There may still be people that are not familiar with R City which is comprised of two brothers Timothy and Teron, but by now you should have heard their lead single “Losin It” from their upcoming album “Wake The neighbors”.  Even if you’ve never heard “Losin It” and can’t identify the brothers at first galnce, I guarantee you have heard some of their work.  They’ve been penning hits for artists ranging from the Pussycat Dolls to Sean Kingston to Mario to….you get the picture.  One of the most refreshing things I find that I like about R City is their humility and honesty.  You want to know why there’s some confusion about the name R City versus Rock City?  Just ask them.  You want to know what it’s like to work in the shadow of Akon?  Just ask them.  I never heard them shy away from any question or offer anything less than brutal honesty when asked any question.  Get to know R City and get familiar with their track record before they completely blow the scene wide open.

Q:  Where are you from?
A:  We’re from St. Thomas Virgin Islands, born and raised.  We now reside in Atlanta.

Q:  The debut single is “Losin It”.
A:  Yeah, “Losin It” is produced by Mad Scientist.  The video was directed by Eric White.  We shot it in Atlanta.  It’s showing on MTV Jams right now and BET just put it in rotation and VH1 Soul is about to add it, too. 

Q:  As far as other projects, talk on all the writing you have done.
A:  Oh yeah, we do a lot of writing like the new Pussycat Dolls record “When I Grow Up” we wrote that.  We did Sean Kingston’s “Take You There” in addition to three other songs on his album.  Mario’s “Music For Love” and also “Skipping” for Mario.  “The Rain” on Akon’s album.  We’re actually working on Akon’s new album right now.  We just did Jennifer Hudson’s new single called “What Is Love”.  We just did that one in LA.  We work with Janet Jackson.  We just did a record with Macy Gray… it’s amazing.  DJ Khaled, Ace Hood, Beenie Siegel, Robin Thicke, Ciera…we’ve written for a lot of people. 

Q:  Given the fact that you have such an extensive track record of writing for other people and you’ve had success as writers, what does it feel like as you transition to doing your own music?
A:  The transition is weird.  The songwriting thing kind of came up by mistake.  “The Rain” which went to Akon; we wrote that song in the seventh grade.  We were going to re-do it to make it a little more modern for our album, but he heard it and loved it and asked if we write songs and we were like “Yeah!”  It just started from there, but we’ve been pursuing the artist thing forever.  We’ve been doing shows.  Like when we moved to Atlanta in 2001 we used to pay our bills by doing talent shows, but we won so much that they said we couldn’t compete no more.  They said we would have to be special guests and we were like “Dog, this is how we eat!” but they told us we couldn’t compete in the talent shows anymore. 

Q:  In terms of your growth and versatility with your own music, how has it helped with writing for other people and things of that nature?
A:  It just gives us a broader look on music.  You know what’s funny is that every single that we have on our album was written for somebody else.  “Losin It” was written for Trey Songz.  We wrote the song for Trey Songz, but Atlantic didn’t like it.  We got a record called “Fly Them Planes” which could be our second single which we did for Usher and Nelly.  They were gong to cut it so we kept it.  Then we did a song for Akon called “I Got You”.  He recorded it, but Jimmy Ivine said “No you can’t give that away, you have to keep it” so we took it back.  It all just gives a broader outlook on what we do. 

Q:  Do you ever get frustrated with the process?
A:  Yeah, we get frustrated all the time because it’s hard, you know, being signed with someone like Akon and all he does; a lot of people say they want Akon with us.  If we were signed directly to Interscope, people wouldn’t say that, but because we’re signed to Akon people expect him to go everywhere we go.  When we signed to Akon we wanted to be our own entity and he understood that.  We did it with him because he was the only one giving us what we wanted as far as creative control and he was taking us to Interscope.  We’re the only ones signed to Konvict that doesn’t have a song written or produced by Akon.  We’re family.  We’ve known Akon now for six or seven years.  He signed us like “Yo, I’m going to sign ya’ll and give you what you need.”  He just basically opened the door for us to enable us to be heard, but we don’t particularly do everything that Akon does. 

Q:  As far as other things you have going on outside of music, what are some of those interests that you have jumped into?
A:  To be honest right now, me and my brother – all we do is write songs and do our artistry.  I feel like we haven’t even got ourselves off the ground to the level that we feel comfortable with taking on any other projects.  Our focus is Rock City and the album “Wake The Neighbors” that we’re currently working on right now.  Everybody can agree that the current stat of music is crazy.  Everybody says that it’s Hip-Hop, but it’s not just Hip-Hop.  R&B, Country, Pop, Disney…everybody is messed up right now.  It’s just the current state of music and the current state of the world.  We’re just really focused on hoping that we can get people like the DJs and magazines involved in our project so we can get a solid release date so they can put our album out.  That is our main number one goal and priority right now.  If we can get that, then we’ll get involved in any and everything, but right now our main focus is releasing “Wake The Neighbors” in 2008 and “Losin It” becoming the biggest song of the summer.  We’ve been doing shows, and mixtapes, and doing drops and whatever people need us to do.  Whatever it is people need us to do to get it going.  We’re new artists so we’re always open to suggestions.  Everything that’s going on to us right now is brand new.  We’re still learning a lot of things as we go along.  We’re the easiest people to work with and we really want to win.  We just want to work hard and earn our place. 

