First thing, who are you? Where you from? Where your people from?
Kuratii: Well, my name is Kuratii, I’m from Charlotte. I was born and raised in Charlotte. You say my people, so my family and what not?
Yeah, your bloodline.
Kuratii: Yeah, so my bloodline is actually from Virginia. All of my family on both sides (my mom and my dad.) My mom is from Williamsburg and my dad is from Hampton and so yeah, my family is kinda all over Virginia. I would say Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg. I actually have a cousin that’s a rapper and he’s out in Newport News and he’s been making waves for a very long time he kinda just got locked up. He got into some trouble and just recently got back out so he’s making his way back into the music industry. I had another cousin before he passed away that was seriously doing music as well. Music runs in the family, definitely.
I see.
Kuratii: Yeah, and they were rappers. I would say as far as I know I’m the only producer in the family. Quite frankly, a lot of my family is just finding out what I’m doing.
Really?
Kuratii: Yeah, because I’m a person who really doesn’t like rejections. So, when it comes to opinions of my family, I love my family, but I don’t want to grow to hate you because you said something negatively about my music. My parents know that I do music. Another thing is the cursing, a lot of people I work with curse and my parents ain’t gonna wanna listen to that. I’ll play them my beats or something but my music I don’t really play. They’re really supportive when it comes to my music. I’ll call them and tell them, “hey, I bought a new laptop,” and they’re supportive. There’s little things that they say that helps me understand, makes me understand, that they are here for me and supportive of me. But, out of all my family, the only person that really knows I do music is my older sister and she’s really the person I kinda confide in when it comes to music. She’s also the person I kinda go to when I want her to hear something because she’s very critical of music, period. But I really do respect her and her music opinion… you know what I’m sayin’. It’s been a journey sending her my music and not because she doesn’t like it but because she’s always like, “I know you can do better, I know you can do better,” “you missin’ something, you missin’ something,” and finally, I got it. She’s always been full-force, 100% ready for me to do what I do but it’s like now she’s like, “yeah, you’re gettin’ closer and closer.”
That’s dope.
Kuratii: Yeah, it’s interesting because most people don’t know that about my family. This one time I had this situation and it wasn’t really like a performance I was just playing my beats at an event. My aunt was there and my aunt is another person I kinda talk to about my music. I don’t necessarily send it to her but she’s very well aware of what is going on and she actually asked one time, “why didn’t you invite your parents?” and I was like, “I don’t know…” My parents are older in their 60’s and I’m just like, “I just didn’t, I picked out the hip people in my family and brought them together.”
Yeah, that would appreciate it.
Kuratii: Yeah, and you know they probably would appreciate it but I don’t know I put certain people in certain settings. I see my parents as introverts too and so I don’t like to put them in situations where there’s a lot of people they don’t know even though my aunt and my little cousin were there. They all know each other but I keep them at a place where they know what’s going on and we cool like that. Everyone got their place.
Do you feel like that affects you at all? Do you wanna tell them or show them more of what you do?
