Richey Lynch talks his debut Mixtape"Strange News"

We live in a world today where everyone tries to replicate and recreate the past success of those who came before. And while sometimes this proves to be a great key to success it also causes stagnation and stifles innovation. Few artists are willing to take the risk of being different for fear of their work not connecting with their audience.

However, despite all that the Toronto born rapper Richey Lynch is deliberately going against the current to find his own stream of success and his own identity. The NorthSide Connect conducted and interview with Lynch to see what makes him tick.

NSC: How is the Hip Hop Scene in Toronto? Has it finally become a place where local artists can thrive without leaving the city?

RL: With the Internet location doesn’t really have as much importance as it used to. The Internet allows artists to promote themselves all around the world. Which is good.

NSC: If you had the choice of joining any record label, which would it, be?

RL: Haven’t given that much thought. Most likely a major label where I have creative control.

NSC: What type of music would you classify your music as? I.E (Traditional Hip Hop?)

RL: I’d classify it as hip-hop, but I’m sure a lot of people will classify it as “alternative hip-hop” or something to the same effect. There are a lot of sub genres in music that can be used to describe my music.

NSC: What do you think of the battle rap scene taking over Toronto with the rise of King of The Dot.

RL: I think it’s cool. I love watching the battles on YouTube. It gets so personal

NSC: Would you ever take part in a battle rap?

RL: I have in the past, but nothing major or serious.

NSC: What’s the process you go through to make a song. Do you write your stuff at the studio?

RL: I’ve never plan to write a song. I hear a beat and then write to it. It’s weird. It’s almost like I’m not even writing anything out. It’s like a well thought out fully formed freestyle it just flows naturally without much conscious thought. Most of the songs I wrote on this mix tape were written in less than 2 mins. After I write a song, I usually practice it a few times and work out all of the parts I don’t like. I edit small details, and change words around. I don’t think I’ve ever written an entire song in the studio. Maybe just a hook or something small. Some songs are written from older lines that I have stored in my phone.

NSC: Who thus far has served as the biggest inspiration for you?

RL: A lot of artists have inspired me to rap, but the biggest inspiration is probably common. I’ve listened to pretty much all of his albums and I feel like he is one of the best rappers of all time. Resurrection is one of my favourite albums ever. Another big influence as far as song writing is concerned would have to be Stephen Malkmus of the band pavement. I really like how his songs are formed and how ambiguous his lyrics are it’s like his songs can be about nothing to some people, and about everything to others. It’s incredible! As far as style and flow I’d have to say Kool Keith, MF DOOM, Mos Def and Eminem are big influences.

NSC: A lot of rappers have started to abandon writing their rhymes down on paper and are opting for the Biggie/Jay-Z off the top of the head when constructing rhymes. Do you see yourself eventually moving towards that path?

RL: My memory isn’t that great I can’t really hold my lyrics in my memory without writing them down first. I rarely write rhymes on paper they are in my computer or my phone, it’s just easier.

NSC: What do you think is wrong with Hip Hop?

RL: I don’t think anything is wrong with hip-hop. A lot of people feel like the radio and popular music stations play mostly garbage, but I feel like that has always been the case. The majority of people want music they can dance to. They don’t see the importance of rhyme scheme or lyricism. Most people just want some club shit to dance to. This is how it has been since the beginning of popular music. Right now I feel like hip-hop is at its peak as far as creativity goes. People are really coming up with some incredible shit now. If you’re saying that there is something wrong with hip hop nowadays, you should probably get an internet connection and download some of the dope mixtapes that are coming out.

NSC: And what would you do to fix it?

RL: I don’t really think it needs to be fixed. Music is subjective. People will listen to what they want; it’s not my job to change their minds, or to form their taste in art.

NSC: Recently there seem to have been a bevy of Rappers that are starting to form super groups a la Slaughterhouse and OFWGKTA. Would you ever consider joining a rap group?

RL: Yeah I would join a group. They would have to have a similar vision as mine, and be good.

NSC: Are there any Toronto rappers that you’d like to see yourself working with in the future?

RL: I really like shad’s stuff although I haven’t really listened to a lot of his shit. I would work with Drake, but I’m not so sure that would actually happen. I hear he’s a busy guy [laughs]

NSC: What do you truly want to get out of music? 

RL: I want to be the soundtrack of somebody’s day. I want people to relate to my songs; I want my fans to find themselves in my songs and feel like the song is about them, or describes them. I want to have the same effect on people that my favourite artists had on me.

NSC: Do you ever see yourself making radio-friendly music?

RL: Yeah I guess. I like to make fun songs that people like, sure.

NSC: What’s the name of your mixtape?

RL: Strange News

NSC: Why did you name it that?

RL: Because it’s going to be coming from a really strange place in my mind. The album is going to be about a lot of weird situations and awkward moments that I have experienced. Some songs are totally based on characters and some are based on me. The main song on the album is about a teenage alien who comes to earth in order to study human culture for a school project. He is a rapper from another planet so of course he decides to study hip hop and learns that people don’t feel hip hop is as good as it was in the past. In order to find good music, he has to check out artists on the Internet. It’s kind of about not know who you are and feeling like you’re outcaste for thinking different or rapping different and searching for dope music. Also the mix tape title comes from a Blur song called “Strange News From Another Star” I used to play that song over and over again it’s just one of my favourite songs and I love the title of the song. I want to have that same effect on my fans. I want my songs to be replayed over and over again.

NSC: What kind of subject matter can we expect from it?

RL: Mostly about my experiences things that I’ve done in the past.

NSC: Are there any features?

RL: No features at the moment, but you never know yo!

NSC: What kind of beats do you find yourself most comfortable rapping over?

RL: I’m really into mostly anything that is unique. I’m more into lo-fi beats though.

NSC: Do other genres of music affect the way you make Hip Hop songs?

RL: Definitely, I listen to a lot of indie rock, which is filled with a lot of weird, offbeat lyricism that I enjoy. I don’t like to know exactly what the song means after the first listen. I want to be surprised; I want to listen to a song for a couple of weeks and then out of nowhere is like “Oh shit, that nigga was dead the whole time!” Some shit like that. I want to make songs like that.