RMS: The Interview
Indian-American rapper RMS debuted new music video with Rolling Stone.
Rapper RMS’s new music video “I’m Here With U” is out now. The Right Kind Of Brownies caught up with the recording artist in New Jersey for an exclusive interview.
Follow RMS on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music.
What's your earliest memory of music?
One of my earliest memories of listening to music would be my parents playing Hindi/Tamil songs in the car to daycare or elementary school. My brother and I always had our favorites that we would recognize and sing along to. I really cherish those memories.
What do you remember about the first song you wrote and recorded?
I wrote many songs before I ever recorded one. But the first that I actually wrote and recorded was a song called “I’m Different.” I was getting pretty good at writing at that point - I was obsessed with complex imagery and wordplay. But my delivery was trash. I had no idea how to project my voice and really gave life to the articulation that complex raps require. Plus, I recorded it on a rock-band mic and had no idea how to mix. As you can imagine, the song came out pretty bad. I remember distinctly how supportive my friends and acquaintances were about that song, which was key in motivating me to keep going and get better. Once I got better, I ended up re-recording that song, later on, putting it on my first mixtape, which is still available on Soundcloud.
What made you want to make your own music?
I think the idea of creating anything has always been exciting to me, whether it was drawing or filming, or photography. Once a certain creative interest is piqued, I just get addicted to that feeling of creating. When we were young my brother and I used to compose our own duets on the piano. Eventually, he started messing around with computer programs for making music and taught me how to use them. That was the spark that lit the flame. After that, I just kept producing instrumental songs for years, and eventually turned to produce rap beats. Plus a huge source of inspiration for me is movie soundtracks. When I was younger, movie soundtracks are what I would model my instrumental songs after - Hans Zimmer was in constant rotation. As someone who always enjoyed watching and creating films, the DNA of my music is rooted in a cinematic experience. That seed bloomed into creating cinematic audio journals that tell stories not just with words but also with the soundscape. And often I try to film tasteful visuals to pair them with. When you allow yourself to be creative in multiple dimensions, the possibilities are endless.
Why rap and produce in particular?
As I mentioned before, instrumental production was something I was doing long before I started rapping. I loved listening to instrumental songs and soundtracks. That was my main source of inspiration for the longest time as a producer. In high school, my friends and I would randomly start rap battling over the lunch table just for fun. Again, this was a spark that just stuck. I became addicted to forming clever wordplay and intricate rhyme schemes. I started writing verse after verse without telling anyone. Eventually, I decided to merge my interests and start producing beats for me to rap on.
What was it like performing at Milkboy Arthouse?
Performing at Milkboy was awesome. That was the heart of the College Park music and performance scene. So many great shows, with friends and strangers coming together to enjoy good music. Had a lot of shows there with really dope audience engagement and turnout. Really felt at home at that stage.
What was it like making Faith in the Future in 2018?
Faith in the Future’ was made during a rough time for me, early in college, when I was really struggling with anxiety for the first time. That period caused me to reevaluate my relationship with my faith, which I had previously distanced myself from. Faith in the Future is kind of a culmination of those two experiences. I began to understand that my disconnect from belief in any sort of higher power was the catalyst for my peak anxiety. I made this realization that only putting faith in yourself puts this impossible pressure on yourself because the reality of life is that certain things are out of your control. By learning to have faith in something other than myself (whether that’s god, karma, the ‘future,’ etc.), I began to accept things that are out of my control and get a better grasp of my anxiety. That was the premise of the concept for the ‘Faith in the Future’ EP.
How about I'm Here With U in 2020?
‘I’m Here With U’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve made. Maryland-based producer Brody sent me the core of that beat in December of 2019. He knows me well and knows what type of sounds align with my vision. Literally the same day I wrote the whole thing. The sonics just drove the storytelling so organically. It’s a story of reassurance, cultural stigmas, and trauma - all things that had been on my mind heavily at the time. Later in the year, I recorded it, added some production elements of my own, and released it. It’s one of those songs that I wasn’t sure how it would do because of the solemn tone, but it really resonated with my friends and fans.
Your 3 song EP, Note to Self - what was it like putting that together?
‘Note to Self’ is my favorite body of work I’ve put out. Made all the beats for it over the course of Fall 2018. Recorded little by little over early 2019. I spent the summer of 2019 mixing and perfecting production. It took a long time to come together because I was working on multiple projects, plus school and work really ate up a lot of my time. But absolutely one of my most fulfilling and well-rounded conceptual projects. The concept is about keeping myself in check, where each song/song title is an important reminder of how I want to carry my life. The story formed by the skits mirrors the idea of a message in the bottle, where people put letters in a bottle and let it travel across the sea. However, instead of a bottle, this story follows a video camera that gets anonymously passed around to and from random strangers from all around the world. Each person who finds it records a ‘note to self’ before passing it along. Each skit at the end of each song is supposed to be the audio for one of these ‘note to self’ recordings, where the theme of each note relates to the song it’s on.
What inspires you these days?
Live instrumentation and multi-instrumentalists really inspire me these days—people like FKJ, Masego, Tom Misch, etc. The soulfulness from tasteful live instrumentation, while still being creative with the sound design, is an unparalleled combo and something I strive for a lot when crafting my own songs. While I can’t play as many instruments as them, I certainly display that live instrumentation influence in my music whenever I can. Whether it’s jazzy Rhodes, sax, string sections, or tabla, I try to sprinkle live instrumentation influenced sounds into my music all the time.
What are your thoughts on the music industry today?
The music industry today is an ambiguous landscape. One of the most amazing things about making music in this era is that there is so much accessibility to resources. I can record everything in my room, mix everything on my laptop, learn new sound engineering techniques from the vast sea of online material, and build my own fan base through various social platforms. The downside is that with accessibility comes saturation. So the balance I try to achieve is trying to cut through the noise with something ear-catching and masterful while still being true to myself.
What's next for you?
I have some singles in the works, maybe a project next year, and various video content I’m trying to drop as well. I’m very hands-on with my work, production, engineering, filming of videos, color grading, editing, etc. Things take time, but I’m trying to up my output next year while still delivering high quality and artistic integrity.