Artist Spotlight: TRUTHLiVE

TRUTHLiVE is more than a rapper; he is a business man, producer, and a role model. In the age of the “independent rapper”, this Cali-bred MC embodies what it means to be a true “grassroots” artist. He’s started his own label, toured overseas, and became an internet staple through his business and musical endeavors. As owner of Interdependent Media LLC, he signed acts like Finale, K’naan, and Tanya Morgan. As an emcee he’s released material that has helped him a growing fan base. Meet TRUTHLiVE.

Quentin: Can you give us some background on yourself, where you are from, age, and how you got into music?

TRUTHLiVE: I’m 27 and from Santa Rosa, California which is in the Bay. I have lived throughout the state and I currently live in Hollywood. Most of my life I’ve lived in the Bay area. Music has always been a big part of my life because my family was into music. No one was in a band or anything but I was around an eclectic taste of music. I had a lot of exposure to the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Hendrix. At the same time the 80’s new wave was going on, so I’m into that as well. And of course hip hop was on the move. I can remember seeing Run DMC on MTV and looking up to them and then I started listening to Pete Rock and CL Smooth tapes, ya know? Then when I heard The Chronic, it was like a wrap for me. The production was so crazy that even though my parents didn’t really condone the lyrics, my brother and I just bumped that all day. It was also a turning point for me when I saw Juice. That’s when I wanted to become a DJ.

Quentin: That’s funny because when I interviewed DJ Drama, he also said that the movie Juice inspired him to DJ.

TRUTHLiVE: Word? That’s crazy. Yeah that movie was it for me.

Quentin: Who were some of your influences growing up?

TRUTHLiVE: Tupac is a hometown hero in Santa Rosa. He was a dancer with Digital Underground, etc. I wanted my family to get me two turntables and a mixer. It was a wrap from there. The hard part was that there wasn’t a big hip hop community out here. There was no outlet to go DJ somewhere. The community started to build.

Quentin: You are a jack of all trades, in order, name your skillset from best to worst.

TRUTHLiVE: I’d start first at writing, before even emceeing. It would be poetry and writing. I also have a really good entrepreneurial spirit. Creating is really something that I am good at. Then I would say Dee-Jaying. Then the production, it’s something that I do. I want to master one. I’m a perfectionist and I personally don’t enjoy my own music sometimes because I would see so many mistakes. I detach myself from it from for a month after I make it, so I can review it clearly.

Quentin: Tell us about your label Interdepedent Media.

TRUTHLiVE: After I graduated high school, we sold CD’s out of our backpacks. We would sell about 10,000 CD’s per year. I was struggling with doing college and music. So then we wanted to start a record label that was artist friendly: Conscience revolution records. It started to grow and evolved into something else that was a real business. A lot of people just try to mutually build brands and spend recklessly. We just really wanted to build our own artists. None of our artists sound the same. It’s all in the same vein of a discerning listener though. I knew a bunch of people who said that my artists should all sound the same. But they sound the same in the way that they are good.It my mind, Jay-Z is the model for what I’m trying to do. Rhymesayers or Stones Throw is what we are trying to do.

Quentin: How did you go about signing K’naan?

TRUTHLiVE: We are a media company. We consider ourselves the Whole Foods or the Trader Joe’s of the music industry. K’naan’s manager is a producer for this environmentally conscious TV show. I have a personal background in the organic food industry. He was being courted by every major record label and he just didn’t feel right. He met us and it mutually made sense when he met us and felt what vibe we were on. He got pretty big after touring with the Marleys and we finally released him to Interscope.

Quentin: What do you see for the future of the label?

TRUTHLiVE: I see it becoming more of a collective beyond a label. What were going to do is establish artists who are trying to achieve a type of shine. We are developing artists but we are also looking to enhance the website in the vein of Okayplayer and kind of just cosign a lot of the people who aren’t under us contractually but are still a part of our common community. I see big, big things for I.M. I see us doing films, art shows, clothes. I want to create a brand and a lifestyle just like a Trader Joe’s or a Starbucks. I think we reach a lot of post college educated cats but I also want to start reaching a lot of college aged kids.

Quentin: Now in additional to being a label boss, you also have your own music to put out. What direction are you going in musically?

TRUTHLiVE: Right now my music is very serious music. It’s pretty critical music. It’s a rejection of the status quo. For me as a person, it’s not what I’m trying to be. I do a lot of rapper bashing. Most critics frown upon it but I needed it for my own state of mind. I would like to become less critical and more inclusive. I want to be more welcoming with my music literally. But I just write what I feel and I can’t predict what that is going to be. I’m also working on a hip hop and electro hybrid ya know?

Quentin: What do you plan on talking about for the album?

TRUTHLiVE: I just want to give people something fresh. I want to show them my life. I want to do the stuff we just talked about but I also don’t want to just talk about 2 Am on Friday.

Quentin: Last question, what does your name mean?

TRUTHLiVE: Truthlive on its own, those words, is a pretty mighty statement. I was going throughout some pretty serious health stuff. I was reading up on different philosophies because at one point it wasn’t looking good for me being alive here today. I was going in for my 3rd heart surgery. My surgeon told me that my heart could only take about a week left before I went to cardiac arrest. I had surgery early in the morning; I’m a night person by the way. I went in and I was showering and cleaning up. Then I heard this voice in my head and it said “Live Truth, TruthLive”. It just fit; it reminds me of how to be and who to be. It’s really not just music, it’s my life. Not saying I’m “The Truth” but that’s the story.