Plover sat down with Sk the Novelist along with Cosmo, Lord D Rock, 3amsound, Anderson Burrus, and Vex to discuss Sk’s upcoming album and the release show they’ll be performing, also touching on the Pour House’s impact on the Raleigh hip-hop scene and The Game’s new album.
Off the Record features interviews with local and national musicians as aired on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2.
Plover 0:00
What's good everyone you are listening to WKNC 88.1 FM HD one Raleigh. We are a student run nonprofit radio station based out of North Carolina State University. I'm plover and this is off the record. Here's me today. We got a lot of people, one of them being the extremely talented SK the Novelist.
SK the Novelist 0:15
What's going on? Everybody?
Plover 0:18
A lot of people in this room, if we're about to get just a quick introduction.
SK the Novelist 0:21
Yeah, for sure. I'm SK the Novelist. I'm excited to be here.
Cosmo 0:25
I'm Cosmo.
Anderson 0:27
I'm Anderson Burris.
Lord D-Rock 0:28
Lord D-Rock.
Vex Clark 0:30
Vex Clark
3amsound 0:33
3amsound.
Plover 0:34
Nice, thank you. Um SK the Novelist, for example, this is kind of your, your rodeo here. Where are you from? What's your scene?
SK the Novelist 0:41
Yeah, I've been in Raleigh for a few years now. I actually have some ties here to WKNC. So I'm very excited to be here. But I grew up in Asheville, out in the mountains, do some music things out there as well. And yeah, I guess we're here to celebrate my album release show with Cosmo, collab album with Cosmo. And all my friends who will be playing music throughout the night, so, um, yeah.
Plover 1:09
That's exciting. We're definitely going to talk about that show. Um, I have a couple other questions kind of just generally, um, first of all, SK the Novelist, banger name. Where did that come from? Out of curiosity?
SK the Novelist 1:18
Thank you for asking. Every time someone asks I give a different meaning to SK, so, I'll have to make one up. But uh, the novelist came from, this is a really corny story, but I filled up three notebooks with rhymes. And I was like, wow, I'm filling up books. And so,
Cosmo 1:37
Like a novelist.
SK the Novelist 1:38
And uh, I don't know. Just kind of stuck. That's really just it, yeah.
Plover 1:43
That's pretty cool. Just had like Eight Mile on in the background. And then threw it all together.
SK the Novelist 1:46
Yeah, yeah, the, yup. That was yeah, no, I did watch Eight Mile a lot as a kid. That's actually-
Cosmo 1:52
A lot?
SK the Novelist 1:53
-Anderson's favorite, uh, movie, but he's here for that
Anderson 1:55
That's a misconception actually. That's not true, because I wasn't allowed to watch it as a kid. It's my favorite movie now, but not as a kid. A lot of cuss words. For clarification. Clarification. Yes.
SK the Novelist 2:06
But uh, yeah, yeah, that's, that's where that comes from. But uh, yeah.
Plover 2:10
So the SK is just kind of a,
SK the Novelist 2:12
Yeah it's like a choose your own adventure.
Plover 2:13
Awesome.
SK the Novelist 2:14
Yeah, so you can, you know, Swedish karate,
Plover 2:17
Some knuckles.
Anderson 2:19
Some knuckles.
SK the Novelist 2:20
Some knuckles.
Lord D-Rock 2:21
Sexual Klondike. Be honest.
SK the Novelist 2:23
These are good. These are good. Some Knuckles is wild. I haven't had that one yet.
Plover 2:29
How long have you been making music SK? It's, I noticed your Instagram account's been active for a while. But how long has that been, just in general?
SK the Novelist 2:34
Yeah. Well, I actually played guitar before I made rap music. So I probably started around like 13. But around 17 or 18 I got more into writing. And so, yeah, that was, that was about where that started.
Plover 2:48
Writing entire novels.
SK the Novelist 2:49
Yeah. Allegedly. Yeah. Um, but yeah, more like performance-wise, probably since like, 19, 20, something like that.
Plover 3:00
Awesome.
SK the Novelist 3:00
Yeah. Not since 1920, since the age of 19 or 20, sorry.
Plover 3:05
The year 1920?
SK the Novelist 3:06
Yeah, no, no, yeah.
Plover 3:08
That's a good run, I would say.
SK the Novelist 3:10
But uh, yeah, yeah. So it's been a while, coming up on a decade. Uh, yeah.
Plover 3:16
Retrospective. Um, we got a lot of musicians in here, a whole lot of musicians. Let's, let's talk some music. This is a real note that I wrote to myself on Changes, Changes, the lyric, "This that new wave baby. This not that no boom bap," which I believe you wrote.
SK the Novelist 3:32
No I had that one, but he is on that, he is on that.
Plover 3:36
Stuck out to me because I kind of love your fusion of like, kind of the energy of boom bap with like, a very updated sound, like, if no one had ever, if someone's like, oh, SK the Novelist, great name. What, what do they do? How do you kind of describe your sound to them?
SK the Novelist 3:47
Yeah, yeah. I really, um, to the annoyance of all my friends, listen to a lot of different kinds of rap music. Because I always say that in debates that we have, pull that card out, but uh, yeah no, I don't know. I, I, it's, yeah, it goes like, multiple ways. I don't know if, depending on how I'm writing I can be very boom bap, like punch line, underground, cipher kind of stuff. Or just like Trappy. Like, if I'm collabing with like, three, I'm probably being more melodic, having a different approach. So um, but yeah, I tried to blend the lines of those two, you know, so which Cosmo, who made, made all the beats on the album, obviously, was really fun to like, develop the different sounds with, because we were able to kind of meet in the middle. And he's really good at both of those things. So, that was kind of a fun, yeah.
Plover 4:37
So kind of like the production, like, influenced the, the music in a way.
SK the Novelist 4:41
Yeah, well, the fun thing was up until now I hadn't worked with a producer like, hands on. It was a lot of like, people on the internet, just kind of from a distance grabbing beats that had already been made and kind of making. But with this, it was pretty, you know, this is the direct, we would often kind of pick like things we were vibing with that already exist. We were like, we should try something in that sort of sound or like that area. And so whether that was like trap, or like, you know, the boom bap stuff, so but yeah,
Plover 5:12
Awesome.
