Be clear. Outside of the “Conqueror” mixtape from Cory Campbell a.k.a. the guy who’s exceptional on a lot of Andy Mineo choruses, there hasn’t been a vocalist who has held my attention ‘hostage’ this year in the way SPZRKT (pronounced ‘Spazzy Rocket’) has with the May 7th 2013 release of “The Loner”. Those two should probably work together at some point…somebody needs to ‘A&R’ that move…but I digress. Sure, an artist like Collision Records’ Christon Gray for example is a vocal phenom in the classic sense of R&B that’s sanctified & I’m definitely a major fan of him & his work with ‘We Live As Kings’, but SPZRKT operates from a whole other ‘universe’ in technique & stylistics alone. The twenty something year old Texan’s knack for emotive songwriting doesn’t hurt him either. To be honest, being an avid listener of R&B past, present & potential future, I did find what I thought to be familiar nuances in his music that reminded me of certain artists of the sacred & the profane, but as SPZRKT quickly countered in his rebuttal to my observation, the Social Club Misfit Gang Wolf Pack crooner is just a dedicated ‘student of the game’ using the lessons learned with brilliant application to make a mark that’s clearly his own. SPZRKT’S latest effort has inspired another episode of “The Profiler Series” & in it, this emcee ‘investigates’ a soulful singer to gather evidence on why he sounds NOTHING like Abel (That’s ‘The Weeknd’ for some of y’all Christian Hip Hop kids), why he thinks highly of James Blake, why discussing ‘heartbreak’ in a Christian context is necessary & the story behind MartyMar’s belief…and that ‘Awkward’ verse of his.
Let’s get to it people…
CONQUEST: Spazz’ I’m gonna be totally honest with you. In my opinion, listening to “The Loner” exposed a lot of your influences. I got bits of the boyish innocence of Frank Ocean, I heard echoes of The Weeknd’s intensity in the production & vocal arrangement, I caught those Mali Music influences on your album. I prefer artists to strive for as much of their ‘own sound’ as possible, so stuff like that would usually bother the heck out of me (Laughs) …but I definitely heard your distinct & signature voice as well & you managed to combine all those factors into an extremely enjoyable & ambitious listen. Would you agree with my assessment & what is it about your style do you think makes you stand out from the crowd of vocalists, secular or Christian?
SPZRKT: First of all, thank you for this opportunity and for listening to my music as in depth as you did. To answer the question, I don’t completely agree with your assessment. Though I love his songwriting, Frank wasn’t the first to show such innocence in music, of course. But personally I learned how to use emotion in my music from The Maccabees. Whether quirky like ‘First Love’ or a deep feeling like ‘Slowly One’. The way Orlando Weeks used his voice according to the feeling was something i wanted to be able to do. As far as The Weeknd goes, I am 0.00% influenced by him in my music. I don’t know his arrangements or anything else. I just know he’s always depressed. hahahaha.
CQ: Man, you ain’t lying. Though well done, The Weeknd’s material isn’t what you’d call ‘inspirational music’ (Laughs), but I think you both have a knack for building tense, yet captivating sounds with a bit of an edge, but to your credit, I see now how learning from certain artists doesn’t take away from what is authentically yours. But what about the ‘Mali music moves’ though?
SPZ: Mali Music moves? Now I will not front, he was a huge influence in my late teens. We were even on the same label simultaneously for a short period. But just as with any of my influences, I try to take elements of what makes them great as an artist but never their styles. His intensity is what I added to my own make up. I believe what makes my style stand out is partially my voice, but more so how I use it. Mellow singing over southern/trap beats are not common. Neither is a singer having a soft non falsetto tone, as well as having a powerful raspy tone. And the hints of a British accent never hurt either hahahaha. Contribute that to singing many many songs by The Macabees.
CQ: I must say though, this is an ‘emotionally naked’ album, even your spoken segments with the woman you were pursuing in this ‘story set to music’ were like snapshots of who you are when it comes to vulnerable moments. How scary was that to record & share with the world?
