Interview: Paducah, KY Rapper Callon B Talks About His New Album "Junk MuZik"
/
“A lot of the songs are very personable and show a really vulnerable side of myself, and I didn’t plan for these experiences to happen I had to wait for that inspiration to come naturally. Once I had a story that compelled me to write I made the music.”
Congratulations on the completion and release of the "Junk MuZik" album. Tell us about your creative process for the development of the album's songs and how you decided on the Bobby Lee, Bonesaw, and Hendrix Smoke beats that you wrote to.
This album had a long creative process that I let happen very organically. I didn't sit down and say I'm going to make this album, I took about 4 years and made countless songs and I picked the best ones and pieced the album together.
A lot of the songs are very personable and show a really vulnerable side of myself, and I didn’t plan for these experiences to happen I had to wait for that inspiration to come naturally. Once I had a story that compelled me to write I made the music. I chose to work with Bonesaw, Bobby Lee and Hendrix Smoke because they are all good friends from the same town as me. We were in the studio a lot together and just had fun creating.
A lot of times I didn’t know what songs would be made on the beats we just created and I told my story over the mood they set. So the producers mood making the beats is also very important to my creative process too because I find an experience that compliments that and tell my story over the beat.
What are you most proud of with this album and what does the title "Junk MuZik" represent?
I am proud of this album because there were a lot of times that I doubted it and decided to myself that it would never come out. That a lot of the songs were outdated and that they wouldn’t mean anything to anyone. The reality was that they were just old to me, I viewed them as junk and let them sit around collecting dust, but I polished them all up and presented them as new.
The title “Junk MuZik” means multiple things, one is rooted deep in the story of hip hop as a metaphor. Hip hop was founded on taking trash and forming it into treasure, recycling old junk electronics found in the alleys into PA systems and equipment to throw shows. It was all about turning nothing into something, This is my from nothing to something story, this is my Junk MuZik.
Tell us about how you started Got Your Back Entertainment and what your goals are for the brand moving forward.
I started Got Your Back Entertainment back in 2006 with a handful of friends; it was just out crew in high school. We were just close friends and we had each others backs, it turned into a household name among our other classmates because it was so catchy.
Once I started taking music seriously I ran with it. I plan to make it into a full out clothing line and record label once I'm more developed as an artist. I want GYB to be remembered like you remember the Beatles, you will see kids rocking Beatles shirts no matter if they like the music or not, it’s just iconic. I want a legacy like that, same for the Wu Tang symbol, GYB forever like Wu Tang.
If you had to pick one song from the album to be the most representative of who you are as an artist and brand, which one would you select?
The outro song, “What Love Is”. That song is really important to me; it’s about self love and learning to love others. It’s the embodiment of having peoples backs through something genuine.
It tells my personal struggles and journey of self discovery into the last verse where I express my love for the whole world. It's encouraging unity and love among fellow humans.
How would you describe the hip-hop music scene in Paducah, Kentucky in 2020? Are locals generally supportive of homegrown talent and is it easy/difficult to grow your music brand there?
The Hip Hop scene in Paducah is still a child. Its growing more and more every year as new artist start emerging and more and more really start to work and take it seriously. There is real potential in Paducah, its an artsy music loving town. So many producers and musicians making beats and tons of singers and rappers.
Our town is small and is always behind a few years on most social matters so we don’t have a thriving scene yet but there are a handful of artist other than myself that are doing what they can to bring that spotlight to Paducah.
As far as support goes, it's there. It’s still very competitive though because the town is so small and the lane to be a successful artist is narrow. So like anywhere you have your artist that wont support and then you have serious artist that see potential and make sure they show love.
The town itself may not even realize such a thriving hip hop scene exist though, they are behind haha. We will keep rising until they notice us though. As far as building a brand there it's been slow and tough, I’ve really had to branch out online to grow the movement and brand. Once I got a following and showed them they started to recognize and pay respect.
Stream and Share “Junk MuZik” on Spotify
Connect with Callon B: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook