[RH Interview] Nate Fox
Photo by Bryan Lamb
A year ago, Nate Fox was living in Pittsburgh, working on a construction site. That all changed on April 30 when Chance The Rapper released his critically-acclaimed project, Acid Rap, featuring production from Fox. The past four months have taken him far from that manual labor life, traveling the country and then the world on the strength of his production and the success of Chance's latest release. To say it has been a long road is not an overstatement, after ten years plugging away in his native Pittsburgh and later Cleveland, Fox caught the ear of Chancellor with his beat for the Acid Rap single "Juice" with its quirky, bouncing, up-tempo beat. The rest is quickly becoming history as Fox and a talented team of producers including Peter CottonTale and Cam Osteen head back out on the road with Chance for his headlining Social Experiment tour. I got the opportunity to catch Fox while he was in Chicago preparing for the tour and had a chance to catch him for a few minutes between a salad and a session. Read about the crazy path his life has taken in 2013 and what lays ahead, below.
Jake: So I know you've had a crazy summer since Acid Rap dropped at the end of April, what's life been like?
Nate Fox: It's been a lot different, a lot different. Like, I don't feel any different but what I've been doing has definitely been different. It feels like a lot longer than what it's been just because its been so much compacted into such a short amount of time. You know, I was doing the construction thing. When Acid Rap dropped I was working construction in the middle of Pittsburgh, not even Pittsburgh but the middle of Pennsylvania, in the sticks. I think I left to go to LA to meet with labels and stuff in like June. And so from June until now, its been like a whirlwind of shit, like I just signed my pub deal with Disney like two or three weeks ago. I just got my check today, it came Fed Ex'ed to Pat (Corcoran)'s house today, but the ironic part is its Columbus Day and the banks are closed so I couldn't even do anything with it. So it was like ten years of waiting just to wait one more day (laughs).
Jake: Still, it always feels good to get that first check.
Nate Fox: Yeah, to get that first real check. I've gotten paid off music a whole bunch, but never to the point where I was like 'maybe I should start looking at places' you know what I mean?