SK the Novelist 5:13
Anything come to mind for you with that question?
Cosmo 5:15
Well, I, as from my part, when we were making a lot of the songs on the project, it was cool to, because I was very trap influenced prior to working with SK. I didn't sample a lot of music I didn't you know, I didn't, I guess I don't know, I wasn't good at like, like crate digging or like, looking for, looking for stuff like that. So that was, that was like a totally like, new skill that I picked up through the process of making this project. It's like,
SK the Novelist 5:47
And that was fun. It was fun trying new things like,
Cosmo 5:50
Yeah like getting, I don't, getting, going from having like, no skill and to feeling pretty good about it.
Plover 5:56
So how do you describe like what you were doing with in terms of crate digging like, so there's more like specific samples that you like, okay, this is going to cover a whole section of a song or something.
Cosmo 6:05
Yeah. So, you know, really what I'm doing is I'm going through and looking for all, there's like, a bunch of different ways I'll go, I'll like trying to find artists, I either like, be like, okay, I want to make a soul beat, right? And then I'll go like, look up like, okay, you know, let's start with this soul artists. Let's go to related artists. Let's go to that artists related artists, and let's find the guy who like, no one's ever like heard before, right? And then let's go like listen to all of like, they're like, usually, like, first three albums are always better. Because like, it's, I don't know, like, 60s 70s soul is like, really good for sampling. So I'd like, you know, just kind of go down that path and then just try to find something that, you know, is, is either hasn't been sampled before, or something that I can like flip in an interesting way.
SK the Novelist 6:55
We had surprising success when we would like, we would have a song we knew that we liked with either a famous sample or something like that. And we would go to the album where that sample was from, and then just explore the entire album and try to find like a different sample on the lesser known track. Like we had, like very high success.
Cosmo 7:10
Yeah.
SK the Novelist 7:11
Probably setting four or five of the tracks.
Cosmo 7:13
Yeah. So one of them, one of them I know was from, SK brought the beat on Mad the Beat for the song Average, right? He brought that to me and was like, we looked at the sample that was from that. And then dug into that guy, that guy's, the sample, the artists who did the samples discography a little bit more, and just found some gold in there like, this is awesome. So,
SK the Novelist 7:44
I guess 2022 version of crate digging.
Cosmo 7:47
Yeah.
SK the Novelist 7:48
Spotify related. Yeah.
Plover 7:50
Playing Spotify tagged.
SK the Novelist 7:51
Yeah. So.
Cosmo 7:53
Who knows? Maybe the old heads, would think I'm wack for you know, digging around.
Plover 7:57
That's really cool. I also noticed that a lot of times you kind of bring like a sense of humor into your lyrics.
SK the Novelist 8:02
Yeah.
Plover 8:03
How do you value that in terms, even among like, kind of serious moments? How do you value like, being able to tone switch like that? And is that kind of continuing on the, maybe this new project or just in general?
SK the Novelist 8:13
Yeah, definitely, definitely. Honestly, it comes from just like, I really like a lot of like, 90s sitcoms, like a lot. And I would even say like my humor, just in conversations and stuff like that is influenced by that a lot. So yeah, I just like I really like just obscure absurd like self deprecating, sometimes, like humor. And so yeah, that definitely, like comes in to the punch lines and lyrics on some of the songs for sure. So, but yeah, so 90s, 90s sitcoms, probably why.
Plover 8:46
Yeah, just like that one, I guess interlude where like, you just had someone roasting you on your new EP.
SK the Novelist 8:51
Oh,
Plover 8:51
That's a good one.
SK the Novelist 8:52
Yeah. Yeah. Shout out big Frank. He's actually on The Show. He's battling he's, yeah, we're doing a rap battle at The Show on September 2, and he's one of the dudes battling. Yeah, he's he's a really good friend from back in Ashville. So I wanted to bring him on for that, because he's really good.
Plover 9:12
Yeah, he's seemed to be getting some good licks in on you in there. So he'll be bringing that to the,
SK the Novelist 9:16
Yeah. So yeah, that's, you, good call out. Yeah. I love that stuff.
Plover 9:20
So again, there's that album coming. The singles were amazing.
SK the Novelist 9:24
Thank you.
Plover 9:25
So how's that been? How's kind of whole recording process and we have a lot of people here, who are on the album, they want to hop in as well. But like, how was just that, like, I guess lead up to the release? Just the recording process?
SK the Novelist 9:36
Sure. Yeah. Well, I'll start the answer. And then obviously, we pass around but for us, just like the core, just, of the album took like, almost probably over three years.
Cosmo 9:47
Yeah.
SK the Novelist 9:48
Because there was just a lot of, we would make something, we really like it, and then we were like, okay, we know that's going to be on it, probably. So we're gonna put that on the back burner and continue chipping away. There's probably like four versions of this album. I mean we kept being like, eh, this isn't quite it. So we went to the drawing board, but
Cosmo 10:04
I think honestly, we just kept getting better. And like, we would make a track. And then it would be like, oh, like, this is like, this is like the new ceiling for like, what we can actually do.
SK the Novelist 10:13
Yeah.
Cosmo 10:13
So I think that like, with the exception of the first track that we ever did together, which is Redial,
SK the Novelist 10:20
Yeah, yeah.
Cosmo 10:20
That's the only one from, that was like, that was like the only like, long standing one that survived, but like it kind of, our, I guess our standards for the process kept getting better. And then more recently, we kind of came together with like a solidified tracklist. And then it was kind of like, okay, like, we want to have some features. We want to, you know, work with a lot of like, we have, there's a lot of really good local talent in Raleigh. And so it was kind of like, okay, like, who can like, for some of it was like, it was like, okay, like, this person naturally fits on this song. For some people, it was like, we really want to work with this person. You know, let's, let's make sure that we have a song that is kind of,
SK the Novelist 11:09
Like with them in mind, yeah.
Cosmo 11:11
Yeah.
