I am excited to share a home project I created for my 30th birthday. I wrote, produced and recorded the project at home and I consider it to be a personal invitation into my creativity. It is a reminder that home, wherever that may be, is where I feel the freest to be as creative and imaginative as I want to be.
For this song, which I wrote and produced, I wanted to once again speak to the strength of black queer people. I decided to include Bayard Rustin because he is a personal hero of mine. His unsung story is important to our culture and he is my go-to definition of what it means to be unapologetically black.
RAP QUEEN EP is streaming everywhere! | Up Style Records
Radio Stevie shares the stories behind each track on the RAP QUEEN EP.
On Yas Queen, I started writing with a lot of anger, and I knew the beat would have to have some roughness to it. As I kept writing, it became a stream of consciousness of so many things that I was feeling at the time and still feel. But, I didn’t want to make a sad song or an angry protest song. I still wanted it to fit the theme of celebration and the Up Style vibe, so I took all that anger and made it a reminder that despite everything going on, I’m still here and I have a lot to offer creatively and I have a lot to be proud of too. Self-love is important and sometimes with so much negativity in the world, it can be hard to feel good about yourself. Especially when you’re black and queer. But, I’m here, I’m queer, and I’m ill. OK? YAAAAAS QUEEEEEN!
I wrote Lucy about 5 years ago at a time where I probably wrote an entire album’s worth of synth-heavy tunes that were much darker in tone, but still lyrically light and playful. Depeche Mode is my favorite band ever and I love that era in music, which is why synths are very present across this EP. Also, as a writer, I love telling stories and creating characters. Lucy, is a mystery party girl who takes us to the next part of the EP, which is all party focused tracks. I hope to do a full record, full of characters and dark synths in the future.
Recording in Brazil, I started to get worried that I wasn’t making music that would connect to the audience here. Folks would come in the studio and get down to all the tracks we were working on, but I could tell I needed something that really spoke to the people here. So, we started working on a song that focused on production, presented elements of Brazilian music, featured a familiar voice and is lyrically easy for people to understand. When I heard Aira Ocrespo’s music with Flavya, I was like, let’s get him on this record! He and Flavya gave it that extra special Brazilian touch the EP needed and we got to really play with the production. The end of the song is really hypnotizing and that was super fun to create.
BOYS/GIRLS is the track that started it all. I wrote the lyrics after a night during pre-Carnaval with some drag performers. We were at a “bloco,” which are street parties leading up to the big Carnaval celebration, and they were planning some promo for their upcoming bloco in the Centro area of Sao Paulo. They slayed the shoot, and the party was super fun! Centro is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Sao Paulo. Brazilian Carnaval is an experience everyone should have. Seriously. Not just for the parties, but for the culture. With samba being at the core of the celebration — It doesn’t get any better!
It’s official! Radio Stevie is here! Here is the video clip for the first single from the upcoming Rap Queen EP, which is available December 2, 2016, on Up Style Records.
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Music was written & performed by Radio Stevie (Stephen J. Grant)
Music produced by DJ FlavYa Music mixed & mastered by Carlos Hernandez
Video production by Bruno Sandini
Styling by OKAN Benin
