00:00
Intro
Off the Record is a show from 88.1 WKNC in which DJs talk with artists about everything from their music to upcoming tours to former bandmates birthdays. Make sure to follow WKNC on SoundCloud and Tumblr, so you never miss a beat. Enjoy.
00:24
DJ Rhythm
WKNC 88.1 FM. This is DJ Rhythm. You are tuned into local Rap Lunch. And I have a very special set of people with me tonight. And I'll go ahead and let y'all introduce yourselves.
00:38
Charlie Smarts
Yeah, we go by the name of Kooley High, out of Raleigh, North Carolina. My name is Charlie Smarts.
00:44
Tab One
What's up? What's up? This is tab one, Yo.
00:46
Sinopsis
This is Sinopsis.
00:50
Charlie Smarts
Sound the alarm.
00:51
DJ Rhythm
Laser. Laser noises and whatnot.
00:54
Tab One
Shout out ill digits and foolery. Hopefully they should get up here.
00:57
DJ Rhythm
Yeah, we're gonna have more people sliding through. So. So what's up, man? How y' all doing, man?
01:01
Charlie Smarts
We doing great. We just released an album today. Yeah, it's called Never Come Down. It's on all. All platforms, including vinyl. You know what I mean? So dropped a new album, executive produced by Knife Wonder. But we got producers, foolery, Sinopsis, cash astronaut Eric G. You know what I mean, Timo? So, like, we. It's really. It's really gonna feel like home cooking if you check it out. It's like staying in the tradition of dope North Carolina hip hop albums.
01:29
DJ Rhythm
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, luckily, we are gonna peep it. We're gonna pretty much get through the whole thing. Almost.
01:34
Tab One
Nice.
01:34
DJ Rhythm
It's about as much as we can get in the next 45 minutes. So we're cool? Well, shoot, we'll chop it up again in a minute, but for now, shoot, I figure we can just get right into these new songs, if that's cool with y'all, man. Let the people hear what it's all about. All right, y'all, keep it like it's WKNC.
02:11
[Music]
15:35
DJ Rhythm
WKNC 88.1 FM. This is DJ Rhythm. Sorry we had technical difficulties. Had a little mishap. But y' all just heard grinning off the new Kooley High joint with Rapsody. It's pretty dope. And before that was monogamy by Kooley High. And I got Kooley High in the spot right now. Fellas, how are you doing, yo?
15:54
Charlie Smarts
Fantastic.
15:55
Tab One
Feeling good?
15:56
DJ Rhythm
Yeah.
15:56
DJ Rhythm
So, man, let me just tell you, bro. I ran through the whole joint a couple times, man. The album is fantastic. So congrats, y'. All. How do y' all feel about. I mean, obviously y' all feel good about it, but. I mean, are y' all excited to put this out, man?
16:10
Tab One
Yeah, it's kind of crazy, man. It's a long time coming, so.
16:13
DJ Rhythm
Yeah, no, absolutely.
16:14
Tab One
The day to finally be here.
16:16
DJ Rhythm
Yeah, you got some superstars on there, man. Rapsody and whatnot. That's. That's really cool to see all the NC love connect. Also, y' all were speaking on off air. Y' all talking about through the Lens. That's the next one we're gonna hear. That's. That's one of my favorites. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:33
Tab One
In your face.
16:34
DJ Rhythm
Yeah, so no doubt. I guess we can get. We can get right into that, too. But first we'll talk about this show y' all got coming up on April 21, so break down some of those details for me.
16:49
Charlie Smarts
Yeah, we have a album release show, Lincoln Theater. You know what I'm saying? Like, we're doing it big. You know, I'm saying local. Local hip hop acts really don't headline Lincoln Theater like that. So it's like, really, we trying to get the community come out, you know, I'm saying it's for everybody. We bringing in G Yamazawa from Durham. We got M8alla representing the R b. We got 3am Coming through. It's like this. We. We trying to put on for the state, you know what I'm saying? Let them know that you can be homegrown and still be very successful. So, you know, the 21st day after 4:20, you know, I'm saying don't forget about us, you know, I mean, come through Lincoln Theater. We gonna pull out all the stops, you know, I'm saying, if you listen to that.
17:25
Charlie Smarts
And the reason we wanted to do it a little bit later so you get to hear the album. Love the album, and then you can come and sing along with us, you know what I mean? If anybody that's been to a Kooley House show knows that we don't play when it comes to that. So get your tickets, you know, I mean, they out there, you know, I mean, clickety clack and, you know, do your thing.