Kuratii: It doesn’t actually, I feel like… Mine and my parents’ relationship is interesting. It’s not that they don’t say, “I love you,” but they don’t say it that often. They’re the kind of parents that are like, “if I love you, I’mma put clothes on your back and take care of you,” that’s their love language. It’s kinda like I’ve adapted to that in ALL aspects of my life. Like when I bought my house I didn’t tell them I bought it. I called them afterwards and was like, “I got a house.” Especially in my adulthood, I feel better making decisions without telling them first because I almost want to prove to them that I can do this. I want to make them proud before they even know. That’s why I feel like it kinda works, you know. I do report to them about certain things like, “you know I’m dropping an album,” I know they not gonna listen, I don’t want them to listen. Just last week I called my mom and I was like, “hey mom, I got a website now” and she was real proud. I told her that if she goes on there there’s a picture of me on their with my middle fingers up and she was like, “why did you do that?” you know. Just playfully messin’ with me and stuff. Honestly, it works and most people might say they want more support with a relationship like that but it’s the perfect amount of support. Like currently, I’m looking for a new computer and my dad has been helping me with that whole process and THAT, I see that as him supporting me. Their support comes in a different way. And they old school, I can’t sit here and play them this rap. They don’t really listen to rap music and I don’t think they ever did… probably back in their day but they’re in their 60’s. They probably wouldn’t even understand rap as it is now. I don’t want to do that to them. I would honestly feel embarrassed because it’s a lot of cursing and sexual references and stuff like that. I feel that. Kuratii: Yeah, that’s when I include my sister. That’s when she comes in handy. So yeah, it works and it works in it’s own unique way. Sometimes natural boundaries are created. If your parents were all up in your music that might change the way that you make music. Kuratii: And that’s another reason why I didn’t tell my family because I wanted to freely create. I don’t really be on Facebook but when I started promoting my stuff on Facebook they were poppin’ out the woodworks with support. One of my cousins hit me up privately and was like, “you know, I’m so happy that you’ve really found yourself and come into your own person,” and even put me in contact with my cousin I mentioned earlier who was in prison. Put me in contact with him. It’s been a very open experience especially with me being a lesbian. I feel like that was part of the reason I hid my music because I’ve had to hide myself for so long. When I was finally able to come out and be my full self - everything came together. I was able to be myself in music, you know. So, that’s why when my cousin hit me up it was a lot deeper than, “oh you’ve come into your own person in your music,” no, she was saying overall. I don’t really talk to my family like that… all my family is in Virginia and when I was born we were already in Charlotte. I'm kinda like that kid that nobody really knew about. So, every time we go back home they ask, “are you Lolita?” (that’s my sister’s name,) and I'm like, “No, Lolita is almost 40 years old.” Y’all think she’s this young? People barely know I exist and that’s why I felt comfortable not really telling them that. But I kinda just eased it onto them because I didn’t really want their opinions. Had I came out the woodworks like, “hey, y’all I’m doing music… I need y’all support,” I was going to be disappointed. With all of this I was trying to avoid disappointment and I wanted ‘til I got really good and knew I was the shit. When I knew I was confident enough to say I was the shit and then I was like now I can express myself through my music and put it on Facebook and stuff so they can see it.
I feel you. I feel you, for real. That’s definitely how I was when I made my first few issues. I was just like, “I’m not going to show this shit,” I just wanted to work towards what I wanted to do and not have those opinions. Then eventually people just came across it.
Kuratii: Yeah, and that’s the same thing with my family. I have my personal page and I have my Kuratii page on Facebook, connected through Instagram. So, I repost things but not everything because I don’t want to overdo it. I just want to ease it on to y’all so y’all scroll past it and they comment on it almost every single time. My niece will repost it and stuff like that. I like that, that’s cool, I don’t want to feel the pressure of, “I told y’all 3 years ago I was doing music and now I’m big time… now, y’all fuck with me because I’m good,” you know. So, I was just like let me sit back and let that shit unfold.
That’s real. So, how did you come up with your name? What’s the history of your name?
Kuratii: I’m really bad at coming up with names. I’m the type of person that has to really sit with the art before the name kinda comes to me. Then when it comes to me I start writing them down as they come, nothing is really concrete. My real name is Kana. K. A. N. A, so it’s “kay-nuh,” everybody always fucking mispronounces my name. First and foremost, I’m not going by my first name. It’s interesting because Kuratii is literally karate like the martial art. Basically, people fuck up my first name too much and I want it to create a new identity that’s different from me as a person. My initials are K.T., my last name is Thompson, so I knew I wanted a K and I wanted a T in there. I was really heavy on being a curator back then and musically, beat wise we’re all curators, we’re curating sounds or putting sounds together. And I knew I wanted to the word “curation” to be in it. I found a word scrambler on google and I typed in those key words; I typed in create, I typed in curate, then some other words that came to me when I thought about music production and me within that realm. Put in the word scrambler, hit enter and it came up with a bunch of words and I just wrote down the ones I saw that I liked. If they looked appealing, sounded appealing or whatever. Then I wrote them on a board and looked and them a couple times, you know, in passing. Then, one day an old friend of mine was in the home studio with me and he was like, “Kuratii?” and I was like, “yeah, I was thinking about naming my album that,” and he was like, “nah, that should be your name!” So, I kept playing around with it and it’s funny because recently I’ve really grown to love my name because I was really gonna change it again. Then I was like, “karate,” as a produce we chop things, like, “Kuratii chop,” you know, it all came together which lead to my website being “kuratiichoppedit.” A lot of people already took that before I even took it as my own. People would be on Instagram and repost something and be like, “Kuratii chopped it,” and then they’d put the emoji with the black belt and people just started to gravitate towards it. Then I learned that people actually knew how to pronounce it regardless if it was spelt differently than “karate,” you know. I was going to get a new name and keep Kuratii as a brand for merchandise and stuff like that.
