Cloud. Talks Beat Battles, His New Album, and Making Music For Himself

STONE: Have you ever performed outside of New York?
CLOUD.: A couple times. I played L.A. last summer because I was staying at Mndsgn.’s crib and his girl put me on a show. I never toured or anything like that. I played at little art shows and art galleries upstate, but nothing out of town really or anything like that.

STONE: Ok, you released your last project in 2012. What have you been up to since then?
CLOUD.: I took a break for a while. I actually didn’t make beats for a year and a half. I mean I would be messing with it, but I got burned out from doing the same boom-bap. I got tired of it. I also got tired of using an MPC. I didn’t have any example really, or know what to do so I just kind of stopped. I’m getting back into it now because now I have more of a community. Things have changed a lot for me and I’m getting into different music. I don’t really listen to hip-hop anymore, I don’t really make boom-bap anymore, but I’m still super interested in rap music and making beats and putting shit out. There are a lot of people making amazing music, and I’m now learning how to break out of whatever was straightjacketing me, I’m just now breaking out of it. That’s why I’m back.

[Cloud. released his new project, Silhouettes shortly after this interview took place. You can listen to the album here].

I’m trying to evolve, I feel open now. The thing with the boom-bap stuff and hip-hop was that I had a very limited viewpoint for a long time, and there was a lot of types and styles of music that I wouldn’t fuck with on principle, which is very ignorant. And I think I paid for that – what happened was I got burned out and I had nowhere to go, so I just stopped. I think I’m over that, I’ve matured. I’m open, I love music and I just want to keep making music and be around people making music. That’s kind of where I’m at now.

STONE: Do you hope to reach a certain level in music or do you plan on keeping it underground?
CLOUD.: I’m just doing me. If it blows up, then it blows up. I’m just doing me. I’m just going to keep going, and now I have Paxico [Records] behind me and they’re going to give me a little more profile. I have no expectations, you know? I’m ready to do anything as long as the terms are right, the people are right and I trust people – that has to come first. I have to have a relationship with whomever I’m working with. But once that’s set, I’m down to do anything.

STONE: How did you get involved with Paxico? Did they find you, did you find them?
CLOUD.: It was kind of both. I actually ran into the homies Milo and Dennis… Well the beginning of it was like January, 2013. I played a small venue called “The Lab,” and those homies were there, but they didn’t know me yet. Then a month later, they saw me at a BADBADNOTGOOD show and they talked to me and said “Hey we have this little label and we like your shit.” And so I was like ok, cool and it was very gradual. Eventually they invited me out to play a little show and I’ve been kicking it with them ever since.

STONE: Was Silhouettes a project that you made specifically for Paxico or is it your comeback, like you’ve just accumulated all these beats?
CLOUD.: No, no definitely not. Actually what the catalyst was was Boiler Room. I have the homie Dirty Tapes, and he has a Boiler Room that he had been doing. I told him that I’m down, that I want to play, and he was like, of course, I’m down to have you. So when it came time for him to put me on, I got a date and I wanted to make all new music. I wasn’t going to play stuff from over two years ago, it didn’t make sense. So that was the catalyst, I worked really hard and everything I played was all new music. Following that, I had a new bunch of tracks speaking more to where I’m trying to go now. I felt like it was time to put it out, and also people wanted to hear new shit and it had been a while, like I wanted to put something out. That’s how it came together. It wasn’t necessarily made for Paxico. They were ready to put out my music. I have been talking to them for a long time – these are homies, it’s not like some label and they’re a manager, it’s not like that, they’re friends. They’ve been asking me for a project, and now that I was finally ready I had something to give back, so that’s what I did. I finished the tape and I was like, do you guys want to put this out, and they were like, yeah.