SK the Novelist 11:12
But yeah, I would say and really almost the entire thing probably. And this is just really common with my like song writing, like, I'll do one verse and I'll have the, either somebody's going to be on this or it's just one verse. I don't usually go two verses. And so when we were sitting there, we had like, tons of songs where it was like, already had the hook on it, my verse, everything's done, it's literally just ready for a feature. And then we kind of play the game of like, we should maybe pitch it to this person, this person and so. And we did that with Three and D-Rock. We knew which ones D-Rock, to put D-Rock on. So,
Cosmo 11:43
For Three, I knew that I wanted Three on the project for like, probably like a year and a half like before we actually got the verse like, I was like, I want to have a song that's like, gonna be a Three song and then we didn't really like get anything that we were like, was really like a solid song for him up until,
SK the Novelist 12:00
Yeah, that was probably the most recent one.
Cosmo 12:02
Yeah, that was the most recent one that we made.
SK the Novelist 12:05
Which is funny. So but yeah, yeah, Three can talk about his parts on it. You kind of like turn that around pretty fast too.
3amsound 12:14
Um, I got that song you sent me. I think that was like, what? A month ago?
SK the Novelist 12:20
Yeah, yeah.
3amsound 12:20
Two months ago? I was at the pool, you sent it to me, I got out the pool. And I think I started writing instantly. I was like, oh, yeah, this is hard. Because at first it was rough draft. So yeah yeah yeah, I just, I like, I like working with SK because our styles are like, completely different and it's like always fun. It's like,
SK the Novelist 12:42
Yeah, I agree.
3amsound 12:42
Not to say like, it's not like serious, but it's just like, it just gives you two different feels because I got like more of a melodic sound and he was more you know like, hip hop and you know this rap so if we combine those two the tracks always come out like fire it's a different sound like I can't even explain it. So. Oh, no, it's not, it's It's nothing. It's nothing like, I don't know I just enjoy working with him. You know what I'm saying?
SK the Novelist 13:05
I made you come out the pool man.
Cosmo 13:09
Relaxing.
SK the Novelist 13:10
Yeah. Sounds like I ruined your day.
3amsound 13:12
You sent that through, I got to check this out so I heard it.
Vex Clark 13:18
You made that beat Cosmo?
Cosmo 13:20
Yes.
Vex Clark 13:20
Sick bro.
3amsound 13:22
But yeah, like did you make changes too?
Cosmo 13:25
No, no I didn't.
3amsound 13:27
But yeah, yeah.
SK the Novelist 13:27
Those were the Youtube days.
Cosmo 13:29
That was the Youtube days, wasn't it?
SK the Novelist 13:30
Yeah, so.
3amsound 13:32
It's all good. We all been there.
Cosmo 13:33
Yeah.
3amsound 13:35
Tight beat style.
SK the Novelist 13:36
You, you self produce a lot though right?
3amsound 13:38
I don't self produce, but I have people around me that produce as well. Like my brother, close people around me.
SK the Novelist 13:43
Oh, right right right.
3amsound 13:43
Mutual friends sort of, all that so. Yeah
SK the Novelist 13:46
Yeah, so. Yeah. D-Rock can speak, he's actually on two tracks I believe? Right?
Anderson 13:54
Is that true?
SK the Novelist 13:54
Yeah. Two.
Lord D-Rock 13:55
Am I? I'm, I know that we have one coming out this Friday. 81 days.
SK the Novelist 13:59
Yeah, you are on two. Yeah yeah, you're on two because we're putting Tip Your Waiter on that too.
Lord D-Rock 14:03
Yeah. So I'm on two.
SK the Novelist 14:04
So yeah, this man is on two of them, yeah.
Lord D-Rock 14:06
Yeah, I mean, whenever, I mean, me and SK haven't made that many songs together. Which is funny. One of the, the second song you just made, Tip Your Waiter. We moved in together me, SK, and Cosmo. And we said like, every week, we're going to make a song together. And we, we stuck to that for the first week.
Plover 14:23
That's impressive.
Lord D-Rock 14:25
And that was about it.
SK the Novelist 14:26
We went one for one.
Lord D-Rock 14:27
Yeah, we went one for one the first week. It was very exciting. But yeah, I mean, nowadays, SK just, you know, he sends me a track. Usually I'm playing Sea of Thieves whenever he sends it to me, you know, it's a pirate game. So as I'm like going through the waves, you know, listening to the beat, you know, getting an idea, you know, sinking some other ships, and then whenever I ragequit that's when I decided to actually write the verse, and then I usually won't record it until like 30 minutes whenever I said I was gonna send it to him. That's usually how the workflow goes uh. Definitely with this one. I know that was the case because like I said, like a specific time I was going to send it and I just kept putting off recording it until like the last 30 minutes. All of my SK verses are rushed. And that's when I do my best work. You know,
Plover 15:15
Exactly, just under pressure, it comes out.
Lord D-Rock 15:18
Absolutely, absolutely.
SK the Novelist 15:21
Story of receiving my songs, this is, this is amazing.
3amsound 15:24
But it's a cool, it's cool moments you know.
SK the Novelist 15:26
It's good. Yeah.
Lord D-Rock 15:28
Another fun fact, that this, this whole project, actually, to some degree, this actually just clicked in my head could be attributed to me, because when you think about the two people who uh,
SK the Novelist 15:42
That's who created it.
Lord D-Rock 15:43
Yeah. I actually introduced Cosmo to SK the Novelist. Back in the day, it was right here on NC State campus. I heard SK's music. I said it's really, really good. I had a class with Cosmo. He said he made beats. He came over. We made some beats one day. And then I was like, dang, we should all move in together. So really, really, you know, I'm the executive producer of like this whole, you know, this whole shabang.
Plover 16:07
That's when it all was conceived, yeah. That very day.
SK the Novelist 16:09
Thank you Lord.
Lord D-Rock 16:10
Yeah that very day. You're welcome, you're welcome. You know it's thankless work, but it's a good album. So it was worth it. But yeah, they have some real synergy. You know, they're making, they, people aren't ready. You guys have some bangers. You guys have some absolute bangers on that, on that project for sure.
