Interview: Drelli on his new album “CiRCA”

Independent artist Drelli is making waves in the rap genre, pushing his music to new heights. Describing his music as “swag bop” his sound is a mix of 90s rap influence and fresh instrumentals. His newest album CiRCA, released on August 5th, pays homage to 90s rap icons who have paved the way for artists in the industry. We had the chance to talk with Drelli about the album, how the 90s have influenced his sound, and his journey with music.

SOUND STAGE: Who is Drelli? 

DRELLI: Overall creative. I have all these different mediums where I like to express my art and how I feel. Sometimes it might be music, sometimes it might be creating videos. But I feel like definitely just being an overall creative, but at the core, I’m a musician.

SOUND STAGE: Can you tell us a little bit about your music journey? When did you start rapping? How did you start in the music scene?

DRELLI: It’s funny, I started making music as a joke with friends. My friend got a microphone for Christmas, and he was like, “Yo, you gotta come over and try this out.” We were in eighth grade at the time and we pretty much made our first song, passing around that microphone. I was so shy when I first did it too. It was crazy because I always listened to a lot of music growing up, but I never thought that I would make music myself. It kind of just happened. We continued making music and we would go to all of these house parties and play our songs. They were really bad to be honest [laughs]. And then sophomore year, my friend and I made a song and put it on SoundCloud. That was a major icebreaker for me at my school, people started fucking with me after that. I was maybe one of three black students in my school. Everyone always looked at me really crazy because I had dreads and stuff. They would say “ Yo, this guy looks like Chief Keef!” But after I made that song with my friend they were like “Oh wait this guy’s cool!” Joey Bada$$ really inspired me to make music at that time. This is right when his mixtape 1999 came out. I kust kept dropping more songs on SoundCloud. When I was a junior in high school, a pretty big artist liked one of my songs. I hit this guy up, we linked up, got really close, and ended up making music together. And then in 2016 Lil Yachty dropped “Minnesota.” A lot of my mentors at the time were putting on shows and I just kept telling them that they gotta bring Yachty to Minneapolis. One of my friends was running this magazine company called Green Room Magazine and they had a connection with Red Bull Sound Select, and they asked me to do the show with Lil Yachty. It was the biggest crowd I've ever performed in front of, so I started to really take music seriously after that. Then I moved to LA and it has been ongoing ever since, it's been a journey.

SOUND STAGE: Who are your biggest influences? 

DRELLI: Eddie Murphy, for sure. I'm a really goofy person, I try not to take myself too seriously. But right now, I honestly don't even really look to artists as much for inspiration. I talk to so many people throughout the day and I just get inspired by them. I will say though, I really like the marketing side of things so I am inspired by a lot of artists’ branding. 

SOUND STAGE: Do you do all your own marketing?

DRELLI: Nope it’s just me! I actually made the cover art for my album CiRCA. My friend shot the photo and I made the graphic on my phone. 

SOUND STAGE: That is insanely impressive. 

DRELLI: I just really like creating, honestly, it’s what keeps me going. 

SOUND STAGE: You describe your sound as “swag bop.” Can you tell us a little bit more about what that means? 

DRELLI: Yeah, everyone was always asking what kind of music I make, and I was tired of telling them hip-hop. Like I said, I don’t take myself too seriously, and I want that to be reflected in the music. The swag part is who I am as a person and the bop part is the music. I just want to make “feel good” music. I personally like listening to stuff that puts me in a positive mood.

SOUND STAGE: I love that you created this distinct genre for yourself. Did you know when you search “swag bop” you come up?

DRELLI: No way! I gotta get that copyrighted!

SOUND STAGE: Your new album CiRCA just came out. Can you tell us a little bit about the creative process on this one? 

DRELLI: Yeah, 100%. This whole last year I’ve really been working on creating a world for my music and brand. Like, if you see me on the street what type of music do you expect me to make? I started making a bunch of 90s content, and from there, I would make my songs fit into that world. That’s what inspired this project, and I've been working on it for the last year or so. I've been telling people that this album is my appreciation for hip hop. I’m paying homage to artists like MF DOOM or Flavor Flav when he was in Public Enemy. I feel like I've been resonating more with everything from the past and trying to figure out how I can make that sound new. 

SOUND STAGE: Yeah, CiRCA pulls from 90s rap energy while still feeling really current. How did you approach blending those nostalgic influences with your own modern style?

DRELLI: It's so funny because after I dropped it, everyone kept telling me it feels nostalgic but still new. But all my friends that I was showing it to as I was recording it, even though they liked it, they thought it sounded too 90s. And then when I put it out, I got a whole different response. When I was making it I was listening to a lot of Gang Starr, Quasimoto, all of the 90s stuff, and really studying the music. The songs from the 90s are curated really well with all these musical moments, and that’s what I was trying to get closer to. Shout out to my friend Pat, he helped me curate this album. We actually used real instruments for almost everything. [Pat] had the whole band at his studio with drums and everything, and we were just jamming out. It’s a real musical album, I think that’s what helped make it feel newer.

SOUND STAGE: Are there any songs on CiRCA that challenged you creatively?

DRELLI: All of the songs definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone because it was a completely different style from what I've normally done. I like stuff like that though, it’s the main reason why I made this album. It’s so easy to make the same sound over and over again, but how are you supposed to grow from that? Every time I make a song I try to challenge my pen as much as I can to write differently. 

SOUND STAGE: Do you write your lyrics first, or the beats?

DRELLI: Definitely the beats. I pretty much only work with producers in person because I like to try to co-produce with them. I’ll usually make a demo track to the melodies and try to catch a flow to figure out the pocket. Then I add real lyrics to it. 

SOUND STAGE: What can fans expect in the future? Are you going to do more shows or more albums? 

DRELLI: Yeah, that's the goal! I'm lowkey trying to drop two songs soon, and I have a show coming up at Pepperdine College on the 18th that I’m really stoked about. I’m also trying to drop merch for this album too, I’m finishing that up right now.

SOUND STAGE: It was really great talking with you Drelli! Looking forward to seeing what’s coming next!