SPZ: I didn’t want to do it. This album was the first time I used multiple real life stories on a project. I almost always made up stories, especially about love. I hadn’t been in love. The first bit of realism in my music dates back to my record ‘Cam Mysterio’. Just to be clear, all of my songs about my personal relationship with Jesus? Totally real. My love songs had been fabricated. On ‘The Loner’ songs 5-11 actually happened. They did not happen exactly as you hear them, I changed her name twice to protect who she is in real life, and some things were done for the sake of better sounding music. But, each record from song 5 to 11, the meat of those records actually happened. I didn’t want to share it, but I don’t go through things for myself, I go through them to help somebody else. So it was time I really began to share, because I knew it would connect with people who have felt these ways.
CQ: Obviously you remember when I invited you to check out “Shattered Glass” off my album, mainly because I haven’t heard too many urban Christian artists outside of myself that address failed relationships & heartbreak with the detail & passion you had on “The Loner”, I really wanted to trade ‘notes’ with you so to speak. What made you do it, especially in a sub-genre not known in the past of that level of personal transparency?
SPZ: Well mainly because God said to. hahaha, I just cant argue that. A secondary reason is because of that last line in your question. CHH is not known for a high level of personal transparency. Why not? Our God is perfect, not us. We’ve spent so much time telling people what they should be and how mighty we are in Christ, that people with problems feel like they will never be at that level, and see no point in trying. But if we are open and say, look, I am an absolute mess, horrible, but God has given me this love and will do the same for you, I believe that will open the door to this genre becoming bigger as well as better. Right now to the world there are humans, then above that there are Christians. They need to understand that Christians are simply humans trying to please God, and we have a part in that. We sound too perfect to even be believable. So I wanted to be as open as possible.
CQ: “I’ve seen my mother get hurt by love…& I’ve seen my best friend get hurt by love…and then you walked in”. That line hit me like a ‘ton of bricks’ when I heard it. Tell me about that lyric.
SPZ: Nothing too huge here aside from what you already see. I saw people close to me be hurt when they took a risk. So I didn’t feel the need to take that risk. But just like some fairy tale, there always seems to be one person who can change that. Somewhere in that moment, she did.
CQ: You do realize that Social Club’s MartyMar probably dropped one of the best verses of the year with “Awkward” right? Exactly how mad did you get when he almost ‘stole the show’ from you on “The Loner”? Are you guys still speaking? (Laughs)
SPZ: I have blocked Martin from all ways of communication, hahahahaha no. I love Marty. He was the first to reach out to me after my group broke up. He has always seen something in me. To be super honest, he really wanted to be apart of the project and sent me this song. I’ve known him for years and heard so many verses that to me this was typical Marty. I don’t think he stole the show, even though he has his own question, hahahaha. He’s my leader. He helps me stay focused and see beyond now unto what’s next. He always wants SCMGWP to be ahead & different. So as my leader, he should be better, hahaha. But I would like to think that the overall story of this project, stole the show.
CQ: Speaking of Marty, you’re part of his Social Club Misfit Gang Wolf Pack collective, how did the relationship between you guys develop & what have you learned & gained from it that’s beyond the buzz and added attention to your music.
SPZ: I met Marty online through my friend Elhae back when I was in Movement Of Truth. He saw us as the future back then. We’ve kept in contact through the years, even when we both had a year hiatus from music. As I said, he’s become a real mentor for me. Very honest and active. took me about 8 hooks before he finally used one of mine. He pushes me to excellence.
CQ: I don’t know if you’re into The Dream’s music, but he’s known for having a run of tracks that seem to tell it’s own story or carry it’s own theme within his albums. I think you pretty much do that on “The Loner” starting from ‘Serotonin’ to basically the end of the album, was that a conscious decision to take that approach & if so, how do you think it assisted in telling your story?
SPZ: I’m a fan of his writing. Especially in songs like ‘Fancy’. He hooks you without a hook, and thats hard to do. But the story of how “The Loner” unfolded is weird. I wrote the intro in January for a project I was going to name “Lunar Trip”. Much of the story was written with no true vision of it ever being a story. It wasn’t until I made The Loner concept, and sat down to see which unreleased songs I would like to use, that I noticed I had a story. The sudden break up I had with my girlfriend at the time put a real stamp on it all. That break up created the story with 2 songs, “Heylo” & “Hearts in Fear”.
CQ: On May 8th 2013, the day after you released “The Loner”, you tweeted: “I wanna make song writing an important thing in CHH. There’s a difference when u can feel the lyrics. It’s a science.”. I “favorited” that quote immediately ’cause that’s standard I personally cherish as an artist & as a fan of music in general. What’s the motivation behind songwriting for you?