SK the Novelist 16:28
I'm speechless.
Plover 16:31
Yeah, like I was gonna ask this, but I didn't know y'all moved in together. How was it kind of like collaborative process that close? Like you said, you never really collaborated an album before, like just, literally living I guess across the hallway from the person you're working with?
SK the Novelist 16:44
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's definitely convenient, especially during like COVID when lots of people couldn't like, you know, be face to face. We had the luxury of like, I can literally knock on his door. And like, just spit off an idea that I'm having, you know, like, it definitely be different if it's like a phone call. And you got to line up the day throughout the week when you can line it up, like so. I'd say some of our best stuff was very just like, we didn't even plan on cooking. As we call it.
Cosmo 17:12
No, I never, SK sends like a bad verse to me I can be like,
SK the Novelist 17:15
Yeah, yeah.
Cosmo 17:18
You're not eating for a whole week. All of your orange Monster into the sink. Until you write something better.
SK the Novelist 17:31
That happened one time. No, but uh, but yeah, I would say, yeah, it just made it a little more, a little less stressful to like, actually line up the creative process. And I hear that's a big, like, the consistency of the like the best creators, the advice they always give is like, make it as easy on yourself as possible to create, like, have your recording equipment like already halfway set up, so that it doesn't take too long. So you can't like talk yourself out of like, recording or creating if you get that spark, you know. So we kind of had that. Yeah, I can just walk to him and yeah, yeah.
Plover 18:09
Awesome.
SK the Novelist 18:09
Is that how it is for y'all? You guys
3amsound 18:11
No I have to kinda, like, do everything. Sometimes I'm like, damn I wish I had someone to kind of like make it easy. Sometimes I'll push through it. Yeah I don't know, it gets, it gets, it gets the job done.
SK the Novelist 18:23
Was it like with Woozy? Like just making
3amsound 18:25
So, well, he makes beats like, he kind of like send them over because he's because he does videos. So he's busy, like, as well. So we don't really, like, link as much as like, even though we're brothers like, usually it's like, some weekend type of deal. And it sent it over. But like I said the energy is different. Like, I know y'all together y'all cook like cooking together. It's like, different, versus someone being in the room by themself. And it's like trying to find the energy. But I've been in sessions where I had people in there and it's like, it's just a different energy. It's like, you know, you got some opinions. Like ideas. So I understand the difference between that.
Plover 19:07
Yeah. Do you like record like in the place where you like, go, go off somewhere?
SK the Novelist 19:12
Yeah, I got my so my room, I would have the, you know, my microphone and everything set up. And oftentimes, literally, I'd have been like, even if he's still working on like the beat. Like, I'm already like, things are coming to my head. And I don't want to wait. So I'm like, press out like a, like a halfway version of this. So I can like go start. Yeah, and then we'll kind of bring it together. Yeah, so but yeah,
Cosmo 19:32
Yeah, a lot of the like, the like, beat drops and like, certain like certain like bits of flair and stuff like that are like the like samples in different parts. There's like things where like SK is like, oh, and I want I want this piece to be like thrown in here. And then actually like, fortunately, we have a really, really good mix engineer. And so for some of the like, like cool, like, finishing touches, he'll come in kind of after the fact and kind of spruce everything up as well.
SK the Novelist 20:07
Bring it to a place we didn't even kind of think of.
Cosmo 20:09
Yeah.
SK the Novelist 20:10
Down to the layers of like instruments and the beat and stuff like that.
Cosmo 20:14
But for me, it's cool because I, I like, especially like, having not worked with a ton of rappers before. I worked with SK, I was always kind of like, you know, what I like to be in like, it's, you know, structured in such a way where the artists like does is like, "Oh, I wanted to have my verse here and it has to be here" or something like that. And so kind of working with him directly. You know, I have the flexibility. I can just make whatever I want to make. He can write whatever he wants to write. And then we can work together on how it needs to be structured. You know, what kind of the finishing touches need to be. And so that's something really unique that you don't get, just in the age of making type beats, I guess. Yeah, rapping on type beats
SK the Novelist 20:59
That's face to face stuff. So yeah, yeah. But yeah.
Plover 21:04
That sounds like a great time. Um, I noticed that like, you've been dropping singles recently, the covers kind of like, I don't know, almost a magazine kind of vibe to them. Do you have a cover figured out for this album? Also, I don't like. Do you have a title for the album yet?
SK the Novelist 21:18
Yeah. For sure. Yeah. The album title is I Tried to Take You with Me. And as far as the artwork, there is an album cover. It hasn't been put out yet. But the entirety of the graphics is being taken on by my good friend Ricky Tale in Asheville. He goes by Show and Tale Creative, T-A-L-E. And he actually did, he's done album artwork for me in the past. But with this, this was pretty cool because we actually had a plan of, on basically being his, like, subject for a packaging of like, what he can provide for artists. So he's putting together five singles, an album cover, an EP K, a logo, and some website stuff. And so we had that plan, it kind of fell into place that like he was looking for somebody to like, kind of do that for. And so we, yeah, we've he's been handling all the kind of look of that. So that's cool call out like magazine. So we go for very, like vintage, like physical looking stuff looks like worn. Yeah, so and he's that's definitely like his bag. So, yeah.
Plover 22:36
Um, so last album was Baggage. Amazing album. How was this kind of changed between that? And I guess now, is there a kind of a different sound to it? Are we kind of continuing from that album and then moving on?
SK the Novelist 22:49
Yeah, yeah, I think definitely the production side, of course, because that was that would still be in like the YouTube days. You know, I had like three or four producers I was pulling from just at the time, and it definitely worked. You know what I'm saying? I liked, I like some of the sounds that was coming out of it. But I'm more excited for this. Because like I was just it's more hands on, I definitely have more of a internal influence within the beats, like we were able to collaborate like, rather than I'm just putting my vocals on something that already is what it is. And then I would even say like lyrically, I've gotten to a place where I'm doing things that I like more that I think will age better. That, that era, that like album was a little bit more melodic. And, I, it's funny with writing, I talked about this with Andersen a lot. There's like two distinct types of writing. Like as a like battle rapper, punch line, like cipher type stuff, you actually often write backwards, like you have the line that you're trying to land on. And then you write like the three lines before that lead up to it. And this album was a lot more that. Whereas like during the Baggage stuff, I'm like, more melodic outwardly, I'm just writing in a forward way. Because you're not necessarily trying to land on a specific thought, you're just seeing where it goes to. So that was the main probably difference in the lyric writing between the two. So that's been cool as well.
