SLAP InnerViews: BLVC SVND
SLAP InnerViews ― digging deep into LA’s most creative minds.
LA-based musician BLVC SVND just dropped his 4th project of 2017 — BLVC GOD 3. We caught up with him to talk about his music and what’s shaped him into the artist and person he is today.
Q: First let’s handle the basics: How old are you, how long have you been doing music and what part of LA are you in?
A: Ok, so I’m 18. I been doing music since I was 7 years old… so like 11 years now, and I’m from Eagle Rock. Thats where I grew up and went to school or whatever.
Q: Damn, since the age of 7? Was that with instruments, or were you already on a computer producing?
A: I was with instruments because first off I’m a musician. Before I’m a rapper or producer, I play like real instruments. I play cello, guitar, drums and bass. My favorite instrument was guitar when I was 7. When I was like 10 I learned cello and drums and been playing instruments ever since then.
BLVC SVND tuning up his cello before a performance as a kid.
Q: Was it parent exposure that led to you having such an infatuation for music? Or something you developed on your own?
A: Well, I always had that interest in music. I remember back in elementary school I really wasn’t good at sports or anything that other boys were good at… so I got into music. One time we were taking CST’s (California Standardized Tests) or some shit, and we had to read a book when we were done… I got this book with hella instruments in it. After reading up on some of the instruments I asked my dad for a guitar and I got my first one from Target—like a big Squier Stratocaster—and that was pretty much my first time spending time alone and doing shit musically (at 7 years old).
Q: Let’s get into the new project, BLVC GOD 3 — Now, BLVC GOD 1 and 2 were released in 2013 and 2014 respectively, and they were beat tapes… you weren’t rapping yet. When did you start rapping and what led to that decision?
A: I started rapping like 2 years ago. I always wanted to be a rapper, but I had a lot of self esteem and social anxiety issues so I didn't really have the self confidence to do it… But now I don’t really give a fuck, so Ima rap. Back then I was just scared to do it, you know?
Q: So what made you want to bring back the BLVC GOD title for this project 3 years later?
A: Well, my plan is to drop a really good, serious album around my birthday. This BLVC GOD 3 shit is more like a mixtape showing off what I been working on lately. But I’m gonna have a really serious project dropping sometime in the fall… I’m gonna take a lot of time on that. This is just showing what I’m doing artistically right now… that’s what BLVC GOD 3 is gonna be.
Q: What kind of BLVC SVND can we expect to hear on this project?
A: I feel like since BLVCMATIC I’ve gotten a lot better with my songwriting… I’m actually writing songs now. My production has gotten better. I’m starting to to venture out more and do all the different styles of music I like. It’s not just going to be like trap… it’s going to be all kinds of shit.
Q: Are there any features or other producers?
A: Yeah right now I have one feature from this artist called Fukkit you might not know, but he’s really fuckin tight… I love him haha. And that's pretty much the only feature right now. I have some production from Babe and a song with my homie Spyde. They’re both from New Zealand. People are sleep on that whole wave out there. There’s ton’s of producers coming out of New Zealand that are fucking crazy.
Q: Add me to that list because I am completely asleep on New Zealand haha… how’d you stumble across them?
A: Well I used to be in this shit called Weird Clan. That was me, Syringe, Eric North and them. Then I met babe and we kept talking and he’d send me beats. He’s been sending me beats for hella long, and then I met his homies after we dropped ‘Backpack.’ A lot of them started sending me beats, and I been working with a lot of rappers out there.
Q: This is now your 4th full project as a rapper on your beats. Do you feel yourself getting more in tune with your distinct style or are you still kind of experimenting with it?
A: I feel like I’m coming into my style… I’m starting to get how I like to structure songs or come on verses and shit. BLVC GOD 3 is definitely gonna be real original BLVC SVND shit. I’m really just trying everything and opening my head up and not being scared of what people are gonna think.