Shit, you still can.
Kuratii: And honestly, I still might. It still might become a brand and I still might keep the name for myself as well. I’m just playing around with it. I’m the type of person that it has to be put together and damn near perfect before I release it to the world, you know. That’s with everything I do. Right now, I’m working on an album and with that album I was supposed to have the finals June 14th and today’s the 18th and you can see I’m still working on the masters. I wanted upload the masters on the 14th to the website to be put on all platforms and I even told my manager that we’re gonna have to push this whole album back a week because we gotta get these masters together. If this music ain’t perfect or damn near perfect then it can’t drop, you know. Every album I made it a goal that I gotta level up in some way. So, this album, I’m leveling up with the sound and my overall versatility. Oh okay, so when you tryna get it done then? Kuratii: Shit, I need 3 weeks to have it up in order for it to uploaded properly. That’s crazy, that’s a long time. Kuratii: Exactly, and no matter how long I’ve been with DistroKid it still take them 3 weeks then other people I see upload a song and it’s ready the next day.
Yeah, sometimes the same day.
Kuratii: Yeah, I’ve tried to do that. I tried to upload one song in less than 3 weeks and that shit never made it the Apple Music. We actually had to email Apple Music themselves and make them fix it.
What? That’s crazy. Kuratii: And that throws me off because it’s like I’m telling everybody it’s releasing on this day, then they expecting it this day. I might lose a follower or a fan mostly fans because I don’t care about followers. I could lose a fan because they got to wait a week and they gonna forget about it. I need everything to happen on the day it’s supposed to happen. That’s an interesting point. Kuratii: Yeah, I can’t. I think about how I move when an artist posts something. If an artist drops some music and it didn’t hit the platform I’m following them on, 9 times outta 10 I’mma forget. I’mma keep moving on with my life then with Instagram being outta order I’m not going to be looking for that song. Unless, I really really fuck with you as an artist then I’m following already and I really want that song. I just try to eliminate anyways of people not being able to get the full experience. With that said, had I had everything turned in by the 14th this album would’ve been dropping on July 5th. As of right now it’s probably going to be the second week in July.
Yeah, yeah… that’s really crazy.
Kuratii: Yeah, my engineer he’s in Charlotte and I actually pulled up on him Wednesday and I didn’t get home ‘til like 3AM because I actually needed to get the mixes done in person. It wasn’t working out on the phone and I needed to be in the room because I engineer too but he actually is more experienced and just graduated Full Sail, he knows a little more than I know. We can work together to get it done. I’m going back Father’s Day to work with him a few hours and figure this out because at this point I'm not even in a rush. Everything I do, I like to plan my albums months ahead. All promo is done, we also shot a music video. We really just waiting on him to finish the edits on the music video. Everything is done except the music need to be uploaded and the music video need to be done. Well shit, this is perfect timing because this issue will drop July 10th. Kuratii: And you know what’s even crazier is the name of the album is Perfect Timing.
That’s good shit, fr.
Kuratii: You know, so everything that has happened to me and the disconnect with GCE. I’m a firm believer that everything is happening in perfect timing. It’s just wild how when I finally came up with the name of the album my life just really started happening in perfect timing. That GCE experience was a lot, it was a stressful situation for me. So, when I was released from that I felt so much freer. I’m happy again and feel like I can create again and be the person I always wanted to be. It’s all in perfect timing. And I’m working on an album right now so to feel that while working on an album is relief because to be honest, “album mode” is stressful. I don’t think people understand that. Like fans, when they press these artists… Rihanna for example, everybody want an album from Rihanna and I’m like, “she probably already been working on an album.” The album process can take years. It’s really a process so the longer you wait the better the album gonna be.
That’s facts, and ayy let’s get into that. What happened with GCE?