17:45
DJ Rhythm
Mm, yeah. Shout out yeah, y' all got a monster lineup. G Yamazawa, too. That's gonna be dope. And 3am, shout out both them guys. Well, cool. Yeah, man. Well, I guess we can get into more music, y'all, and we'll. We'll chop it up again in a sec.
18:02
[Music]
27:44
DJ Rhythm
WKNC 88.1 FM. This is DJ Rhythm. You just heard Voila by Kooley High. And before that was through the Lens. These are all joints from the new album, Never Come down. I'm sitting here with the fellas right now.
27:57
Charlie Smarts
Chill.
27:59
DJ Rhythm
So…What was it like during the creation of this thing, man? I mean, what. Y' all are in all sorts of different places and whatnot. What's it like coming together? What's the creation like for. For a Kooley High album? I guess this one specifically.
28:16
Sinopsis
I mean, for this album, we really were just focused on just following the lead in ninth. You know, we had world work in a unit in previous albums, and for this album, it really was a situation where, you know, taking what we know how to do and what we've done in the Past and just having it aligned with his vision of what he thought the album should sound like.
28:35
DJ Rhythm
Yeah.
28:37
Sinopsis
So that start off with Charlie and Tab just writing a lot of songs. Like, went in to the situation with, you know, over 100 songs, and then we got, like, the first cut. So the first cut down was. Was incredible. Like, he would listen literally for, like, 30 or 45 seconds. He'd be like, yeah, no, yeah, no. And I think we came out of that first cut probably with seven, eight songs.
28:58
DJ Rhythm
Wow.
28:58
Sinopsis
And that became the core. And then we just made more songs around that. And then the cut, we just bring another batch of songs, get cut from that, go back, make a bunch of more songs, bring another batch. And it was just doing that back and forth, right until you get the final track list, man.
29:12
Tab One
Like, one day, he just hit us with the track list, and then it was done.
29:17
DJ Rhythm
Like, really?
29:17
Tab One
Yep. Like, one day, Quasi, out of the blue, he just, like, boom, in order. You picked the 14. Pick the order. And then from that point on, it was just trying to polish and fine tune those, trying to get those to be as musical as we could get them, as dope and as fresh as we could, and then just, you know, work on making those as good. And so, yeah, that was the process. Just one random day was that. Oh, that. There it is. And were just like, all right, let's do it.
29:46
DJ Rhythm
That is great. Is a hundred. Is that an exaggeration? Or is that like.
29:50
Tab One
Oh, no, that's.
29:52
Tab One
I mean, mostly, Charlie, if I'm being honest.
29:54
Tab One
Some are sketches. You know what I'm saying? But, like, over a hundred plus ideas still.
29:59
DJ Rhythm
That's. Yeah, that's.
30:01
Tab One
This. Is that. This. This man right here, Charlie Smarts, burning the midnight oil. I don't know if you want to.
30:07
Charlie Smarts
Speak on that process, you know, if you want to be, you know, successful, you just gotta work hard. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes it's like you gotta outwork cats. So if you think people are talented, you know what I'm saying? Use talent and work hard to try to be successful. That's my whole thing. So I. You ain't gonna say you work harder than me? That's. That's right.
30:25
DJ Rhythm
Word up. Word up. That's crazy. Where did. Where did y'all record it at? Was it. Was this in NY or was this down here?
30:36
Tab One
I mean, I know Charlie when he was, you know, he would lock in and do make, like, four rough drafts in a night or something like that, but all the official recording was done over at 9th Sprite Lady Studios.
30:49
DJ Rhythm
Okay.
30:50
Tab One
Which is also sort of how, like, you know, the. The Rapsody feature and stuff like that. You know, some of that just happened naturally just because, you know, we're working in their environment now. So it was just kind of like, you know, were just in there stewing with everybody.
31:03
DJ Rhythm
Mm. A studio is crazy, right?
31:05
Tab One
It's cool, man. It's very comfortable.
31:07
DJ Rhythm
Yeah. Yeah. For good things.
31:11
Tab One
Plush couches, big TV, lots of Bojangles. Good vibe.
31:18
DJ Rhythm
Word up. Word up. Well, I'm assuming people can find the album everywhere, right? Yeah.
31:24
Tab One
All streaming, Spotify, Google Play, Amazon, itunes, phonograph, Morse code, your mom's stereo, binary. It's everywhere. Yeah, anywhere. Anywhere they sell digital music now. You can find it. You can. Also, we got the album on vinyl available from Fat Beats.
31:47
DJ Rhythm
Nice.
31:48
Tab One
If you're into that.
31:49
DJ Rhythm
Nice.
31:49
Tab One
But, yeah, just however you can listen to it. We appreciate it. And, you know, give it to a friend. And tell your friend to give it to a friend.
