In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock without wifi for the past three years, let us fill you in on a not-so-secret secret: Soundcloud rappers are here and they’re ready to take over.
With household names like Lil Peep and Juice Wrld paving the way for emotion-friendly emcees like nothing,nowhere., Wicca Phase Springs Eternal and Dying In Designer, the door has officially been kicked down as Spotify’s fastest growing genre, emo rap, is ready for its time in the spotlight.
Now, doing his best to help create a space for this emerging culture of heart-wrenching lyricists, We Are Triumphant label owner Greg Long (who has worked with bands like Neck Deep, Sworn In, Oh, Weatherly and more) has decided to throw his hat in the emo rap ring with his newfound record company Grxtesque.
Talking with The Noise about his vision for the upstart label as well as the similarities between working in the alternative rock space, Long gave us the scoop on what to expect from Grxtesque in 2019. To check out our interview with the music business entrepreneur, be sure to look below. Afterward, for more from Grxtesque, head here.
What can you tell us about GRXTESQUE?
GRXTESQUE is a new label launching today via Symponic Distrobution (Wiz Khalifa, Waka Flocka, Marshmello) with our first artist ✦pink cig✦. An 18-year-old artist from Phoenix, AZ who has been able to amass over 150,000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone with tracks like “Xanny Bars 222″ and “Angeldust” sitting in the millions. He has mainly been discovered prior via Soundcloud and being on Spotify’s official playlist “Tear Drop” right next to the likes of Lil Peep, XXXTENTACION, Trippie Redd and more. The song “Loser 00” takes a different approach to the traditional theme of materialism in hip-hop. This track is the first single off Pink Cig’s debut album Beautiful Strangers due out this summer.
Pink Cig and GRXTESQUE are a bit different than working at We Are Triumphant. What inspired you to jump into the hip-hop world?
I’ve always enjoyed hip-hop in many forms. I’ve been blessed to just be able to be a fan since I was a child. I’ve always had a talent for discovering artists very early on and that’s not really genre specific. I never had any intentions of starting a rap label but I started coming across so many dope artists with zero backing from any labels, managers, agents, etc. and I saw a missing piece to the puzzle. GRXTESQUE is here to complete the vision for those artists.
Do you see any parallels between artists on We Are Triumphant and GRXTESQUE? Do you think alternative hip-hop is the second coming of the 2000s emo/screamo boom?
There certainly are a lot of comparisons you can draw from. Soundcloud today is what MySpace was to bands in the early 2000s. “Soundcloud Rappers” are yesterdays “Myspace Bands.” A bunch of kids uploading music to a free network and sharing it among each other and creating a culture on a music platform just trying to find a place to belong. The atmosphere is very similar. However, being a rapper and a band, the dynamic couldn’t be any more different.
Your first signing Pink Cig already has a pretty significant following racking up 150,000 daily Spotify listeners. What you do think the future holds for him?
We are very excited to take what Pink Cig has already been able to accomplish on his own and scale it dramatically with GRXTESQUE. We’re already planning festival performances, tours and his debut album Beautiful Strangers will be out this summer.
Are there any other hip-hop artists on your radar or ones you’d love to have collaborate with your own artists?
Shout out to KEEPMYSECRETS currently the only other artist of GRXTESQUE. He and Pink Cig have already collaborated and it’s going to be the second single KMS releases. His first single is out April 12th.
Any last words? Where can people learn more about GRXTESQUE?
Thank you to THE NOISE for lending your voice to us. You can find GRXTESQUE everywhere via @GRXTESQUE.