Q:  How do your origins in the Virgin Islands influence your music?
A:  We grew up listening to Hip-Hop because our parents were really into Hip-Hop, but the Caribbean vibe in our music just really comes natural because as much as we grew up on Hip-Hop, we also grew up on that Caribbean culture.  Even “Losin It”, you can hear the Caribbean vibe in our sound. 

Q:  Hip-Hop is saturated right now with a lot of artists, so what’s different about you?
A:  I feel like we’re the first group that does everything.  We sing R&B and we still do Reggae and we do Hip-Hop.  A lot of people heard “Losin It” as the first single, but a lot of people don’t know we really really rhyme.  So if you get to listen to our mixtapes you’ll get to see that we really, really rap.  I hate talking about ourselves.  I would rather it come from other people because it’s more organic, but we keep up with the best of ‘em.  We never sold drugs, we don’t drink, we don’t smoke and we’re proud to say that.  We grew up with both of our parents in one of the worst projects of the Virgin Islands.  We’ve been broke; we’ve been homeless, nothing to eat, slept on trains when we moved here to try to make it in the music business.  What makes us different is that we’re honest and true to ourselves.  Anything on our album is about us and is true to our life.  Me and my brother are real personable.  We like to put people in a room and sit down with us and play our records and explain where our mind was at the time so you can understand the experience.  We want people to love our music, but to also say “Yeah, I mess with them, too” As people.

Q:  What is your target demographic?
A:   A lot of people ask us who is our audience or who are we shooting for.  Some people will say I go for the teens, or I go for the hood, or I go for the ladies, but we’re really trying to go for everybody.  Some people say you can’t get everybody, but you can’t tell me it can’t happen.  We’re sure trying.  We want to get everybody.  We want the ladies, the kids, the grown people…you name it – we want all of them.  We want everybody to be a part of this Rock City movement.  People ask about our music “Is it Hip-Hop, is it reggae, is it R&B?”  We just say its music for the people.  It’s a blend of Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, Reggae…all in one.  One big gumbo of good music. 

Q:  Do you feel like your music is going to change the game?
A:  I hate to say statements like that because I find statements like that to be arrogant.  So as far as changing the game, I don’t think there’s anything that we can do that’s going to change the game.  I think we’re more like a breath of fresh air. 

Q:  Where do you see yourselves in 2 years?
A:  To be honest, we don’t know.  We get that question a lot.  Our answer is that in two years we want to last and still be relevant in the music business.  Right now “Losin It” is getting good response and we’re writing for a lot of artists, but you never know.  We could ‘brick’ hard and then nobody’s returning our phone calls.  Hopefully within the next 6 months I want “Losin It” to be a popular record and heard around the country.  I want us to do more shows and I want our album to come out in 2008.  Hopefully two years from now we’ll be talking about another album.  Real talk, we just want to last.  We want to be around for a long time. 

Q:  Talk about the music business and what you’ve learned as far as the business aspects of things.
A:  I’ve learned that it’s more political than it is talent.  It’s a job.  A lot of people come in and complain that the label ain’t did this or the label fucked this up…to be honest; there really isn’t any good labels.  They’re all the same way.  You have to promote yourself, and grind yourself, and build your own character up in order for them to jump on the ball and be a part of it.  You can’t get mad.  Anybody getting into the music business should already know what they’re getting into.  The music business is way more political.  Somebody might not want to play your record because they’re beefin’ with someone that you don’t even know at your label.  Interscope has hundreds of entertainers that some of them we’ve never met, but there might be a DJ that says “I ain’t playing anything from Interscope because ‘George’ over at Promotions disrespected me in the club years ago.”  I never knew ‘George’, man, I never even met him!   That happens a lot.  With me and my brother we’re like we want you to talk to us.  If you don’t like Rock City I want it to be because you talked to us personally, not because you don’t like our manager or someone from our label.  People have no idea how many music careers fail because of back-door conversations.  It may be a conversation that you never even hear.  We’ve got a team that we love and that back us up.  We love our A&R.   But if anything goes wrong, please call us.  Don’t just drop us.  A lot of times we might not even know what the problem was and we might be able to help.  We as artists, DJs, radio…we have to stick together.  The executives stick together.  They’re all competing, but they all stay in touch with each other.  We as artists, and I include DJs in that group, we have to stick together.