Q: You’re an interesting artist in the way that sometimes you really bring it on a song with lyrics and delivery, but other times your vocals seem to almost be like background or accents for the complex beat you made. Do you mix it up this way for a specific reason or is it just something you do naturally?
A: I just feel like some songs don’t need a whole lot of words or a hook… some songs do. I like switching it up. I think it’s tight that I can say 4 words on a song and it still sounds good… like that’s cool, you know?
Q: In January you told Pigeons & Planes that you had been getting into some heavier metal when it came to your music taste, and a lot of the music you put out shortly after that was definitely heavy. But you also have some pretty mellow songs like ‘FREE’ off BLVC’S WORLD or most recently in ‘BACK OF MY HEAD.’ What genres or artists inspire these kinds of tracks?
A: Idk i guess when I relax and I’m not angry I listen to this singer called joni mitchell, this band called Cortex. I listen to a lot of older soul and R&B. I like old R&B shit a lot… I be tryna sound like R. Kelly in 93 and shit haha.
Q: You sample a lot of stringed instruments. Are these normally played live or pulled from other tracks?
A: Most of my shit that I make is all through midi, so I play it on the keyboard, record it from the keyboard and master it. I don't really sample that much, only on occasion. I really be making my shit though. A lot of people don’t know that, you know? But I really be making my shit.
Q: Damn that’s crazy... that’s a lot of work. Props to you though; that’s some real artist shit.
A: Yeah I feel like a lot of people don’t know about me and what goes into my music. I feel like a lot of people have to learn still.
Q: Do you feel like rapping has changed your approach to producing at all?
A: Yeah but honestly I never intended on being a hip hop producer like that. I was always releasing shit and doing remixes and making original music. At the time I really wanted to get a job so I started pushing that producing shit and made a name or whatever. But at this point I only have one big placement, on Night Lovell’s project, and I don't even see that as a very big deal but it got me some attention. But no one wants to take the time to go on my SoundCloud and see that maybe I’m not just a producer.
Q: At the end of Mustard, the first song off your last tape BLVCMATIC, you address some backlash you were getting about your choice to start rapping in addition to producing. Where was most of that coming from and do you still get much of it?
A: For my whole life Everybody has doubted me and my abilities. I don't really like to talk about shit… I don't hype myself up… I just be doing it. But yeah people doubted me and they were telling me shit like ‘stick to producing’ or ‘you have trash lyrics.’ That’s my motivation though to shit on everybody and just talk shit cause that’s what I been doing my whole life. Everybody treats me like shit and like a bitch so i just shit on them with my music.
Q: Do you still get much of that backlash now?
A: I still get it because people don't go on my soundcloud and actually get to know me as an artist. People just know me as a producer so they don't even know what the fuck I be doing. They just doubt me off top. They see my tweets when I’m talkin’ shit and assume like ‘this nigga must be trash’ but i'm really not aha. If i was trash I wouldn't rap. I’d know I was trash and I’d just make beats… but I’m not trash. I know my potential so Ima keep rapping.
Q: You have no problem expressing yourself on Twitter or Instagram, and a lot of what you say or post may not follow the traditional rapper mold. Do you ever think about what your career/fanbase would be like if you tried to ‘play the part’ a little more?
A: I mean I been trying to be a little more like a rapper. I been coming out on my instagram story, being cool and shit. I feel like I have a lot of shit that I’m starting on this tape that’s going to present me more as an artist. Once BLVC GOD 3 drops a lot of shit is going to change… people are going to react differently because this is honestly some of the best shit I’ve ever made.
Q: Yeah, it just takes that one great project to really blow…
Your fashion sense and overall look may be what’s most unique about you. Who do you look to for fashion inspiration and where do you do most of your shopping?