Plover 24:18
That's really interesting. And I notice you have a lot of different flows, especially from I was looking at Baggage, like every song kind of felt like almost a completely different like way of approaching it. Do you kind of prefer like cohesion within a project or just like a group of songs that you made a kind of a similar time and would just kind of like to push out?
SK the Novelist 24:36
Yeah, yeah, no, well, in funny enough, it's never like really the same like time period. It's usually straight. Even Baggage had like, upwards of like five different years worth of material on there had. Like really, that might be a stretch probably three, three or four years worth of stuff, but like with this one, it's like a long time period. But yeah, I think that's where the revision comes in. It's like, like I said, we have like three or four different versions of this. So we were like, okay, at the end of 2020, we're like, we had a version of it or like, this isn't what we wanted. So then the mid through 2021, we were like, "Maybe this?" And then we sat with it, we're like, "Nah, it's not good enough." So we kept kind of evolving it. And I think that's where the cohesion comes in. It's like, "Does this feel like a cohesive?" You know, right. Yeah.
Cosmo 25:19
And there were, there were definitely like songs like we actually like, I think, like, even like, like, got like heated and like, different disputes of, like, you know, like, I think this song is, like, you know, like, make sense for the project. You know, I don't I don't think this I think we should cut this song from the project, because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So like, you know, that there's, there was like, some thoughts, uh, in terms of like, you know, trying to keep things cohesive. But it's not really like a concept album. So there is there is kind of
SK the Novelist 25:59
It borders on it.
Cosmo 26:01
Borders on it?
SK the Novelist 26:02
It borders on it.
Cosmo 26:02
But what's the concepts? I don't even know this.
SK the Novelist 26:06
That's weird. We developed it together. That's, yeah, no, I Tried to Take You With Me deals with like, it we I sampled a Twilight Zone episode for every song on there. So it has like a very sci-fi feel throughout. So that I Tried to Take You With Me is like, like abduction, or something like that is like the very like on the nose interpretation, like with the cover, and the merch design that we're doing. But the kind of the deeper meaning I was looking for is like almost a double meaning of like, you rose to a better place, and you had people in your life that you tried to take them to that place. And it either worked or did not work. But also some of the lyrics are like darker. So it's like you were in a dark place. And like, admittedly in like a toxic way you like tried to take people to that place, too. And so like, topically, it kind of bounces to some of that. But yeah, I guess it's not really a concept album but
Cosmo 27:07
Right. There's, there's a concept behind the name of the album.
SK the Novelist 27:10
Yeah, so, but
Plover 27:12
There's a lot of concepts going on there.
SK the Novelist 27:14
Yeah. So but, but yeah
Plover 27:17
Nice. Um, I've watched a lot of your music videos that are really cool. Um, I, do you plan to make a lot of music videos for this? Or at least
SK the Novelist 27:26
Yeah, yeah, me and Anderson and Thiago are working on a video for Splotch, which is the first single from it. And we just, you know, we have to line that up at some point. But we're, yeah, we're that there is a plan in motion for that, and a few of the other ones as well. But yeah, let's take on the independent artist grind of trying to balance all the things that go into a rollout is kind of crazy. So.
Plover 27:53
Yeah, how much delay like, from an artist perspective, is all the kind of other parts really mean to you? Like the, the visual like, as just someone working mostly auditory, like having to, like, also stand in front of a camera and kind of, say your song like that?
SK the Novelist 28:08
Yeah, it's interesting, because I'm not like, not like an actor by any means. And I don't really, I don't understand a lot of the sort of nuances that go into like, being in front of the camera and being very visually like, you know, coordinating everything exactly how you want to express yourself. So those are things I still kind of have to like, learn, but I feel like I'm really good at like network with people, for instance, Anderson is really good at that, like, his content is centered around that thing, literally being in front of the camera and acting out, like, a script. And so like, he's able to help with stuff like that, for instance. And then like, the concept of the video, I put that in, you know, people's hands, like Anderson to, like, kind of flesh out and make more, way more interesting and developed than, like, I could have thought to, you know, what I'm saying. Same with, you know, in sound engineering, same with, you know, the graphics of the, you know, the, the artwork, like, these are all things where I'm like collaborating with the people, but I'm trying to put it in the hands of like the experts that can really bring that side of it to life more so, I like to have a hand in it, but you know, yeah. I'm not super DIY in a lot of these, I'd rather have a network of people that can do it.
Plover 29:17
That makes sense. And some of them don't even live with you, and that's, that's really.
SK the Novelist 29:21
That's true. That's the hardest part. But uh, but yeah. But yeah, I'm really excited for the show. I'd love to kind of talk about what everybody's like, involvement is with the show for sure.
Plover 29:37
Speaking about network, bet a lot of people in here who have dealt with that. Um, anyone just, are y'all excited about it in general? Is uh,
3amsound 29:45
We just here to support. We performing, but we definitely here for the support for SK.
SK the Novelist 29:51
I appreciate that man. But no, I I was like very excited for the bill that we have, because these are literally my favorite artists, you know what I'm saying? That in my network, like these are in, Cosmo as well, like, these are like, our favorite folks that we listen to for like, inspiration and influence, and like, literally work with, you know, so yeah, me and D-Rock have been doing a lot of shows this summer. We just had a show in Charleston with Mike Live who's on the bill on the 2nd. And he's been doing a lot of his own shows in Charleston. So I think that's kind of brought the creative process a little bit closer to like, literally performing together a ton. It's become kind of the norm
Lord D-Rock 30:37
For sure. I feel like it changes like, the entire dynamic of how you, how you set up like, your sets and the songs you want to do, and the things you want to do. He's been incorporating all sorts of new ideas and theatrics into the show. We did uh, that party, that graduation party, and yeah.
SK the Novelist 30:57
Yeah, all sorts of stuff.
Lord D-Rock 30:59
Yeah, he pulled out.
SK the Novelist 31:00
Balloons, and.
Lord D-Rock 31:01
Yeah, he does. You know, SK has been doing all sorts of stuff recently, all kinds of shows, all kinds of things on stage, it's going to be, it's definitely going to be a very exciting show, whenever it happens.
Cosmo 31:14
Uh, I do actually want to also point out that um, this is gonna be the first time I think you've ever performed with a live drummer. Am I right?
SK the Novelist 31:23
Yeah, I performed one time, like, forever ago with a, with a group of guys from the Cypher, they did a birthday show in like 2017. But that was like, before any of the albums or anything. So, this is the first time I get to, like, collaborate on an entire set. It's super, just like super orchestrated. And Becks had actually reached out a lot to like, work with me, like in the month or two leading up to when I needed that, so it like, was like divine timing, really
Vex Clark 31:54
Yeah, it was definitely, I had to reach to him, because listening, seeing what he brought to the table, I'm like, yeah, it's different. You know, you want to see it. You see it, but you don't always see it. That makes sense. But it's getting very lyrical. It's very lyrical. And, and it caught my attention. I mean, I went to a YouTube page and just seeing how you presented everything, you know, it was just having fun, and just, just letting his hair down and just rocking with it.
Anderson 32:31
Theoretical.
Vex Clark 32:36
Nah, it's cool, I mean, all his music that he has given me to listen to, has been A1, and it's a honor to play for him. I mean, first time, you know, first rehearsal, went pretty dope. And, couple more to come up. So, definitely going to be interesting and it's gonna be very lit. You're gonna have some surprises in there for y'all. So. Can't tell everything.
SK the Novelist 33:09
Appreciate you, man. Yeah, it was important to have a drummer on the show. I just feel like, you know, a drummer or live instrumentation really, of any kind, can just take a hip hop show and make it just seem like that much more musical, you know what I'm saying. Sometimes, a hip hop show really connects most with people that really listen to mostly just hip hop or like that side of things. But, I feel like once you add instruments in there, it just feels a little more musical. So, I was excited for that. And I'll be playing a little guitar as well at the show. Which will be fun, because I've never gotten to perform like with a drummer, playing guitar, so there will be, like, that.
Plover 33:48
Yeah, it's like you got a whole band out there. That's awesome. Yeah, I already saw the posters, I was really excited to see there was a live drummer there because that, that always just kind of brings out like, another like, almost dimension of the sound. It's, it, it's not just like a, not just, but like, there's the beat, and then there's also like, some actual sort of in-the-moment stuff, more alive I guess, that's.
Lord D-Rock 34:08
I mean, just brings out the music a little more. I mean, just enhances the music to a different level and um, nobody never heard them with the drummer. Coming up September 2nd.
Plover 34:25
Um, you mentioned there's gonna be a rap battle there too?
SK the Novelist 34:27
Yeah, yeah. So um, so it's been a little while since we've done a battle rap event. But we used to host ABL battlegrounds, rap events. We actually did a few with WKNC, which is cool. WKNC presents did like, I think battlegrounds 5 through 7 were all WKNC events, which is very awesome. But um, yeah, I wanted to bring that back a little bit. Just because it influences my like, writing a lot, and I'm just, you know, obsessed with battle rap. Honestly. So, it's just my passion. That's really just for me, like, at the show, to be able to just kick back and enjoy that happening. And I think that the crowd and the people that will come out, will really enjoy it. I picked a couple of people that can really translate to, like, a quote unquote regular audience, somebody that doesn't always know what battle rap is, or hasn't seen it before. These will be two guys that can really like, make it translate, and it'll be fun. So.
Anderson 35:28
I think it'll also be exciting because like, with like, battle rap, you know, it's such a, it's a thing where like, for typical, like, you know, especially local shows, everyone's, everyone's rapping stuff that, you know, some people have heard before, or it's, or it's like, the people on stage have heard before. But like a rap battle, even the other person on stage doesn't know what his opponent's gonna say to him. It's like, everyone except for the rappers are hearing it for the very first time. And it's like a one take thing, and so there's a lot of like, in the moment, like, excitement with a rap battle, and you know, it's not like an entire car where it's just like, you know, eight battles in a row, it's just like, gonna be one. So it's like a perfect, it's like a very digestible, yeah, just kind of like spectacle, you don't get at really any local shows at all. So it'll be really fun. I'm really looking forward to it. See how it turns out.
SK the Novelist 36:15
I was particularly excited about that. That it's one battle. Because, as much as I love battle rap, if I'm at an event, and it's like the fifth or sixth battle, I'm exhausted by it. But just one, like, I feel like it's just a splash. Know what I'm saying?It's like, yeah, so, but yeah, I agree. Definitely.
Plover 36:33
Yeah. And I know that you've done a lot of battle rap, and every cure uh, I watched some of those, um. I remember watching the, the one with Khaleesi and, and there were a lot of people chanting. Well, that's, that's different. Like why, how, would you say bring some kind of, something, like, kind of different, uh, into battle rap and like to, uh, how how do you kind of like, make that your own thing?
SK the Novelist 36:49
Yeah. Um, first off, thanks for checking that out. Appreciate you. Yeah, that was my most recent one. Well, the most recent one that's came out, and uh, and actually shout out to Khaleesi, he's become a good friend of mine musically since then. So it's funny how that happens. You meet somebody that you're battling and then you become, you know, friends through that. But uh, but yeah, it, yeah. I, it's a lot just like, the music side it's, it's uh, influenced by like, 90s sitcom, self deprecating humor, a lot of it was like, very backwards just, humor, like almost in a compliment type of way, you know, or, um. The idea is, with me when I'm battling, I want to like, almost get to the joke about myself before you can, better than you could. That way, when you do it, it's kind of like, why are you being so mean to him? Like. Clearly, um, but yeah, so yeah.
