Exclusive Interview with Scott James, the artist who brings you "7 Songs I Made Recently"
Raw, riveting, and deeply personal material with beats that make you want to dance and navigate through reality. This album is a therapeutic reminder to create as often as you can & to stop overthinking. My favorite tracks are Don't Need Money, Wee You, and Believe Me.
Check out this exclusive interview with the man making moves.
Photo by Caitlin Athanasopoulos
Why did you make this album ?
So that I could give my thoughts a place to live outside my head, to see them from a different angle and hopefully gain a better understanding of the world and my place in it. Because I love making music. Because I seek validation for my experiences and ideas, to possess some sense of immortality or value.
What was your inspiration for it?
Life. Our wants, the yearning for liberation from everything. The pace of our modern lives and where we may be heading. Personal struggle.
What is your goal as a hip hop artist and artist in general? The goal is to make the music I want to make free of any expectation or goal other then pleasing my ears and being honest, and having fun while doing so. As an artist the goal is to make as much shit as possible.
When did you know you wanted to make music?
I always loved music and would make up little songs as a kid but not until I was in my teens and got into hip hop did I ever think of seriously becoming an artist. Rap was the first genre that seemed accessible to me. In it's raw form rap is just a person speaking poetry over a rhythm. My friends and I were inspired to set up in a laundry room, press record on a tape player and just see what happens. This simple approach to creation gave me the ability to see myself as a musician, and not just a fan, allowing me to then explore and learn about arrangement, songwriting, mixing and engineering, and eventually producing and playing instruments myself.
How did you come up with the title for the album? What inspired that?
The truth. I wanted people to know that this album was a raw depiction of my life. Made as is, no frills, just music. Completely written within the last month, the album represents a bare stream of consciousness. Not toiled over and poked and prodded or sculpted. Many songs were done in just a few takes or freestyled, even the skits are an audio snapshot of the final day of recording the album.
Photo by Caitlin Athanasopoulos
What is your dream now that you just accomplished this dream?
Musically, to continue to explore new sounds and experiment with different approaches. To produce for other artists and collaborative projects. Overall I hope to be able to use my website, Trunkface.com, as a foundation for a whole new revolution in media production. To create and help others create honest, fresh content that can better explain what it is like to be human, and to feel more connected to each other.
Who helped make this album what it is? Writers, Producers, Muses, Support System, Etc
Super producer and engineer J. Glaze is behind much of the album, with Daezaster contributing two hot beats as well. I write all my own material but I was lucky to get some features by Paul Marz, Tyrone Briggs, Chris Valentine, Lexx Luthor, Matty J, Dyverse the 1st, The Madhatter and Handle. I am a current resident of the House Of Dreams, where all the songs were recorded. The energy surrounding the house has always been conducive to creating art of all types.
What is your favorite track? Why?
Hard to say since I like a lot of the songs with appearances by other artists, but the solo song Wee You stands out as a personal favorite. I experimented with a broader soundscape for this one and made decisions outside my comfort zone. I also played guitar and bass on the track.
Have you ever been Stereotype'd? Tell us more
I am not quite sure what you mean. Is this a term to describe working with Stereotype as a brand, or actually being stereotyped?
Have you ever broke a Stereotype someone had of you? Tell us about it
Just being a red headed white guy making rap music is breaking a lot of stereotypes. Most people are completely shocked when they learn of my extensive experience creating and promoting hip hop music. Besides that, I facing all sorts of typical assumptions based on appearance. In this current social climate people are very consumed by their internal struggles and their need to try to influence the world around them. This leads to people trying to size each other up, and putting each other into categories, and not focusing on the individual. Their is so much tension from all angles and it can be difficult to not get pushed into a box that people assume you are already in.
If you could have dinner with any performer (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
Jack Nicholson. He is such an over the top character I would like to see what he is really like in real life. I find it intriguing when I see footage of him skiing or playing basket ball like a normal human. With such a long, successful career he must have so much knowledge and experience that he can pass on or at least some great stories.
Album available on Youtube and Spotify