June 14 Final_002houston 5/22/14 12:33 PM Page 36
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RECORDING Interview by Lance Scott Walker
Photography by Anthony Rathbun
CL’CHE SHE’S A RAPPER AND A SINGER, AND SHE’S BEEN BOTH HER ENTIRE CAREER. BORN AND RAISED IN THE SOUTHSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD OF SOUTH PARK, CL’CHE FIRST APPEARED ON THE SCENE IN 1993 AND HAS RELEASED 12 ALBUMS, THE NEXT OF WHICH WILL BE OUT THIS SUMMER AND IS CALLED BEAUTIFUL METAL. ON THE HEELS OF A MIXTAPE SHE RECENTLY RELEASED WITH DJ RED, SHE TOOK THE TIME TO REFLECT ON HER CAREER AND HOW MUSIC MAKING HAS CHANGED FOR HER WITH TECHNOLOGY AND AS A MOTHER. IS THERE A THEME BEHIND BEAUTIFUL METAL? It means a lot of things, but one of them is that a Beautiful Metal is like a diamond in the rough. Beautiful Metal kind of represents the hard metal but the inner beauty. I also take it to mean like the substance of metal – it can be transformed in so many different ways and bent so many ways but it still stands.
HAS IT CHANGED SOME OF THE THINGS THAT YOU WRITE ABOUT BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT YOU’RE REACHING PEOPLE YOU NEVER REACHED BEFORE? Oh, definitely. Like I tell people – if you want to get to know me, you can know me through my music. I see my life through my music, so of course my life changes. Our life changes, constantly. So, as my life matures, my music matures.
WHO ARE YOU WORKING WITH, FOR THE PRODUCTION? It came back around to the original people I was working with in the beginning, that I kinda lost in the middle of the game, and then found again. Because everybody has their own journeys and dreams. I’m working with Mr. Payback from the West Coast. He’s a multi-platinum producer, and he’s been on all of my albums. He did my “I Told You” single, from my last album. Patrick Rodriguez – who has Trackhouse – he’s been around the Houston scene and has produced everybody, mainstream and local. And from being on social networks, I’ve come in contact with a couple of new producers out there who have reached out to me. One of the guys is name Madhat. He’s from San Antonio. And a producer by the name of Treboey. I believe he’s in Houston [laughs], but I’ve never met a lot of them personally! Social networks put you in contact with the world! I love that. I can stay home with my kids and ain’t gotta bring ’em everywhere!
WHEN YOU’RE WORKING ON AN ALBUM, DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE WAY IT FITS IN WITH YOUR OTHER WORK, OR DO YOU SORT OF ZOOM OUT WHEN YOU’RE DONE? I’m gonna say afterwards, because when I start working on music, I’m sort of like an outside listener to myself. When I do a track, I wanna see where it’s taking me. Now, what’s gonna come out of my head – the words, the melodies – when I listen back, it shows me where I’m at. I can stand back and hear that. Then it starts showing me the direction of my album and where I’m gonna be going with it. You know, because it’s hip-hop, and it’s where I’m at in my life, and where I wanna go.
36. june 14 | www.002mag.com
myspace.com/clche