Anderson 37:52
Well so many of your stuff, like, what I, what I love about your music that, I actually legitimately listened to, to your music. I wouldn't just tell you that it wasn't doing it, you know, everyone, you know, everyone, y'all do it in a level scene. Um, but uh, but no, it's, it's so good because, because so many of your, of the bars in your songs could work in a battle. You know like, they're, they're, they're general but like, there'll be, just like, that would, that would shake a room. But you, you're able to, you're able to translate it from on a battle stage where there's no beat to an actual beat and work it into a flow, and that's what makes, I think, your music a lot different than a lot of rappers. Because a lot of rappers, you know, they can they can make their song flow and sound good. But at the end of the day, they're not saying something that's just like, really just like, mind blowing. And I think you're very good at that, and so there's a lot of battle rap influence, I think, in your music which is dope.
SK the Novelist 38:42
Thank you man. You know the feeling of like, a really good dad joke? Like, that's what I'm going for usually is like, that, like what he's referring to in the music or like in a battle, like that's what I'm trying to land on, so. Which is almost like, backwards kind of, to like, what Hip Hop feels like I guess, but it's just the absurdity and kind of the self-deprecating humor side of it, I don't know. So.
Vex Clark 39:05
Hey, that song Bones sound like you going in on somebody though.
Anderson 39:12
Whose bones were you talking about, by the way? If you haven't heard the song Bones, just here, it's like, your song Bones just sounds like a, like a hard early MGK type of vibe, like.
Lord D-Rock 39:26
Should you drop the story of who it's really about?
SK the Novelist 39:28
There, oh, there's no backstory.
Lord D-Rock 39:32
Drop her name. Drop her name.
SK the Novelist 39:37
Yeah, no, that's funny. No, there's no backstory for Bones. I wish I had something queued up, interesting there, but nah.
Plover 39:49
I was actually gonna mention that, I hadn't heard that, I was, this was like, one of my questions, because I, I noticed a lot of it was shot in the Pour House. And you're performing there, of course. I know a lot of you performed there. Um, uh, do have like a kind of connection to the Pour House, like what does that venue, it's a big venue, I know you performed there a lot, was that like coming to y'all?
SK the Novelist 40:06
Yeah, I'm just so glad that the Pour House like, was one of the staples that kind of stuck through during COVID. We literally, I literally like, two or three of my favorite venues, both in Raleigh and Asheville, like, went out, you know, went under. And so, I don't know, Pour House has always been my favorite. And this was actually my first chance for a show that I'm curating, um, to have on a weekend day, so, I feel like very blessed for that. But yeah, in Bones, we filmed that, Anderson actually filmed and directed that video, so, um, I don't know. Something about that alleyway, just.
Plover 40:42
Yeah, it's very aesthetic.
SK the Novelist 40:44
Yeah, it's a good spot. So, but yeah, no, the Pour House, great, great folks that run that and they really care, I think, about the local, like scene. I know they really tap in and stay connected with like.
Cosmo 40:58
Yeah, well, there, there just aren't that many, like, hip hop venues in Raleigh anymore. Um, and so, like, you know, it's, it's like, there's a lot of like, there's a lot of like, folk and rock and like EDM venues, but like, I guess like the Pour House is really kind of holding it down for uh, the local hip hop scene. A lot of local hip hop artists, obviously, you know.
SK the Novelist 41:22
Yeah, no, I agree. Yeah no, he, they keep an ear to the hip hop scene. But that wasn't as cool of a thing.
Anderson 41:35
I'm surprised they're so nice, because they don't have to be nice, because like, where else are we gonna go. There's like, pretty much like nowhere else. So they could just be complete jerks to us, but like, nah, people at the Pour House are very nice.
SK the Novelist 41:45
Yeah, so.
Plover 41:47
Awesome. Um, I noticed, you, you mentioned playing a lot of shows, especially a lot of shows across North Carolina. Are there like, different vibes across like, the cities in North Carolina? Can you, can you kind of tell?
SK the Novelist 41:57
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, Asheville is one of the, the weirder ones. It's like, amazing, you know, it's the hometown. So, um. But yeah, it's definitely, definitely different than, than Raleigh. I mean, when you're, when you're just putting a bill together, you're like, putting your set together. Yeah, I can't really pinpoint it. But you just kind of know what kind of songs or vibes are gonna be. I feel like I go a little less risky in Raleigh. I go more straightforward. Like, I know these songs are, have worked well. I'm gonna hit 'em with these. Asheville, I might experiment a little because again, it's just weirder out there. If I'm, if I'm in a brand new place, like I played Boone, like one time, and the one time I did, I did songs I knew that had been received well in the past. Yeah, we haven't in Charlotte yet. But me and D-Rock are talking about doing Charlotte soon.
Anderson 42:49
Once Cary discovers hip hop.
Plover 42:55
And Charlotte has good venues, right?
SK the Novelist 42:58
Charlotte? Yeah. D-Rock can speak to that.
Lord D-Rock 43:01
I mean, they had uh, they've, they've had a lot of venues shut down as well. I know, some of the smaller venues.
SK the Novelist 43:07
Oh, really?
Lord D-Rock 43:08
Same situation as Asheville and, and Raleigh. But, I mean, there's still a couple I'm pretty sure. But yeah, they had like some that were open for like, decades and decades and decades that shut down in the last five issues, which is unfortunate. But I definitely want to do a show in Charlotte. I feel like uh, you're absolutely right. Like, the different places, at least between like Asheville, Raleigh, and Charleston, I feel like just have completely different, even just people showing up. Like when we were down in Charleston, it's just tons of people who just go to that place already. So you'll just see like a 40 year old white guy, and it's just like, they're just like, whoa, I've never heard this hippie. Like, whereas like, it's completely different in Raleigh. Like in Raleigh, people show up, they want to hear like hip hop views. You know. When they live a, there's, there's nobody, there's going to be, I'd be shocked if there's a lot of people who show up to a show, like your show, that are just like, what's going on? What's this all about? You know, they come to hear hip hop, which is, which, they're both cool for different reasons. And then Asheville was just weird.
