September 29th, 2014 
Brian Leak 
“I believe strongly in the message and music we create; naturally I want the masses to feel the same.”
Roughly two years ago, rapper Vision The Kid and producer Tru joined forces to craft the best songs they could collaboratively, and the end result is the excellent 14-track LP Somewhere In A Dark City which was released earlier this month.
We had a chance to discuss the album with the duo as well as their individual histories with music and the surprising influences that have helped guide them along their career paths as musicians. You can read our entire discussion below, and make sure to check out their new single-take video for the title track immediately following the interview.
Do you recall the moments when you first grew an interest in music? What has this all stemmed from originally?
VTK: Ever since I was little my house was always filled with music. My parents were big on The Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Carol King, Anita Baker and a lot of the heroes of the 70s. I think it was my early teen years, or late middle school, when music really started talking to me on that deeper level, as it does for most kids going through adolescence. It was probably the Best of Van Morrison tape that my friend and I listened to to death that made me say, “Hey, music, am I right?”
Tru: 1993. I popped in a Tag Team cassette and my mind felt like anything was possible. Growing up in rural MN, let’s just say culture wasn’t running rampant. It was this moment of discovery that inspired me to eventually get involved in music. Of course over the years many happenings and people contributed to my path, but it all started with one cassette.
And who would you say are some of your most important influences that have helped shape your sound and style up until this point?
VTK: I started out with a really strong focus on lyrics. Bob Dylan, Wu-Tang, Saul Williams, etc. I was heavy into stream of consciousness writing and slam poetry when I started and since then I’ve worked on refining my musical sense. I would say I’ve picked up something from everyone I’ve ever liked. For this project the most direct inspirations were Kendrick Lamar and Macklemore/Ryan Lewis simply because they were the ones doing it while I was writing. Kendrick for all things flow and lyrical and the duo for how expansive, varied and musical their album was.
Tru: Personally, Scott Storch has always been my heaviest inspiration. As a producer I’m always striving to create insatiable melodies and Storch was the first producer (in my opinion) to truly capture listeners’ ears with melody-driven tracks. Surprisingly, a lot of my inspirations come from artists that fall outside of the hip-hop genre. I really dig the vibe Glass Animals and Broken Bells have created. I try to remain a sponge at all times. I’m always looking to be inspired by others’ art.
So how did you two initially connect for this project?
VTK: We met almost 4 years ago now when I had released a mixtape and done a video for a song I sampled Rilo Kiley on. The video was animated and we did it with Six-Ton who then introduced me to Tru. When I met Tru it felt like I was finally meeting someone who took music as seriously as I did and our collaboration worked out really easily. Since then, we’ve been making more and more music and building this Be Easy brand.
What would you say differs in the way you two work together as opposed to how you work by yourself?
VTK: Together we kind of start with a beat and build on it, riffing on different things and sometimes finishing each other’s phrases – which is pretty cool and doesn’t happen with a lot of other people. I would say when I write alone I tend to bounce around more; sometimes I won’t finish a song for months or a year, because the ending just hasn’t hit me yet. Whereas in the studio we usually push through to try and finish a beat in a session or two. Both ways have their ups and downs and I’m glad I get to work in different frames of mind musically.
Tru: We’re truly a duo in and out of the studio. We literally locked ourselves in my studio for weekends on end. I would say it allowed us to experiment while staying focused on the path we chose for this record. We held each other to extremely high standards, which at times was challenging for both of us, but we succeeded in hitting the mark with Somewhere in a Dark City.
So tell me a little about the new album: How long did it take to create from when you first started writing to its completion? Any major obstacles or hiccups in the process?
Tru: From day one to the release date it was about 20 months in making. Meticulous revisions and touches always take longer then expected. I think any artist encounters countless obstacles during the process of creating a record. If you cannot be resilient your music will never see the light of day. It should be said that the record was finished, mixed and mastered in February, but of course you have to put the business plan into action, so we spent months developing the rollout.
VTK: This was easily the longest I’ve ever spent on an album. Like Tru said, over a year and a half. At least a year of that was writing. We probably wrote an extra 10 songs, and recorded maybe half of those, but wanted to slim it down to just the no-fat tracks. We felt we had a lot to say with this album and wanted the message to be as clear as possible. The biggest obstacle honestly was features, it takes a lot of work and effort to coordinate with other artists and have them come out and record. We didn’t get a couple that we wanted to, but I love every single one that made it to the album.
As far as your lyrical content, would you say that there are any themes you tend to focus on or do you just write what you feel when you feel it?
VTK: For this album I beat myself up to stay on theme. A lot of times when I listen to a rapper I can tell their flows could fit on almost any other song content-wise, and I come from a background of writing like that, so for this album I really wanted to focus on things that went a little deeper or more personal to me. I rewrote some verses 3 or 4 times before I felt like it was record worthy. The whole time I kept trying to find something that no one has said before–at least in hip-hop–and try to dive into some issues that were personal to me. Things like long distance relationships, struggles with substance abuse, growing up a white kid in a black community, skateboarding, petty theft [laughs], things that resonated to me on multiple levels were the things I left in.
There are genre elements throughout the album that are outside of the “norm” for hip-hop. Are those choices made by Tru in production or do you have control over the styles in which are included in the work?
VTK: Most of the beats Tru and I wrote together, but from the onset, we wanted to do something different for hip-hop. We really wanted to make a very musical album that varied in style from one song to the next. I know that people are often looking for a “sound” in an artist, but the “sound” I was going for was “the best songs we can write.” I’m a fan off all music, my only criteria is that it’s good, so I wanted my own music to reflect that. As far as lyrics, since the music was so diverse and sometimes very left field, I felt the words had to match that tone. I think “Room #9” is almost my own little horror movie, mixed in with some Kanye inspiration. The spoken word skits are really old pieces from my spoken word days that I touched up and edited to fit the theme of the album. And then a song like “Devil” I really had fun embodying a different entity to write that one; something I’d like to see more rappers do since we’re all usually so tied up in the story and image of ourselves.
You had an album release show recently. How did that play out?
Tru: It was the first time we rocked the stage together, so I’m gonna say it was pretty fucking cool. Fans really seemed to dig the new direction. The energy was high and I honestly couldn’t have asked for more.
VTK: The release show went really well. Tru was on the tables and we got a guitar player to beef up the tracks. Even rehearsal for the show was fun. It was nice to do something different for a change, instead of me just on stage by myself all night. I look forward to doing it more!
Do you have any further touring plans in support of the release?
VTK: We’re playing it by ear at this point, hoping to get in some hometown shows in Minnesota and Wisconsin at least before the end of the year.
Tru: Booking agents, you reading this?! We’ve spent a great deal of time preparing ourselves for anything the industry throws our way, so we’ll ride the wave and see where we end up.
Besides playing shows, now that the album is out, what have you been working on? Any plans already in the works for the next release?
VTK: Yeah, we want to get back in the studio sometime this fall. We’re thinking of a bit of a different direction for the next project, but not sure where that will land yet. In the meantime I hope to release some mixtape material – including an all-90s hip-hop mix where I just go in on bars over some of my favorite classic beats.
Tru: Myself, I’ve been working on an instrumental EP titled Breakbeat Nights. It’ll drop later this fall. I’m also working on 4 albums with other artists currently, but we’re ready to get back in the lab real soon. We’ve had some initial discussions of where we want to go next, but we’ll probably deviate 10 times before we settle on a concrete direction.
What are some of your biggest goals as artists? What do you hope to achieve with this endeavor?
VTK: Worldwide fame with mansions and Benzes. Giving ends to friends which will feel stupendous. In all seriousness, we hit a lot of the local goals we wanted to: press on The Current, City Pages, a release show at 7th St. Musically as well, I think we did everything we set out to do. My overall goal is to make a living from music, but at this point that’s up to the universe.
Tru: Truly, it’s all about sharing our art with others. The mutual shared experience when you connect with others on an artistic level is something I wish everyone had the chance to experience. It’s magical. I hope we have the chance to inspire others on a large scale one day. I believe strongly in the message and music we create; naturally I want the masses to feel the same.
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