Q:  What does the name Rock City mean to you?
A:  For people that don’t know, St. Thomas is also known as Rock City due to the fact that it’s very rocky and mountainous.  Something you may not know, our name legally on paper is R City because there’s a rock group out of Detroit called Rock City and they legally own the name Rock City.  We’re just proud of where we’re from.  There’s nobody historically that has ever reached the level we’re at and came from St. Thomas.  There are a lot of kids that look up to us from home and we hope that we can serve as hope or some sort of light at the end of the tunnel for them. 

What else can be said about Rock City?  Their music is finally bringing them the recognition they deserve.  Their songwriting resume is impressive on its own merit, but to finally get music directly from the minds that created so many hits for so many others is long overdue.  R City or Rock City; either way – you better get familiar with the brothers.  They are planting their flag and preparing to take a large stake in the music game. 

CL Smooth is legendary for his intelligent rhyme skills, his witty wordplay, and the messages delivered within his lyrics.  For those of you who are somehow unfamiliar with the name CL Smooth, please go to T.R.O.Y. for a quick reference to his legendary status.  Absolute classic.  The fact that CL Smooth is timeless is a goal that eludes so many of today’s artists, but CL understands how important it is to evolve and remain relevant while still maintaining his integrity.  CL is nobody’s ringtone rapper.  CL is forever classic.  If you don’t know – you better ask somebody.

Q:  What does “CL” stand for?
CL:  CL stands for my name.  The C is for my first name which is Corey and the L is for my last name which is Love. 

Q:  What’s in the works?  Do you have another album in the works?
CL:  Right now I’m not rushing anything.  I’m just making records and I’m not putting any time limit on myself.  I’m just doing records right now.  There’s really no area I’m trying to get at, no formula I’m trying to put together.  I’m just making music and enjoying life right now.

Q:  Are you dropping another mixtape any time soon?
CL:  I really don’t have anything planned, but it’s always a possibility if that’s what I feel and that’s where the movement is taking me.  Right now I’m not planning anything; I’m just reacting to everything. 

Q:  American Me is still out there.
CL:  Definitely.  I think it’s some of my best work.  You know, sometimes an artist’s best work is the unrecognized best work.  The work that you recognize later on in life.  It’s about making great music consistently.  It may take a while to hit the mainstream and get its legs, but great music will always be heard.  That’s what great music is all about - discovery. 

Q:  The thing that I’ve noticed is that everything you do now is making a point.  Every song has a purpose.  You have a message in every song.
CL:  Sometimes you have great mentors in your life and no matter how much your intake is…sometimes you get caught up in the world and forget about all the good lessons that we had.  Lessons that we should learn from.  What I do is just make songs about the lessons that I’ve learned so I never forget about how my life goes.  The ups and downs and ins and outs of how a person lives from day to day. 

Q:  Going back to the CL and Pete Rock days, Anger in The Nation really stands out.
CL:  That was an opportunity that came through my brother.  That song always goes with me.  It wasn’t a highly publicized record.  It was a record that was just part of an album.  That song really stuck out to me because its about really just dropping science; saying something politically, spiritually, and philosophically about how a young man should think.

Q:  CL Smooth and Pete Rock is one of the best combinations of talent ever.  I just wished there were more groups out there like that now.
CL:  I think there are, but it’s just morphed into something different.  At that time we had a special movement going… it was just special at that time.  There are a lot of Hip-Hop groups that remind me of myself and the group that I came from and the music that was so special.  I can relate to a lot of things that are out here now, but I definitely appreciate the people that have supported me from day one.  That alone motivates me to even do more.

Q:  What groups out now remind you of yourself?
CL:  A group like Outkast reminds me of that comradary.  It doesn’t even have to be Hip-Hop.  It’s just that comradary alone that rare music makes…music brings on everything.  It brings on every facet of emotion.  Music brings on hatred, music brings on love, music conquers the savage beast, and music riles you up.  So as the years go on and as people evolve on the tree and the tree is the music; the leaves grow in different directions.  We might have a difference of opinion, but that’s how music grows.  You don’t have to keep doing the same things for years and years.  You want to evolve into something else.  Doing the same thing repetitiously doesn’t really quench my thirst.  But to be able to build on something special, like in the beginning with Pete Rock and CL Smooth – now I have to challenge myself in the world of music.  That is more interesting than being repetitious.  I want to do different things and have different music.  As long as I have this emotion and this vibe I’m going to go with it.  I can’t just stay in one shell of music.  You have to be able to evolve.  Sometimes the public suffers, the artist suffers, and the business suffers, but you have to do what’s true to you.  That’s why they call it art.  You have to do what’s true to you and make the music that you feel you need to be making no matter where it brings you. 