SK the Novelist 44:13
It is weird. Yeah. Some places have kind of a built in crowd kinda, like, not like hundreds of people show up, but I'm saying like, at least a baseline of like, there's 5 to 10 people that go to a lot of those shows, like I noticed at the Mothlight, which was the venue, I performed that in Asheville before it went under. That was my favorite venue out there. There was like 10 to 15 people that I got to know from the Mothlight specifically that were at a lot of the shows, either that I was performing at, or my buddies, or like, you know, but they didn't really know us before. They just were fans of the venue, which is so cool. I think, I guess Pourhouse might have some of that. I don't know.
Plover 44:50
Yeah, there's probably some regulars
SK the Novelist 44:51
Yeah, so that's a cool part of it. But, but yeah, yeah.
Plover 44:59
Yeah. Yeah, and I was really excited to just like, kind of looking through your discography and seeing how many like, awesome local artists you have, specifically because you can kind of like, replicate the energy of like a local group coming together. And I'm really glad you're able to put it on. And so I'm just, in this room is, there's a lot of local talent. Um, kind of put that on, like, one place, one like, project that's, that's always great to see.
SK the Novelist 45:20
Well, the most exciting part is like, what baggage it was like, everything was so kind of spread out. Like, it's, a lot of the features aren't in the same city that I'm in. But with this one, it was moreso people that are like, right nearby. So like, for instance, I'll get the opportunity to perform the track with Three, you know what I'm saying? Or with D-Rock. Like, it's just, that's cool, because it translates live, you know, in the live setting, so yeah, definitely. I agree with that.
Plover 45:51
We're coming up at around the end. Is there anything else y'all want to kind of, get out there?
SK the Novelist 45:55
Yeah, well, I would just love everyone to like, plug like, what they're working on. What, what they're excited to be bringing to the show in their sets and stuff like that. Like, I think Three, you guys said your debut and something new, I believe, maybe. Maybe I'm just making that up.
3amsound 46:24
I got a special request for a old song, that I'm probably gonna do. He was aware of you, so I'll probably do that. I'll have a guitarist playing with me, so we'll probably do something special for that.
SK the Novelist 46:39
Three said it's acoustic by the way. Well, not acoustic but just guitar. Is that right?
3amsound 46:45
Uh, little bit of both.
SK the Novelist 46:46
A little bit. Okay. Got you, got you.
3amsound 46:50
Yeah, we just want to make it, it's gonna be a vibe man. All around.
Lord D-Rock 46:53
Three, have you done that before, an acoustic set, or mostly acoustic set?
3amsound 46:57
Yes. I actually just started doing that for like the past uh, like three months so far, because I had to do, and I started doing that because I had a set at a, at this vegan restaurant called Pure Soul.
Lord D-Rock 47:12
I've been there, several times.
3amsound 47:14
Fire.
Lord D-Rock 47:14
It was good.
3amsound 47:15
Yeah. So, and it was like, like a chill vibe, so I was like, I'm gonna do something different and bring a different feel to my music. So, we started doing that and like, it just sounded different. And then over time, we just progress to just mixing it in with the set and just doing half acoustic, you know, half tracks. Guitar live. So, it's pretty dope, y'all check, y'all will see us September 2nd.
SK the Novelist 47:43
When we, we went to his show at Fruit?
3amsound 47:46
The Fruit. Yeah.
SK the Novelist 47:47
He opened with an acoustic set, and then had a supporting act in the middle, and then did the headlining set himself, but like with the full instruments, and I was like, I've never seen somebody do that. That's dope. So yeah. But anyways.
Vex Clark 48:06
He's a genius.
Lord D-Rock 48:09
I will say this much about Three though, because I was at that show, and your set was so loud. My ears were ringing for a while. That was the craziest, like local show. It was great. It was great. So yeah, I definitely was in my car, like, I can't hear the car.
3amsound 48:29
Turn me up, the monster sound.
Lord D-Rock 48:32
Yeah, I'm planning on doing a lot of just like, straight up new stuff that I have not even released or come close to releasing, along with some old stuff as well. Uh, just because, you know, I have a lot of, I had a lot of like, not a lot, but I have some people coming up from Charlotte. I'm from Charlotte. So I have like family, friends, and people who know of me coming up, which is cool. So I just, I just felt compelled to do a bunch of new stuff. Uh, so it'll be interesting. That, like, things I've never performed before for sure. So.
3amsound 49:06
Exclusives, exclusives, especially a roomful of just different, different vibes, and that's just, it's just gonna be all around. It's gonna touch every, you know, genre probably. So, pretty dope.
SK the Novelist 49:19
Yeah, man.
3amsound 49:20
That's cool.
Anderson 49:22
I'm actually, everyone's wondering this. I'm actually planning on, I'm planning on shooting the battle at 24 frames per second. We'll play with the app assurance, see you wouldn't gotta go.
3amsound 49:38
You forgot about the game though.
SK the Novelist 49:39
We got another hour? Yeah, I just, you know, since we're coming up on time, I just wanted to thank everybody that's involved in it. I'm very humbled to have a great network of people that are gonna make this a very like, special thing. Of course, Cosmo, what you got my guy?
Cosmo 50:04
Yeah, I mean, I'm excited for the show.
SK the Novelist 50:06
Yeah, and thank you so much for having us.
Plover 50:09
Of course, thank y'all for coming, hanging around with this one. So, if y'all want to plug socials, plug where to find your music, just, yeah, feel free to do that.
SK the Novelist 50:19
Yeah, you can find everything for me @SKthenovelist
Cosmo 50:25
@itbeCosmo.
Anderson 50:28
Anderson Burris.
Lord D-Rock 50:30
You can find me @lordDRock.
Vex Clark 50:34
You can find me @VexClark. vexclark, no E.
3amsound 50:42
Y'all can find me @3amsound, on everything.
Plover 50:47
Awesome. Thank y'all so much. I appreciate you all tuning in. And you can check out all of the interviews that I and everyone here does at wknc.org/podcasts and click on Off the Record. I'm Plover and I've been here with SK the novelist and many other talented people on WKNC 88.1 FM HD one Raleigh.