31:59
DJ Rhythm
Word up. Word up. All right, y', all, we're gonna spend one or two more and come back in a minute for a little on the spot freestyle joint. But for now, y', all, keep it locked. It's WKNC.
32:20
[Music]
40:14
DJ Rhythm
WKNC 88.1. This is DJ Rhythm. We're sitting here with Kooley High. We just ran through some classics. Yo, yo, it's crazy. Some classic joints, right?
40:23
Charlie Smarts
Crack, yo. Yeah, Shout out to Hollow. Shout out to, you know, Cash. Everybody who's worked with us in. In this area, man. Like, we're one of those crews that we work with, try to work with everybody, you know what I mean? So anybody that's worked with us, anybody that's want to work with us, man, just hit us up, man, because we really want to foster the community down here, you know what I'm saying? The more we work together and the more we bring our crowds to each other's events, the bigger the whole thing gets, you know what I mean? Shout out to everybody doing that Cipher over there in the Cipher, you know what I mean? Like, everything. Like, there's a lot of things going on right now for North Carolina hip hop. Fonte put out an album, Rapsody on Netflix tonight.
40:58
Charlie Smarts
Like, and we go. We got a little piece in that. You know what I mean? They shouted us out on that, too, so that's really cool. Netflix popping. It's like North Carolina hip hop is really in one of the best places it's ever been.
41:09
Tab One
Yeah, we got. We got Lute, yeah. Shout out on the double XL Freshman. You know, he might. If you can vote that, you might be able to get him in there, you know what I'm saying?
41:21
DJ Rhythm
Yep.
41:21
Tab One
Word up.
41:22
DJ Rhythm
Shout out, Lute. Shout out Lute, Dreamville. All right, y'all. Well, I. I feel like with all the rappers in the room, I mean, we might want to do some rapping, right, Boris? Something like that.
41:33
Tab One
Let's do it.
41:34
Charlie Smarts
Let's get into it.
41:35
DJ Rhythm
Challenge those. Let me know if these levels are right.
41:39
Charlie Smarts
All right.
41:40
DJ Rhythm
You hear that?
41:41
Charlie Smarts
Nah. Turn that beat up. I can't hear nothing.
41:43
Tab One
I don't hear the beat.
41:44
DJ Rhythm
Oh, no beat. Oh, we're good now.
41:49
Tab One
Yeah.
41:50
Charlie Smarts
Can you start out from the top?
41:51
Speaker 9
Yeah.
41:52
DJ Rhythm
Oh, yeah.
41:52
Speaker 12
Run it back, run it back, run.
41:53
DJ Rhythm
It back, run it back.
41:54
Speaker 19
We laugh.
41:54
DJ Rhythm
Level's good.
41:55
Tab One
Tell me. Turn it up.
41:56
Charlie Smarts
Yeah. Turn the beat up song.
41:58
DJ Rhythm
Yeah.
41:59
Speaker 9
Yeah, that's good.
42:00
[Freestyling]
46:41
DJ Rhythm
Wow, wow. Anybody else? Anybody else got more?
46:47
Sinopsis
Yeah, yeah, I got now.
46:51
Charlie Smarts
Yo, that was mad fun, man. Thank you for rocking with us, you know what I'm saying? Raleigh, I'm saying you're gonna see more.
46:56
DJ Rhythm
Of that at our show.
46:57
Charlie Smarts
421 Lincoln Theater.
46:58
DJ Rhythm
Come out.
46:59
Speaker 21
You know what I mean?
46:59
Charlie Smarts
We doing this for hip hop, we doing this for North Carolina. It's a community thing, you know what I mean? We should all be in the building. You gonna see them faces, people, you know, I mean, that's helping make this community is what it is. Shout out Rapsody. You know the Netflix thing going on tonight at the. The library at Hunt Library. We're gonna be out there. They're having a premiere for Rapsody's thing. Shout out to Jamila, they whole movement. Knife gonna be out there. Cash, all the homies, you know, Cause crisis. Shout out to him for mixing the whole album, putting that spice on it. But yeah, man, it's like we're community. Let's act like you know what I'm saying? Tell a friend.
47:31
DJ Rhythm
Absolutely.
47:32
Tab One
Yeah.
47:32
DJ Rhythm
That's love. Well, I appreciate y' all coming through, man, for sure. Last words from anybody.
47:38
Tab One
Once, One more time. Never Come down. Our brand new album drops today, so it's out there. All digital platforms, out on wax. Never Come down. Executive produced by 9th Wonder, Kooley High.
47:51
DJ Rhythm
Yup.
47:51
Tab One
Thanks for having us.
47:52
DJ Rhythm
Absolutely. WKNC, Kooley High. Let's keep it locked.