A: Well I’m like a skater and shit. That’s my hobby… I been skating pretty much my whole life. I’ve always been interested in skater’s style, you know... wearing dirty shoes, the type of tee shirts I wear, the painted nails... all that shit. I've always been on my fashion shit. My pops was always real into shopping so I have like an inherited love for it… I just like to buy clothes. I just see cool stuff and figure out how to create something. That's what I used to do at least. I feel like my look now is just me dressing however the fuck I want. I don't really care aha.
Q: Do you have anyone you look to for hair inspiration or is that something all your own?
A: The reason I started growing out my hair was initially cause of Snoop Dogg. I had like a fade when i really got into gangsta rap and culture. At that time I felt like I’d look cool with long ass hair, and actually I’ve wanted long hair for my whole life but I had never really had it like I wanted. So in 2014 I said fuck it… I cut off all my hair for a clean start so I could grow it out for the rest of my life… It’s been a crazy ass journey though like I’ve learned a lot about taking care of this shit. If I don't keep it up for like 2 days it starts getting gross and disgusting, so it’s definitely a job aha…
Q: Recently you told Lil pump to stop preaching drug use to kids on Twitter. Do you think the prescription drug craze in hip-hop is going to die out soon or that it’s becoming a permanent part of mainstream hip hop culture?
A: I mean it’s always been a part of it… I really can’t knock on people like Lil Xan or Yung Lean for their own personal demons, but I think it’s a whole different thing when people are saying ‘xanax is the wave’ or ‘pop a xan’ like this shits cool. It’s really not cool. I’ve had a homie lose 8 months of their life, blacked out because of xanax… it’s fucked up man, 8 months of their life and you don’t remember that shit at all? Niggas just shouldn’t preach that shit… you can be like yeah I do xans, but don’t make it into a thing that makes you cool. These new artists be like ‘yeah pop xans, I don’t give a fuck I’m lit!’ And a lot of people are zombies to celebrities… they’ll do anything they tell them to do. You really have to know that you have power over people when you’re an artist that people like. A kid could be popping xans because of Smokeppurrp; a kid could be OD’ing off xans because he heard Lil Pump say it’s lit, you know? It’s really not okay, and I really just don’t want deaths to come out of people being stupid and acting like they don’t give a fuck. It just seems like a lot of the humanity has been taken out of the music game, and it’s like a free for all for whoever does the most dumb shit aha… it’s fucked up. I can’t change it right now, but when I get to the level I want to be at I’m definitely going to talk about it.
Q: Switching topics here… Soundcloud gave everyone a scare recently. I know they issued a statement to calm everyone’s nerves, but how much would a SoundCloud shutdown affect you as an artist?
A: I mean, it wouldn’t really affect me that much honestly. All the business I do is usually through people just hitting me up. I feel like I’m known enough to where I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I was honestly excited about it though because a lot of people are just bullshitting on SoundCloud—they think it’s just another way to get famous, and that’s not what it is. I been on there since 2013. Music is my life; it’s my blood. I don’t really care about shit but music. I felt like it was going to weed out a lot of the artists that don’t actually care. YouTube was about to be lit again too! That would have been tight… everyone dropping tapes and videos again instead of all this 5-second bubblegum shit. People are just too impatient and stupid to actually watch anything. They want it to be so fast and simple, you know what I mean? Fuck outta here with that ahaha.
Q: One more question about the album though. Do you have any specific goals for it or things that you want it to accomplish?
A: My goal is just to get people to stop calling me a fucking producer and respect me as an artist because I feel like I’m much more than just a producer, and I’ll always be more than just a producer. First of all I’m a real ass fucking musician… I’m classically trained, I play instruments and I know music theory and all that shit… I studied it for years. I feel like niggas don’t respect me yet. I’m not some cookie cutter ass bedroom ass producer… I’m a real ass musician and niggas need to start respecting me cause it’s starting to piss me off aha. Hopefully BLVC GOD 3 changes that perception of me, and if it doesn’t then I don’t know what to do. I really put my heart and my whole fucking everything into this. It’s sounding really good to me, so hopefully it sounds good to other people too.