SPZ: The motivation is people’s lives. Why write a song that won’t help or lift or even give a solution to something? And I’m super particular. I have to say the right word, in the right spot, and it needs to be said in the right tone, the right way. Because that one moment could mean everything to somebody’s day or even life. I need to sound like the mood that I’m singing in, to show that I relate to the listener. That captures them, that’s what sticks with them. Writers like Marcus Mumford, James Blake, and Frank Ocean have taught me this. I take note of what sticks with me, and know that it had to stick with someone else too. So why not use it? Songwriting is extremely important.
CQ: So I’m listening to your joint, and suddenly out of nowhere, the beat for Gangstarr’s ‘Step Into Arena’ comes on & you turn it into something else. That was a really slick move on your part to do that for “Queen Of England” & as a fan of 90’s hip hop, I totally appreciated it, what ‘possessed’ you to throw that ‘curve ball’ musically?
SPZ: I’m conscious of today’s industry. Boom Bap is becoming very popular again, and not only that, I just really liked the beat. They used the song on ESPN First Take for about a month & I would always jam when it played. I was like ” I HAVE to sing on that!”, I really didn’t want to rap. I asked Kidd and MartyMar to do it but both were stuck to their own projects. But i just love that style. Not too many singers doing that or being smooth over trap beats. Any of my long time fans will remember ‘The Feel ft. L9’, which had that same old school flair. I just love it.
CQ: Here’s something I sure many wonder about? Why Spazzy Rocket (or as like you to spell it “SPZRKT”) as a moniker & what influences your designs for your cover art such as the “panda pic” for your EP? Is there a certain ‘mystique’ or ‘look’ you’re shooting for?
SPZ: Spazzy was given to me by a college friend because I use to always dance in the cafe when ‘Spazz’ by N.E.R.D. came on. I added the Rocket because my group was doing spaced theme music and projects, so I thought it fit. Changing it to SPZRKT was for many reasons 1) I didn’t want anyone to remember Spazzy Rocket from Movement Of Truth, I just wanted a fresh start. 2) Its a thing not used by CHH artists but it’s very popular with secular artists (MSTRKRFT, SBTRKT, JMSN, LBCK) and I just KNEW it would make somebody on a CHH site press play. 3) It’s awesome. There’s no look or mystique I want, I just like art, so I prefer art instead of a picture of me. It’s about the music anyway.
CQ: “Serotonin” has a fantastic & soaring chorus, the possessiveness of “Mind Games” is infectious & ‘the late night creep’ of “One Time” is really smooth & radio ready. What is your personal favorite and will we be seeing a video of any of these songs anytime soon?
SPZ: My personal favorite is definitely ‘Laminin’. I believe that song will really change hearts and open Eyes to how tangible God’s love for us really is. We have videos in mind for Serotonin and Spazzy Party.
CQ: Out of curiosity, are there any singers or emcees that you’ve heard recently outside of your immediate crew and you thought “I love what they’re doing over there…they’re pushing the envelope”?
SPZ: This sounds biased, but I can’t think of many outside of SCMGWP that are pushing the envelope. People are making music really really really well. Definitely. But in CHH the only real attempt at difference I see is Beautiful Eulogy & Propaganda. But in secular music? James Blake’s album ‘Overgrown’ cares nothing about the radio and it is absolutely fantastic.
CQ: Last question. What do you think you bring to table that’s essential as far as “CHH” (Christian hip hop) & how do think your evangelistic qualities work hand in hand with your personal testimonies you share on record?
SPZ: I bring a difference. Four projects later and my fans still don’t know what to expect from song to song. Everybody shouldn’t do that, but somebody should. I bring transparency, and a much more everyday view of where Jesus is in my life. I believe that CHH needs that, and I believe its why so many people are grabbing hold of my music now. My evangelism is my personal testimony. I can’t speak about what I’ve never been through or faced and expect it to be effective. I expect to go through things as well as expect God to lead me out of those things, so that I can have a new thing to share with someone who is going through that very thing. I’ll do it face to face, and one record at a time.
Get SPZRKT’S “THE LONER” on Bandcamp & follow him on Twitter
Now “THAT”………..was an Interview.