Q:  What else is poppin?
CL:  Right now I’m just enjoying my new home.  I love to exercise and run with my dog.  I just enjoy being home because I live out of a bag.  I travel a lot.  It’s good to come home and just relax and shoot some hoops, swimming, playing with my dogs, and I get to listen to some great new music.  Some of these new producers from overseas have some really great music. I enjoy experimenting with that and some of the up and coming producers that are bringing a different vibe and intense artwork from myself. 

Q:  I know you do a lot of work on the road.  Where did you just come from?
CL:  Japan.  I love Japan.  That was a great look.  I’m back and forth between New York and Atlanta.  I went to Jamaica to do this record with Junior Reid which was a great look because this was how artists usually do records.  They do it together.  It was a great look to hit the island of Jamaica and record a record that I feel put Hip-Hop and Reggae on another level. 

Q:  The song is hot, no doubt.
CL:  I’m into making new records right now.  I’m not shying away from the up and coming brothers who feel that they got something to contribute to the game and they want to put in with an artist that will bring their record where it needs to be and bring me where I need to be which is newness.  I love the stigma of being old school because it makes it vintage, but I also like to present the newness.  It’s always evolving.  Records are always evolving.  That’s why I think I’m coming close to an avenue where I think people will have an outlet for my music a lot more like it used to be when I was on a major label.  That all comes from the business of knowing where you’re coming from and where you want to be and how strategic you are and informative you are about making your moves to get this music out. 

Q:  Let me rewind to what you said just a minute ago; you got a spot in New York and Atlanta? 
CL:  Yeah.  You can’t be afraid to breathe new air.  I want a place in Jamaica.  I want a place in Florida.  I want a place in Japan.  The A is like the new Black Hollywood.  Now I’m used to everybody being friendly and saying ‘hello’.  In New York you gotta act like you got an attitude which I really don’t have an attitude.  I’m really, really happy.  I got to shake it up and see what’s going on.  I’ve never done a show in Africa.  I gotta do that.  I’ve never been to Africa.  Never. 

Q:  Switching gears back to your music, is there anybody from the past that you’re working with on new material?
CL:  No.  I’m not really looking that way.  I’m enjoying what I’m hearing from everybody and right now I’m just ready to contribute myself.  I think a lot of stuff when you look at it and you see a lot of artists collaborate, it’s cool, but it’s really watered down.  You’re not going to really see this artist a large percentage of the time with this other artist because of other commitments.  If you look at it as an artist that wants to make a hit on his own, you gotta learn how to make songs on your own.  You have to make songs on your own because people don’t want to be cheated.  They want to see you put on a show and do your record the way it needs to sound.  The features they paid for and the DJs are spinning…people don’t want to hear an artist do the other artist’s lyrics at a show.  That’s where it gets watered down.  Artists have to learn to make their own records.   I don’t want to make a record with nobody and I’m not selling that much records.  You know?  I gotta make a record with this guy to sell a bunch of records, but then when I make a record on my own I don’t make no impact.  I don’t want to make a record like that.  If I gotta make record like that, then I’m going against what built me because I make whole albums on my own.  I don’t mind having features, but mainly I make intimate albums.  I could only see me having one feature and it has to make sense.  Like a Rakim.  I’m not looking him to make records; I’m looking to him to contribute to the art form of it. 

Q:  I hear you, but I’m diggin’ that mixtape track you did with Lupe.
CL:  Oh yeah.  A lot of that stuff I’m in touch with, too because those are the different records that different DJs put together and remix and, like I said, put me together with artists that remind me of myself.  The lyrical content may be a little different, but the formula is definitely clear.  I like to leave the studio feeling like I did something.  If I don’t leave the studio feeling the euphoria that I did something then I’m not really doing anything.  I’m not at the peak level that I want to be at. 

Q:  So you go with what you feel rather than or regardless of what’s hot right now?
CL:  Yea.  What you feel you can live with.  I can live with giving it the truth now because that’s what it’s all about, success or failure because it’s the truth.  A lot of people don’t want the truth, they want me to entertain.  I like to entertain.  I like to fantasize, too but it’s more than that.  Ultimately I have to quench my own thirst.

Q:  How can an independent or unsigned artist get collaboration with you and how do you weed through the offers?
CL:  Send me something that you really know “this is the one.”  I feel that everybody feels that their joints are ‘the one’, but I’m talking about it’s something that’s good for me to be featured on and for me to feature them.  It has to be at a level that will keep the clientele of my music.  I don’t want to make a record with everybody.  I want to make valid records with dudes that really want to make it a movement and go on the road with it. 

The one point that CL mentioned so many times:  evolve.  How does a rap artist drop a classic?  What’s the blueprint for a timeless classic and an ever-growing career?  Do your homework and learn from one of the truly greatest of all time; CL Smooth.