If you are a regular at RH, you definitely know of the homie Scheme. Having been a staple on the local scene for years now, Scheme has reached an important point in his career and is ready to let music tell the story. Today we feature Scheme’s first official single “Hello (What Up?)” as our latest selection in our re-occuring First Listen column, in which we digest the inspiration behind each song, learn its purpose, and how it applies to each artist’s future. ” I think I found my balance man, you can see it in this record.” States Scheme after the jump discussing his growth as a MC, as well as a new DJ catered approach he took with this record. You can stream the song below, but the single drops officially tomorrow (Nov. 1st) via iTunes of his upcoming EP Life That I Chose dropping December 6th.
Purchase “Hello (What Up?)” on iTunes.
Scheme – Hello (What Up) feat. Astonish (produced by Slot-A) by SchemeMusic
RubyHornet: When did you record “Hello (What Up?)” and what was the main inspiration behind the recording of the song?
Scheme: I recorded it right after SXSW. I was in the studio writing for the new project called Almighty Supreme (LP). That is not what this song is from, but that’s coming out next year, hopefully in March. I originally wrote it for that, but since we moved along and Slot-A is now producing the whole project (Life That I Chose) we kept it for this EP. The meaning behind the song, pretty much started with the beat. I hadn’t written to anything like that, Slot was giving me a lot of beats that I hadn’t necessarily tackled before, and when I heard that beat it felt good. I hadn’t written a song in one sit down in a while. I’ll usually write a verse, go back, write a hook or whatever, but this one I wrote everything in one go, in like an hour or two. The hook is fairly simple, and we kept adding things here and there. Scend’s scratches, added Astonish on a piece of it. But that was pretty much like, I wanted to make a fun record. The lyrics are kind of just me talking to the girls, in a tone that I think is missing in Hip Hop. I wanted to come with a regular track that is catered to everybody but had a tone that wasn’t soft. Just a good joint that people can listen to it and enjoy it, you know men, women, whoever. It just felt good and I miss records like that. I miss Hip Hop records that were just fun records, but weren’t necessarily soft.
RubyHornet: WGCI spun the joint over the weekend. How does that feel, being it your first official single?
Scheme: Yeah man that was a great look because it drops tomorrow on iTunes, so it was good to have it played on the radio. We are definitely pushing it to the DJ’s a lot. This is the first song I put out as an actual single. Normally we drop the singles for free, but I just want to go the iTunes drop with this one because sometimes people still want to support if they like the song. But I am really catering this joint to the DJs. I think it’s a great song to play. I mean, the moment I played it for my DJ (Scend), right away he was like “man this is a dope joint that any DJ could throw in their set. The tempo’s right, everything works well for it,” So this last week all I’ve been doing is sending it out to a bunch of DJ’s all over the country. I’ve had people already tell me in Singapore they played it, some dude has a couple nights there, he’s already playing it. And that’s dope that there are people out there that dig it already.
RubyHornet: Where does this song fit in the career of Scheme at this point in time?
Scheme: I think I found my balance man, you can see it in this record. I’m still a lyricist first and foremost and that’s always going to be prevalent in my music. My patterns and the way I approach a track, but at the same time I wanna make music like when I fell in love with music, it was because of how it sounded. I didn’t pay attention to every word that was being said until I got really into it. So, I want to just make music that is good to listen to. But when you are able to delve into it, you’ll be like “Man this dude has some patterns, he has some lyrics, he’s saying some witty stuff.” Like I have a line talking about a chick “She said her name is Mercedes, so I’m callin’ her Benzi.” Those are little witty lines that used to be in Hip Hop songs, and as a rapper and lyricist, you want to let those witty lines out, but still have a melody etc… This time I kept the hook simple. It was pretty straight forward but within the verses I make sure my patterns are on point. So I think the song shows that balance. I’ve grown as an artist to make music that anyone can enjoy, but at the same time as a Hip Hop head, as a lover of lyrics, and out of respect of lyricists, I still would get the nod from those people. I believe, or a least, I hope so. And I’ve finally come into my own in terms of my style and what I want to do, but at the same time not sacrifice the integrity of the music and the culture.
Bonus: BTS Making of Life That I Chose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mdGi7z8V0