Interview: Latin Hip-Hop Artist Ray Pearson Discusses His New Single "Haciéndolo (Doin' It)"
/
“My creative process is what am I envisioning, what am I trying to get across, how am I being challenged, what did I do in my last releases that I need to do in this one. I start listening to beats and thinking of lines...”
As an emcee, tell us about your creative process when you are developing new music.
First things first and I'm probably going to get crucified for this but I'm not that much of a "singles" artist. I enjoy putting out a body of work. I enjoy the journey from track 1 to the last track. Starting off strong, building mid project leading to the closing.
My creative process is what am I envisioning, what am I trying to get across, how am I being challenged, what did I do in my last releases that I need to do in this one. I start listening to beats and thinking of lines. Once I have the direction of what I want to do I execute......RAY!
Salute to you on the release of your new track "Haciéndolo (Doin' It)", featuring DutchessQony. What inspired you to write the track and how did you connect with DutchessQony?
What inspired me was LL Cool J's "Doin' It". Throughout the year's there's been many Spanish remixes to English records. Originally "Haciéndolo" was supposed to be called "B.A.D" in response to Cardi B's "W.A.P" record.
As I mumbled the flow I wanted to attack it with the plans changed and it changed for the better. I connected with DutchessQony...... Well, Dutchess I've been a fan of her through battle rap. Dutchess knows my cousin DJ HekTek from BluntsquadTV/Bronx Mob and I bought some studio equipment off her some years back and I always knew I wanted to collab with her because she's a dope dope songwriter as well. It all made sense to reach out to her and we took it from there.
What attracted you to the dope instrumental provided by Fear! The Faithful, and in general, what do you look for in the beats that you decide to write to?
Fear! has been my big bro since high school. After my 2 Puerto Rican festivals back in 2019 I was inspired to start tapping into my Spanish side and then the pandemic hit and he presented me the beat to Haciéndolo and that pretty much birthed my upcoming project.
What I look for in beats is detailed beats. I look for beats that have dope instruments played. I look for things in beats that are going to stand out, so when I write I save the best lines for the part of the beats that stand out so it pulls the listener in more. I'm a writer, so I want my pen to be challenged.
"Haciéndolo (Doin' It)" is a featured track on your upcoming album "Suave Ramón”; what can you tell us about this project?
"Suave Ramón” is my first English/Latin cross over project. Production is all Spanish style, Spanish sampled. All my features are Hispanic.
I tried to keep it solely Puerto Ricans but that changed as soon as I heard Gabriel De Los Santos whose featured on my project. Once you hear someone on something then the rules change. I definitely wanted all Hispanic artists on my project.
Tell us about your experience performing at the Puerto Rican Festival in 2019; from a motivational standpoint, I can only imagine how it impacted you artistically.
I did the PR festival in The Bronx and Newark. The Bronx was the first one. Standing in the crowd is completely different than standing on that festival stage. I never performed in front of that many people before. As I waited for my cousin DJ HekTek to give me the cue to turn on my mic I tried to speed mumble my lyrics as I do with every performance but the lyrics weren't coming to me. I looked at my cousin to see if it was time as I tried to remember my lyrics in my head and he gave me that nod but as soon as I turned my mic on it all came to me.
Amazing experience and that lit the fire for me to now refer to myself also as a Latin Hip Hop artist.
Connect with Ray Pearson: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube