RNGLDR: There are probably a certain amount of listeners, like me, that heard Mangelica Mink and then worked their way backwards. Your collaborative EP with Sebastian Kamae, fiftypercentgratuity came shortly before Mangelica Mink. Listening back, how do you think you evolved from that project to the next?

BLVCK SVM: I’ve just been working hard to improve every aspect of my artistry. Not even just the music stuff, but the business side. My attention to detail is up, my sound is more polished, my flows are more diverse, my references are more refined, lyrically, I’m more poised, and I’m working on all this stuff either directly in some regards or indirectly in some regards. Consuming more, breathing more, eating more - all the things that matter to me and my artistry, I’m just intentionally focusing on those things. From FPG to Mangelica Mink, it felt like I took a big leap forward in terms of all those things. And I wanted to reflect that in a sort of upscale feel. Which is why I started with Tarragonbutter, and then into Hyogo, and so on.

RNGLDR: And what about how you see yourself evolving moving forward?

BLVCK SVM: Moving forward, I’m not trying to reinvent myself as an artist. I think I’m in a good spot, But there are always improvements to be made, there are always ways to develop a better ear for production, or a different ear for production, or setting up rhyme schemes in way that I have’t before, developing flow patterns that I haven’t used before - or that I’ve only used sparsely in the past. All this stuff just makes me a better artist, but it also gives the next project a different texture. Doing all of those things, and knowing that I’m doing all of those things well, gives me the confidence that I feel like makes my music sound better, because it’s inherently in whatever I’m writing or recording.

I don’t know if other people really notice that song-to-song or year-to-year, but I feel more confident in my artistry than I ever did before, and it feels like when I’m writing, that there’s a different feel to it. When I’m listening to it back, there’s a different energy to my music. With this upcoming project - it’s written - I think it reflects more how I’m even closer to where I’m trying to get. How this project sounds is gonna reflect all that.

RNGLDR: With that next project, and without asking too many specifics, what are you trying to convey with it?

BLVCK SVM: One idea is cohesion in a way like I’ve never done it before. Intentional cohesion. I’ve written all these songs in a window of time that’s not like six months or three months, but all within a month I would say. One producer - Pilot Kid who produced Hyogo. I’m really into the projects that The Alchemist makes, where there’s one rapper and one producer. Fetti by Freddie Gibbs, Curren$y, and Alchemist is in my top five albums of all time. You can tell that they had a neural link with each other when they were making that project, and that’s what I was trying to accomplish with this one - what we were trying to accomplish with this one. I know it’s recency bias - like the songs are very new to me - but I’ve listened to all of them, and I don’t even know which one is the craziest one. The whole line-up is a killer. I’m having trouble picking favorites, and I know I’m gonna have trouble sequencing because my tendency is to put what I feel like are there best songs up front, and the ones I don’t like as much at the back. Now, I’m anxious that I’m gonna put some songs in the back that won’t get as much love as they should, because they’re all killers.

RNGLDR: That’s a good problem to have.

BLVCK SVM: It’s a nice form of stress - like, ‘this song is too hard to be in the back.’ I’m more excited about all of this than anything I’ve done besides maybe Hyogo.

RNGLDR: I’ve got a homie that’s convinced that the third track on any project is always the hardest.

BLVCK SVM: That’s really interesting because there’s definitely a strategy behind track three. There’s intention behind that one. I’m gonna have to go through my favorite projects and see how that lines up.

RNGLDR: Well, we’re stoked to hear the project then - especially track number three. Do you have a rough idea of when it could come out?

BLVCK SVM: Hopefully the whole thing by September or October. Just trying to dot all my I’s, cross all my T’s, and make sure that the rollout is tight. The mixes, the cover art - all of the non-writing stuff, that’s what I’m focused on now. Sample clearances - making sure I’m doing everything by the book.

Ebo Taylor | Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom

RINGLEADER MAGAZINE