The Burger Beatz Sculptures Interview DAY 1

This is an interview with Burger Beatz, the writer/producer/performer behind the new album Sculptures. We will take you through the entire album, song by song, and give you a behind the scenes look at how each was made.

Welcome to Sculptures.

THE ALBUM

DS

Welcome. I am going to get right to it, no small talk.

"Sculptures". Why call it sculptures?

BB

I guess it all started about a year and a half ago. I started making music differently. Instead of making a beat, writing 16 bars and a chorus, and following the conventional Hip Hop song structure. I started recording what I call "bursts of creativity". I would get an idea and go right to recording instead of writing it down and saving it.

DS

So you freestyled the album?

BB

Parts of it yes, other parts were written. A lot of the hooks were done on the spot, I think it gives the track a different vibe. Something you can't get from a written performance. It has to keep you interested and engaged, so it has a lot of changes.

I started accumulating these... ideas. Not necessarily full songs, but I knew I had something. I spent a couple weeks thinking about how to tie it together, when I realized I didn't have to. These were my sculptures made of sound. I was molding it into something I enjoyed, and I wanted to share it with people untainted. There are millions of songs that are made using the same ideology, so I thought "for this one album, I will do things differently". That's when making music became fun again.

DS

What do you mean by "making music became fun again"? Were you unhappy with the music you were making?

BB

I was still very happy with the music I was making, but the process of making music had become a chore. I had subconsciously created "rules for making music". Music is a creative, artistic process for me, and I believe there is no recipe for art. I had to get out of that mindset. Once I did that, there were no boundaries. All of a sudden I had rekindled my love of making music. That feeling I had when I made my first beat, when I was making sound I liked, not songs everyone might like. Now I make music that I love, and I invite my fans to join me when it's done.

DS

I like the way you phrased that, "invite your fans to join you". Do you feel you will lose some fans when they hear the new direction you are going?

BB

I think my fans know me as an artist by now. They know I like to try new things and push boundaries. When I released my first solo album not too long ago, Burger Beatz The Albvm, I wanted it to be an homage to what inspired me to become an artist, Hip Hop. So there were a lot of break beats and very intricate rhyme patterns. That was my way of saying "I love Hip Hop, and I can be that artist, check my resume. But that's not the job I'm applying for."

DS

Sort of like a starting point than? To establish who you are?

BB

Exactly. So when you want that artist, go to that album. Understand that those skills are a part of me, but they are not all I am.

You have to grow. You have to try new things. You can't put out that same album over and over. That is what kills motivation and creativity. But I did try to carry some of that lyricism over into Sculptures.

DS

How do you feel you accomplished that?

BB

I wanted to take the energy and the feeling of the trap music and merge it with the content of Hip Hop. I am not trying to be political or conscious, I am taking the listener into my head. I am telling stories about things that made me who I am, taking you deep in my thoughts and showing myself more than any other record. On Burger Beatz the Albvm I told you stories about my life from the outside looking in, on Sculptures I invite the listener into my head to see the stories the way I do. Through my eyes.

DS

You just released a mixtape called 7 Dayz, which sounds very similar to Sculptures. Can you elaborate a little?

BB

That was sort of the transition into the Sculptures. 7 Dayz is all about the feeling of the track. The emotion you are able to convey through music. If I had the ability, I would have performed the songs in a totally different language. It is not about what the lyrics are saying, it's about what the sound is saying. The lyrics are just another instrument.

DS

And how did that carry over to Sculptures?

BB

Sculptures is essentially Burger Beatz The Albvm combined with 7 Dayz.

I took the trap rhyme patterns and soundscape, and tried to give it substance. I always hear the same argument...

"I hate trap music, all they rap about is the same shit, that's not Hip Hop". What IS Hip Hop though? At the heart of it is the MC, so I took that MC and put him where he always ends up. In the middle of pain, suffering, struggle, and inequality. The MC gives these things a voice.

DS

Do you feel you accomplished what you set out to do?

BB

Definitely. I wanted to challenge the standards we create. Why can't trap music have content? I think if anything this project will spark conversation about what Hip Hop is, and has become. I don't think Hip Hop heads dislike new school music because of lyrics or dress codes. I think often times they just refuse to progress. Hip Hop has a tendency to tear apart what is not part of the "culture", so it is only logical that when the culture evolves it becomes at war with itself. Artists no longer make Hip Hop, they make sub genres of Hip Hop. You can't just label everything as Hip Hop without creating conflict. Hopefully this album will help people look at Hip Hop a little differently.

DS

I feel like Sculptures has a very specific sound. Is this something you did purposely? Can you give us an idea behind the thought process?

BB

I wanted the album to feel raw, primal almost. The vocals are distorted, every ounce of feeling squeezed out of them. Hiding nothing. There are sound artifacts throughout the record, left there on purpose. They take me back to the moment the records were made, triggering memories of late night performances and ideas that turned into reality. I hope these pieces of sound create unique memories in my listeners minds as well, wondering what stories are behind them and dream up their own.

DS

This is day 1 of the Burger Beatz "Sculptures" interview. For the next 10 days we will take a closer look at each song on the album. What was the creative process behind it and what inspired it. We will get a behind the scenes look at the techniques and thought process behind the project that has become Sculptures. Stay tuned!

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