Kuratii: Man, so I’mma keep it as short and sweet as possible.
Because truthfully, I’m in shock right now because some of the questions I have right now are about y’alls chemistry and shit like that on the track.
Kuratii: Yeah… long story short, I’ve always been a separate entity. When I set out to do this I was doing all this shit by myself and then I met Moonie and me and Moonie are inseparable. We’ve grown to be best friends but she is also my manager and we can always separate that when it’s time to do business. We can do business and be friends at the same time. That’s how we move. She’s always gonna be here for me. When I set out to do this, when I joined the team, I already had in mind to have my own label. I just wasn’t ready yet. So, something in me told me take the opportunity because it’s a learning experience. How often do you get to learn firsthand from a label, you know what I’m saying. And you don’t have to make those mistakes first. So, I was like cool, let me get in to it. Not only that but to be surrounded by other black lesbians.
Kuratii: Yeah! And that’s the sucky part about it. We were all black lesbian, women.
Mhm, in the South.
Kuratii: And that’s the thing… that’s the bigger picture I saw. I don’t allow negative energy into my space. I’m real big on my mental peace and anything that’s going to make me feel any kind of way I gotta remove it. It’s a lot of stuff but long story short I feel better working as a separate entity. Being a producer is hard. It’s hard to put yourself out here as a producer but I feel like I’ve done a really good job. I pose myself as an artist like Metro Boomin, DJ Khaled - DJ Khaled is just a DJ and Metro Boomin is just a producer but at the end of the day producers are artists and I think people forget that.
That’s facts.
Kuratii: We are artists just like the singers. Just like the people that paint, you know what I’m sayin’. It’s all art. They’re all creating art and I think people forget the definition of an artist. So, I feel like I’m pushing myself to be more at the forefront of being an artist rather than a producer because I’m literally more than a producer. I’m a producer, executive producer, engineer, I’m a curator, I’m a damn near manager sometimes. I’m an A&R other times. I do a lot. Multi, for real. Kuratii: I’ve always wanted to be part of a collective. To come up with something greater, something bigger. I’m big on giving everybody their credit especially for what they did. I learned from that situation with GCE. I was meant to be in that situation to learn. I like being a separate entity. I don’t want anyone to stop supporting GCE because I’m not around. I want you to support them because I want the best for them. I don’t wish bad on anyone no matter how they treated me. I want people to still push for them to still support them because they are talented. I’m in a space of healing. I’m healing myself from whatever pain or hurt came from that situation and I’m moving forward which will make a lot of sense with the whole idea of my album, Perfect Timing. The whole idea of Perfect Timing, basically, is through this album process I’ve been in a dark place and perfect timing. Everything happens in perfect timing. When you see the cover you’ll kinda understand because it’s pictures of myself emerging out of dark clouds. The pictures that are emerging out of the dark clouds are almost progression pics… so it’s like as I started to emerge from this dark place and create better music I also gain confidence in myself. I lost some people along the way but I gained confidence every time I lost somebody and when I did lose something it was for the better.
I hear ya. So, who do you have on this new album?
Kuratii: I have Tymain, even though I dropped that single so long ago but I’m still gonna throw it on the album. Tymain, Kaya Strykes is a new artist I’ve been working with.
That’s that artist, does she rap? Kuratii: Yeah, she rap, yeah. Kaya Strykes, we just dropped a freestyle for her a few weeks ago which is doing pretty good. I had a goal of 150 views and this was her first YouTube drop and last time I checked we were at 120-something. We gonna get that 150, that’s the goal. But this artist, be on the look out for her because we have been working diligently her album and her album is actually coming next. She got a lot, she got a lot to say and this album, for it to be her first firework… I’m really proud of her. I’m ready to let the world go ahead and hear about her. The next artist is Tré Ahmad and they’re from Charlotte. They’re a very very talented artist. They are an engineer, they are also a producer. The song they just released, “Baby Boy” is hard as fuck. The song we did together is hard as fuck. The beats on this new album is really versatile and that beat that they’re on is some shit probably nobody would expect. It’s kinda like pop, up-tempo a little bit and they do really well on them songs.
That’s interesting because the vibe I get from your music is definitely not poppy. It’s like a Hip Hop, euphoric with some trap influence.
