HipHopOnDeck Interviews Vocab Slick | @VocabSlick

Bay Area, California rapper and Distant Relatives member Vocab Slick presents the music video for “Colorful Vocab”, the Hg-produced single from his Somethin’ Slick EP. This clip comes on the heels of Vocab’s video for the EP’s title track (watch) featuring a guest appearance from fellow Bay Area artist Kye The Guy. The EP features production from Brycon, Yoyo Ox and Bobby Ozuna as well as guest appearances from Joe Mousepad and Slick’s partner in Distant Relatives, the late Maynee, who passed away during the making of Somethin’ Slick, as did Slick’s mother and uncle. Vocab describes “Colorful Vocab” as “a raw, back-to-basics-style song. I didn’t even really want to do a chorus for the song – just wanted the raw beat and lyrics and that’s it, but I sent it to DJ Tony Tone anyways to see what he would do with the joint, and I’m glad I did.” Somethin’ Slick is out now on iTunes.


You’ve just gotten off a US tour. How is the reception to underground hiphop these days in contrast to previous years?

Well the response was great. I think it’s more of a respect that I’m independent and just out there doing stuff on my own without any major help. On the music side there are still people out there hungry for underground shit and wanting to hear and support the music. There are a lot of avid fans out there who follow what I do and that’s exciting to know and it’s exciting to be able to keep engaging them


The loss of your Distant Relatives partner Maynee affected you deeply. How do you shoulder that burden today?

It was definitely life-changing. He was my brother, best friend and rap partner and nothing can replace that. I’ve got to be honest: I trip off it every day. But I take solace in the fact that he would want me to keep on pushing and further the work that we started together.


Your videos with Unjust are known for being distinctive. How do you two conceptualize your works?

It really just happened organically. With ''Somethin' Slick'' he had been working on the idea to do an 8-bit video and I had the song I wanted him to do a video for and it was a slam-dunk from there. With ''Colorful Vocab'' we collabed on a few ideas, he gave me a list of all the shots he wanted and I went to a studio and knocked it out. After that he took it from there, he really works magic on these videos and I trust everything he does 100%. It’s a good relationship when you can fully trust someone like that.


Tell us about your upcoming album. 

With this next album I'm working with Rob Wright on the whole thing. He's a producer from Ohio who moved to the Bay. We've been working together ever since he got here. The music we have made is pretty special in terms of us pushing the boundaries on my songwriting and his instrumentation. I’m really looking forward to people hearing this cats are gonna trip out.


Any shoutouts?

As always, shouts to the cats who are involved in my life on an everyday basis, whether it be musically or just as being a good homie. Starski, Ricky Switch, True Justice, Rob Wright, Z-Man, my wife of course and my beautiful daughter. If I left someone out it wasn't intentional.Thanks for all the continued support.

  

Somethin’ Slick EP on Soundcloud | iTunes
vocabslick.com | distantrelatives.com | Twitter [@vocabslick]
Twitter [@dave9nine] | Twitter [@chosen_f3w] | Twitter [@djtonytone]