Q&A With Rising Bay Area Hip Hop Artist The Wilde

Hey The Wilde! Much respect on your new movement and recent album release. We appreciate solid music, especially from true up and coming rappers and singers like yourself! Please tell me how long have you been rapping? Where are you from? Do you remember where you were at exactly when you wrote your first track!!??

Thanks, appreciate the feature!

I’ve been writing songs since I was a kid, maybe 11 or so. I picked up rapping in high school as kind of a side project from my punk band. I’d always written poems and it was the logical next step.

I grew up in San Francisco and wrote my hip-hop first track (eventually called Eighteen), walking through the city at night like 6 years ago. It was a response to a track called “Good Friday” by Why?, which was my favorite song at the time.

You rap great and you sing great!!! Yeah, We both know tons of rappers try to do that!!..LOL What makes you different then the rest? Also, how can you describe your sound in one sentence?

Most emcees don’t come from a punk background like I do and a lot of them can’t compose anything, so when they sing, it usually feels forced and unnatural. I’ve been writing songs and singing for a lot longer than I’ve been rapping, so I at least know what I’m doing.

Today, I’d call my sound 8-bit future-hop.

Being from San Francisco, CA & representing the Bay Area, Hip Hop has some heavy roots out there! How has your city influenced you?

The best part about growing up in the city was all the shows and venues that were all-ages. It meant that I was exposed to hella different types of music and got to see most of my favorite bands before I’d even graduated high school. I’d see Mistah F.A.B. one weekend and MGMT or some other national act the next. It meant that I always had new inspiration, which I’m really grateful for.

Please breakdown the creative process of your latest album “Coverups”.

I’ve made a bunch of records full of original songs and I decided I wanted to switch things up this time. On “Coverups” I pay homage to some of my favorite artists by combining tracks that I love and thought would tell interesting stories if I was able to cover two songs at the same time like they were written together. It was a really fun challenge to produce since I had to blend multiple artists’ styles with my own to make an entire record that sounded cohesive.

I wanted to take some of my favorite rappers, like Danny Brown, k.Flay, Mac Miller, Scarub, T.I. (kind of a guilty-pleasure), and Grieves, out of context and pair them with artists whose sound has influenced my songwriting and production like The Postal Service, The xx, and blink-182. I feel like that came through the way I wanted it to.

What are you looking forward to for 2017? Anything you going to be doing differently compared to past years?

Besides Trump’s impeachment, I’m looking forward to playing some more shows around “Coverups”, and sharing the album with fans and friends. I’m also working on production project for on my favorite emcees (can’t say who yet) and starting another record later this year – the grind never stops!

Any pressuring situations before you decided to push your album? Did everything work out according to plan?

Of course. There are always big, scary decisions and compromises before you put out a record, but you have to learn from both your successes and mistakes and apply the lessons moving forward. Only time will tell if this work out according to plan. Most of my goals are longer-term.

Any new projects coming out!?

One of my favorite rappers, Serengeti, taught me that you should always be at least a project ahead of the one you’re releasing so you know where you’re going and what you’re building towards. I have some new stuff in the works but I’m pretty happy with the record that just came out. New albums aren’t ready yet, but getting there. Look for something around this time next year.

Rappers nowadays think by throwing up a few videos up on social media and pushing quick projects, they can blow up overnight! Give us your view on how over saturated the market is right now with so many MC’s/Producers but not to many quality music.

I think you said it. Anyone with the time and inclination can steal someone’s beat off Soundcloud, brag about themselves in a 16, put it online and DM everyone on Instagram about it – so thousands of people do.

The ones who stand out are those who care enough to put time into not only their lyrics and production, but also craft their brand and story so that there’s consistency. And for rappers especially, it’s critical to understand the history and pedagogies of the culture and genre you want to be a part of, otherwise it’s a pretty huge red flag in my book.

How often do you perform LIVE? Any shows lined up in the near future?

Working a 9-6 day job makes it pretty tough to do live shows as much as I’d like but I’ve done SF and LA the last two months and have some more dates in the works. Stay tuned.

Where do you see yourself in 5yrs time?

Doing another interview with you from my zero-g studio on the moon as outer space’s most highly reputable emcee, producer, and brand consultant. Okay, maybe that’s the 10-year plan…

Here it is! Our most popular question! What is your definition of “underground hip hop”?

To me, “underground” blends a devotion to craft and culture with the DIY, independent mentality. It’s code for scrappy and brutally honest.

Where can people find you on the web? Drop all the vital links.

Lastly, and shout out?

Shoutout to the folks who worked their tails off with me on my two new videos for Chemical Aquarium and I Can Sleep Alone Tonight. I’m really happy with the way the turned out and I hope your readers are as into them as I am.