Kuratii: Yeah! See, you get it. That’s exactly what I try to push. The background in my life with music is mostly RnB so a lot of those melodic elements I put in my beats. I’m gonna always love trap music, trap heavy, 808s, kicks, snares, stuff like that, that’s my shit and that’s what you’ll mostly find in my music. So, with this song I did with Tre, the 808s are hitting as hard in this one, so the high hat isn’t as busy. It was very different and I was happy that they sent that song over. They’re a very creative person. But yeah, Tré, Kaya,, Tymain are on the album and this new artist Billy Peso. I just did that song about 2 weeks ago and it almost didn’t make the album. But he’s fucking fire, I actually met him at a collective. We were at a studio session as a collective, 11 or 12 other people and he actually came late. I was making a beat, I was doing a lot of cook-up and I heard him freestyling in the back and I’m like, ”yo, who tf is that?” I turn around and it’s the tall light-skin dude. We made about 8 songs that night. We had an 8 hour studio session in Charlotte at Audio Box and basically none of us knew each other and we all just kinda came together tryna do this collective album. Billy Peso is a different sound, he’s like trap but he’s a rapper I ain’t ever heard before… his flow, his flow can switch up in the middle of a song. Out of all those 8 songs we made he stuck out the most as far as who I wanted to work with after that session. So, he made the tape and I’m actually on the tape and got a little part in one of the songs. I did a hook for it actually. And it’s funny because when I started working with Cheeno people thought I was rapping and I’m not the type to take any credit that ain’t mine.
No, but for real when I started looking into your music more I thought that you rapped too because the way that it’s labeled on the track. It makes sense now though hearing about how you present as an artist. You’re just doing it different, you labeling it different because you’re an artist instead of just producer credits.
Kuratii: Yup, and it’s a learning process. People are so used to seeing the center piece be the actual artist like Michael Jackson or Tory Lanez, I hate that he came to my mind. Those are artist who are centerpieces and I tell people to look at Metro Boomin, y’all know he ain’t rappin’... so what is he doing? He’s producing. He’s released many albums with people, you know.
Like Zaytoven.
Kuratii: Yeah, Zaytoven is another one. All these producers are putting themselves in a position to be the artist. Another one, DJ Mustard, he’s a producer and DJ. We know for a fact he ain’t gonna be on the track. But yeah, this particular song, I actually ended up on the track. The song was originally for Cheeno but after all that stuff she got taken off on the songs created for her and it created more space for other people on the song. That’s why Kaya is featured on the song too. It was actually supposed to be me, Cheeno and Kaya and when Cheeno got taken off we just told Kaya to add another verse to it. I got a little part on the song that came about which I was actually just trying to create a reference track for it. Throw some vocals on it and give it some direction and showing them that they can take it a certain way and everyone was like, “no, you gotta keep your vocals on there!” And to be honest that’s probably my favorite song on the album so far.
You bout to be out here like Hit-Boy.
Kuratii: No, for real, like Hit-Boy all of them because that’s the one thing that my sister has always pushed me towards, “yo, start writing hooks then it’s a bigger selling point for you.” So, that was me trying that and it actually made the album. I’m really proud about that song in particular. The whole album is pretty much my favorite but if I had to rank them that would be my #1 favorite right now. Oh okay, dope. So, who are your influences? Kuratii: It’s interesting, me not being from Virginia and my family being mostly from Virginia most of my influence comes from Virginia producers. Pharrell, Timbaland are like my 2 favorite producers of all time. You can throw Scott Storch in there I grew up listening to him.
That whole era.
Kuratii: Yeah, the 2000’s and how he used to play those keys man I used to love that. Polo Da Don is another one like in the 2000’s he was real popular. I like Sonny Digital, Metro Boomin, those are my producer influences. As far as other influence it would have to be old school RnB. Like I said my parents are older so all they listened to was RnB music when I was in the car with her. So, it was Marvin Gaye, Barry White, Sade, you know, artists like that. Honestly, when I first started I thought I was going to be making RnB music but then I kinda got bored with that and that’s how the RnB/Hip Hop aspect, trap aspect of my beats came about because I kinda just put them all together. And rap artists today that kinda influence me I would say like Drake, 21 Savage is my favorite. I be feeling bad about saying 21 Savage is my favorite artist because niggas be like my favorite artist is Nas, Jay-Z. I don’t like Nas or Jay-Z.
I definitely like Jay-Z but I’m not the wild about Nas. I don’t understand the hype.
Kuratii: Yeah, I would definitely listen to Jay-Z over Nas but I really don’t like up North music at all. I’m from the South, so, I like some shit like Atlanta rap music scene period helped me and influenced me a lot. From the 2000’s listening to Ciara, and who was the producer back then? Jazzy Pha and Jazzy Pha was producing everything back then.
And Jazzy Pha ain’t even from Atlanta. Kuratii: That’s crazy, I didn’t even know that! Yeah, where he from... Oh, he from Memphis.
Kuratii: And see that’s another one… Memphis got some influence too now. But damn, I ain’t even know that, he had Atlanta on lock.
Yeah he did but yeah… he really from Memphis. Kuratii: Wow, yeah, that’s what’s up. But yeah, I would say Atlanta rap scene as a whole over the years like they have had hip hop in a chokehold. Because, I would say I was a late bloomer in life and my parents were very protective over me. So, I was that kid when I was watching B.E.T. my finger was hovering over the previous channel button because I had to hit that bitch fast so they wouldn’t see what I was watching. Dammmn. Kuratii: Yeah, so I was that kid when it came to rap music and a lot of music and people would be like, “oh, that’s my song! You ain’t ever heard it?” I be like, “nah, I haven’t because I started picking up on rap music at really 12/13 years old. Everybody was already listening. That’s why I always let people know like I don’t really know a lot of rappers like that and I be feeling bad when I say 21 Savage my favorite rapper because everybody else got these lyrical ass niggas and I’m just like, “nah, 21 Savage.” But 21 is lyrical just in a different way. Kuratii: Yooo, and I love his progress. I remember listening to his earlier music where it sounded trash, engineering and all of that. AND now, that man got a Grammy. That shit still sounded good back in the day tho.
Kuratii: Exactly, and that’s the crazy thing like he really wasn’t even as lyrical as he is now, he still was hard. I can appreciate his progress more than anything. And that’s another thing with me and with my music I always pushing for it to be great and I’m always quality over quantity but I know my music back then ain’t even touching my sound now. Right, the progression. Kuratii: Yeah, and I wanted people to hear that progress. I put it out there. I didn’t put it out there when it was sounding like ass. I got it to the best of my ability but the whole point of not being embarrassed by that was that I wanted to be like 21 Savage. I wanted people to hear my music and hear my progression and really appreciate me as an artist. A lot of different influences but I would mostly say: Virginia producers, Atlanta’s overall music scene and just the down South music or the down South movement when it comes to music. Not to pick sides or say who is doing better but the down South artists have really helped shape Hip Hop, just talking Hip Hop… we have really helped shape the sound of Hip Hop and where it is now. If you notice almost everybody got a trap heavy beat. And most people call it a “boom bap” beat because it got high hat snares and a nice ass 808… you don’t even hear melodies anymore, now. And where did that come from? That came from down South rap. The reason why people said Hip Hop was dead was because the South was changing it.
Yeah, yeah… you right. Kuratii: Yeah, and that helped me understand that music is on a spectrum. There is no right or wrong and music is subjective as well. It’s what you like, you know, ain’t no right or wrong answer. Now, some people are ass, I will say, some people are just trash but at the end of the day somebody like it so how trash are they really? It’s an opinion.
Yeah, and a lot of it is about your roots. Another thing I wanted to ask you is how would you describe the music you make?
Kuratii: That’s a good question and I’ve been thinking on something like this for a long time. I would say that my music is an experience and I’ve been working heavy on that idea when it comes to my music, especially with this album. Like I hate when things are, “a mood,” but the album is a mood. I want it to be a listening experience. When I listen to music now, especially now that I’m very serious in what I’m doing, I listen to music differently than how other people listen to music. I’m listening for, “how did the engineer do this? Oh, how did the producer get that sound?” I can listen to a song now and be like, “oh, that producer uses Nexus or that engineer used this plug-in.” I’ve been doing it so long now that I can identify. I can hear a song and know that they got a sample off a certain website because I had heard it before or I got the same loop sitting on my computer and ain’t used it yet. To the normal listener they may not hear what I hear and that’s my thing I just want my music to be an experience. I know my beats are different for the simple fact that whenever I work with a new artist they be like, “yo, I never heard a sound like that” or they tell me that I really transformed their vocals or transformed their whole way or rapping. So, I know my music is unique. That’s what my music gives, an experience. When I built my home studio I made it so if you’re feeling down you can be in there, if you want to create, or not just music… if you want to do some homework, you can come in there. I want that whole room to be an experience for you. I feel like that’s the best way to be. If an artist can’t have a good experience while recording then it’s not going to be a good recording or a good song. My music is an experience, it’s not like your traditional RnB or Hip Hop or traditional high hats you hear or 808s, it’s very different. I have my own sauce to add on it.
It’s funny you say you don’t really listen much to up North music because when I was first listening to your beat tapes and shit it was putting me in the mind frame of J Dilla or some shit like that.
Kuratii: That’s really crazy I think that’s because back then I was in a position of 1, tryna get a feel of what RnB feels like and at that time I was really in the mindset of it being an experience but that experience was more of that type feel, more Hip Hop than trap rap.
Yeah, more traditional sound.
Kuratii: Yeah, i was really trying to push for that. It’s interesting that you actually found that sound and made that connection because at that time that’s definitely what I was going for. In comparison now, I’m pushing far more trap music but not like for artist sounds like Stunna 4 Vegas or DaBaby, I’m not making trap like that. It’s just a high hat, snare and a kick.
Your sound is a little more euphoric too. Kuratii: Yeah! Euphoric, euphoric, that’s the damn word I was looking for. It’s like euphoric trap. Kuratii: When I was making them beat tapes back then I wanted it to be euphoric. That’s what I would always say. I want some weird ass sounds in the back and sounds that people never heard of.
But it’s still together, it’s still cohesive. Kuratii: I definitely agree. Do you see a pattern in the sounds that artists will buy from you or lease from you?
Kuratii: I’m starting to a little bit. They definitely like more up-tempo music and it’s interesting because most times I see people come to me for beats is after I’ve dropped something. Either a song or an album and with that Jerrell album it was definitely more up-tempo, still very versatile. But yeah, I would say that when artists come to me and inquire about beats they usually choose the most unique beats that I have. The beat that Peso chose, now, Peso is a trap artist like trap heavy he talks about perosets and stuff like that. This man is talking about drugs and shooting people over a beat with angel sounds and heavy angel vocals in the back, heavy 808s, high hats, snares, a reverb.
That sound like some Griselda shit.
Kuratii: Yeaaaah, it’s on some crazy shit. Even he was like, “yo, I never thought that was going to be coming out of me,” and yeah, that’s what I want. One day I’mma see a trap dude making a play or something with Peso playing and these angel sounds in the back. You would never think that but that’s why I find my music to be unique because I’m adding elements that aren’t even normal in trap music. So, I would say most times these artist they try to get these regular trap beats from me like and I let them know upfront that I don’t make that type of stuff but this is what I got. Most of the time the artist will pick the most unique beat. And that’s one thing when I would send beat packs out I would try to go listen to an artist’s music real quick and then try to send them stuff that sounded like that and I felt like that was putting me in a box. Now, I just put all the beats in the folder and send it to them. Half the time when people inquire I don’t know them as an artist already but I like to support and get a feel for them before I send beats. I still listen to it but I don’t try to categorize. Because I’ve learned no matter what you send it’s still up to the artist and they're gonna listen and figure out if they like the beat. The Peso situation, I sent him more trap heavy beats and I accidentally played that beat at the crib and he said, “hold up, play that again.” I played it again and he started writing it right there in the studio. But yeah, people usually like my up-tempo stuff with heavier 808’s with a lot of movement and different throughout and high hats going a little crazy on ‘em. The busier high hats. I think as long as it has that trap element they don’t really care about the melodies and stuff behind it.
Oh okay, that’s cool. Do you have anything else you want to add?
Kuratii: Shoot, I think you really covered everything that I had to say about.
photos by: Camaron Loritts