For Astonish his future success may arise in a manner he never truly expected, but will not be surprised by. “My engineer was like why don’t you do it, because it sounds appropriate with you on it in the first place. On “Fill Up The Room” I didn’t have the intention to sing on the whole track, it just came out that way and I had to leave it alone.” Reiterates Astonish, an MC who is not be labeled as a singer/rapper despite his previous statement. Having also wanted to express his feelings through song, it is no surprise that the talented musician, stumbled into creating “Fill Up The Room”, a new look track for Astonish that will definitely gain him a new type of listener and hopefully national acclaim as well. Tomorrow the Molemen representer will drop the AstonishinglyODD Project, another quality release from Chicago’s local independent scene adding to recent drops from Scheme, GLC, Sir Michael Rocks, Jamal Science + more. Hit the jump to hear and learn more about Astonish’s newest single, as well as understanding the immense potential the track holds.
RubyHornet: When did you record “Fill Up the room” and what was the scene like during this time in your life?
Astonish: I think I recorded it in like May, April or May. I remember I heard the beat and I was listening to it and I thought it was so dope of a beat, but I didn’t know what I could do with it. I was running through my mind, like what am I going to do with this? And then I got the hook. When I layed down the hook, I was like ‘damn that’s some fly shit’. But I still didn’t know what I would rap on it. I had no idea what to do. And then I was like maybe if I sing the first part, rap the second part, or whatever… I did the first verse and I was like ‘I like the little bridge”. So I thought that was dope, and it made it harder for me to figure out what I was going to rap to that song.
RubyHornet: But you kept going at it…
Astonish: I think as an artist, if you’re capable of singing and you’re a rapper, it still intimidates many to ‘do’. A little known fact about me is I wanted to be a R&B singer before I wanted to be a rapper. When I was younger, I wanted to sing. But I never excelled at singing. I know what I’m capable of, but I don’t the same range as some of these people. I just knew how to rap.
RubyHornet: So is this when you really started to hone those skills, right then around the time “Fill up The Room” was recorded?
Astonish: Yeah. Yeah. Actually this whole project, I was tackling a lot of that myself. But originally, I had in mind I was just going to lay down vocals for someone else to sing. But I couldn’t find anyone with the voice I wanted to use for the song. My engineer was like ‘why don’t you do it because it sounds appropriate with you on it in the first place.’ On “Fill Up The Room” I didn’t have the intention to sing on the whole track, it just came out that way and I had to leave it alone.
RubyHornet: Word, that’s how it is supposed to be, mad organic. What does this song mean in Astonish’s career thus-far and where do u see its significance in 2 years?
Astonish: Man the crazy thing about this song is, I thought I… First of all, I don’t make music for anybody else’s interest. I make music to fit my interest, so when I made that song, I thought it was cool to me. I didn’t think that anyone else would really f*ck with it like that. I didn’t know. I was like man this is just going to hit or miss, and everybody that I showed it to, they love that song! I don’t know, hopefully, hopefully, it can do very well. I think it is catchy, and I think it is something that your can play in the club. I don’t even do club music. That’s not my format of music. But I think it can definitely be something that is remixed. I’m actually going to drop the accapella’s for it, and let people create their own versions for it, do whatever they feel. Hopefully it goes far I have great expectations for it, I’m going to shoot a video for that song, and I wish it the most success.