STONE: [What can listener’s expect to hear on Silhouettes?]
CLOUD.: I’m getting a lot more into dance music, like footwork and juke music, [and] hard club stuff, that’s what I’m interested in now. And still sampling, of course, everything is still sample based. That’s just how I’ve rolled. [Silhouettes] is me coming from everything I’ve been doing, and trying to incorporate all that new shit that I fuck with. A lot of stuff is a lot faster or a lot slower. There’s not really much soul sampling…I guess there’s some, but you know, listen to it. Also, I’m not using an MPC anymore, I’m using Ableton now, so the sound is different. I’m using a lot more modules like compression, saturators, limiters and EQ, whereas with the MPC stuff, that was all pretty much raw just recording straight out the box. The stuff on the tape, I spent a lot of time polishing. It’s still really dirty because that’s how I make stuff, but I spent a lot of time polishing and making it sound like a project. I’ve never actually done that before, I’ll be honest, because I had a bunch of tracks and worked on them individually to make them sound like one, solid vision. And I think it comes across as [such]. It’s definitely my favorite thing I’ve ever made, for sure. I don’t know if other people will feel that way, but it doesn’t matter.

STONE: Mm-hmm.
CLOUD.: Maybe in a few months, or even more time than that, maybe someone will hear it and really like it and then that will bring me to a different stage. But for now, I’m not expecting anything. I just want to put it out. I just want to say what I have to say. Whatever’s going to happen is going to happen. If I’m supposed to stay this level, fine. If someone hears it and thinks I should be doing something greater, then whatever. Ultimately the way I feel is that I still have a lot to learn. This tape, for me, is a transition. I still feel like I have a ways to go, that’s how I feel personally. [Silhouettes] is really like a checkpoint, like I’m going through this transition and this is a marker to show where I’m at for myself and for other people.

STONE: Right.
CLOUD.: There’s no features, but for the first time I used a bunch of acapellas. There’s an Aalyiah remix on there and I did a remix of the song “Bandz A Make Her Dance” [by Juicy J]. There’s a lot more vocal samples, like acapellas laying over my [beats] – that’s a new thing, I never did that before. Now that I’m using Ableton, I can do that skillfully. I always wanted to do that, but I never learned to did it with hardware, so I never did it, but now I can. So that’s another thing I’m also exploring: remixing, using acapellas. That shit is a lot of fun. But as far as features, I haven’t really worked with anybody. I’m down to do it, but we’ll see.

STONE: If you could work with any artist dead or alive, who would it be?
CLOUD.: My friends. Are you aware of this crew called Swim Team?

STONE: Nah, I haven’t heard of them.
CLOUD.: Yea, Swim Team – they’re the homies. They’re really who I’m looking to for inspiration. They’re making my favorite music. I do want to work with them, I would work with them, but I personally don’t feel ready. They’re all friends, I talk to them, I hang out with them all the time, and I’m looking to learn from them rather than work with them. If I get to a certain level I think I could work with them, but that remains to be seen. Other than that, there’s no big artist…I like my friends, I like what’s local, and that’s what I fuck with. I don’t really have anyone I don’t know that I want to reach out to.

STONE: Alright, I’ll have to check them out. [Even with Silhouettes], is there anything else we can expect to hear from you in 2015?
CLOUD.: Yeah, more music for sure. I want to do more mixes. I can DJ now. I put out “Acid Wave,” so I want to do “Acid Wave, Vol. 2,” like another little mix of music that I like. We’ll see, I don’t know when I’m going to do that, but definitely sometime. Expect more mixing, more DJ stuff, and then hopefully, I’m definitely going to do another release I would say within the next year. So by the end of 2015, there should be another release that I anticipate will be way better than Silhouettes.

STONE: Great! So before we close it out, do you have any shout outs or final thoughts?
CLOUD.: Nah man, I just really appreciate you reaching out and for the support. I see you. I remember all [this], you know. I appreciate people that remember me. It’s been fun, and in a small way I do feel like I’ve been overlooked a little bit, but I’m not hurt by it. There have been people who have been continuously listening and paying attention, so I’m really grateful for that. I’m also really grateful for Paxico and Swim Team for giving me inspiration and giving me a community of people that feel the same way about things and have the same goals. I never really had that before, that’s new to me, and for as long as I’ve been making music, that’s kind of fucked up. Now that I’m here, I feel that anything can happen and it’s a beautiful thing. I’m pretty happy. I just want to keep growing, and thank you all again, for the interview and the write-up – appreciate it.