope the wrapper on face Book. TikTok would also be Hope the Rap and TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, and then you could always look at my music videos on YouTube too as well, Hope the Rapper. I do have a new music video called fourth in Gold that came out a couple of months ago.

43:18 Speaker 1: Yep.

43:18 Speaker 2: Shot those with actually people that work were joining Lucas, so it's nice to align myself with people that brought somebody else to the next level.

43:25 Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely, that's amazing. Well, thank you so much and in a moment we'll end the segment with we'll play it again Aviction. Notice the brand new single. Thank you and we look forward to hearing everything that you do in the future. Always wonderful to have you on.

43:38 Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me, and thank you for having my friends on. This is a great platform.

43:42 Speaker 3: Oh absolutely, absolutely glad to do it.