RESPECT. INTERVIEW: OnCue Right on Time (Part 1)

OnCue is a rapper, singer, and song-writer out of Connecticut who has captured the hearts of fans with his honesty, vulnerability, his ability to be himself in an industry full of people trying to somebody else, and most of all, his music. Cuey, the name he and his fans call him, has been making great music that has proved to last the test of time. I remember listening to his music when I was graduating high school a few years back and I really related to his ability to portray struggle, triumph and the ambition for more perfectly over tracks that compliment his melodic tone and powerful flow. I had the chance to talk with Cuey about his past, present and future music, as well as the journey that lead him to where he is at now. The conversation was a long one (about an hour), but very insightful. So, we decided to split this interview up into three parts. Here is part one. Enjoy.

I started off the interview by ironically asking him questions about his current situation with long-time producer CJ Luzi. The next day Cuey was set to drop his new single “Time,” which addresses discrepencies between the two that occurred during the process of making his last album Angry Young Man. I won’t say too much more about that part of our convo because he addresses it in a very poetic fashion on “Time,” which you can listen to here.

Then I asked him about the journey of chasing his dream and moving out to the big city.

RESPECT.: You moved to New York City at 21. What was your mindset when you finally took the leap to chase your dream? Was the experience of the city what you expected it to be, and how was the adjustment?
Cuey: My mind frame going into it… It was just one of those fork in the road moments. I had just gotten out of a really bad break up. I was with the girl for a long time. It was my first serious girlfriend, and at that point I was about to be 21 and it was getting pseudo-real. I wasn’t 16 anymore. We were about to move in together and I kind of realized that once that went south, “Why the f*ck am I in Connecticut?” At the time, locally, no one was giving me a shot. I’m from a small market. This was 2010 but I was up on the blog and the whole Internet sh*t way early. But small markets like Conneticut were behind. It was one of those fork in the road moments. I was like, “What am I going to do?” I decided that I’ve got to get the f*ck out of here. It was a leap that I knew I needed to make because this has never been a what if. There’s really never been a plan b. A parental figure or someone like that would probably be like, “Well, that is the dumbest sh*t I’ve ever heard” * laughs * but when you really one thousand percent believe in yourself and your abilities… It wasn’t actually up until Angry Young Man (AYM) that I really started to believe in myself.

Before Angry Young Man, I was believing in my potential. That was something that I held on to, even when times got rough making AYM. Some people might think that Can’t Wait was better. Some people might think that AYM is better. But for me personally, I feel like AYM is the first body of work that I was like, “Wow I am amazing at what I do.” Can’t Wait showed the potential and was almost there, and I don’t want to sh*t on that, but it was almost there. So when I got here (to NYC) I believed in myself. I really do. As corny as that sounds, I am nowhere near where I deserve to be. Not even where I should be, but where I deserve to be. Certain things just didn’t fall my way, the cards just didn’t fall my way. It’s funny though, I feel more convinced than ever. After all the time off, a lot of people wrote me off for dead, industry wise.

But to go back to your question, I have this very annoying sense of belief in myself, and it’s not in an egotistical sense. I just believe that it is such a fundamental thing that I care more about my craft than 99% of people actually do care about their craft.

Right after this answer, his friends bust in the room and told Cuey that they were going to a local pizza joint. He asked for ten more minutes to finish up the interview before they head for za.

RESPECT.: It’s cool because I think that what you said rings really true to a lot of people. In any field I think that a lot of people look at their potential and what they can become, but when you start realizing what you are, that probably gives you a huge push.
Cuey: Huge, huge. With AYM I overthought everything. So much so that I was self-destructive. At a certain point I was becoming my own worst enemy. I kept thinking to myself, “It’s not good enough.” But I was talking with my boy Brenton about it the other day, and I think that when an artist really starts to hit their stride is when they realize when to think and when not to. Because some of your illest sh*t comes when you’re just like “I’m going to do the first thing that comes to me.” The thinking comes in after, when you just need to be able to think just enough that you’re not being lazy about it. Because at a certain point, I don’t know if I believe in the 10 000 hours thing, but you’re already really good at your craft. How much better can you be? You’re just stressing yourself out over it.

RESPECT.: That’s the point where you can just create. How did you keep faith when you weren’t at that level of comfort though? When things weren’t going your way, what kept you motivated? Did you always know that things were going to work out and where you were going to be?
Cuey: I don’t know. I really don’t. If I really think about it, at the most crucial times (in my life) I’ve seen signs. I don’t know if I believe in God, but I’ve seen signs at very crazy, pivotal fork in the road moments. I saw signs that were just enough to be like, “Dude, keep going.” I don’t know if that’s luck, I don’t know if that’s trying to find signs, you know what I mean?

RESPECT.: Yeah and I don’t think it matters. I think that you can see the signs if you look for them. I feel the same way but whether or not it’s God, or just seeing the signs that you’re looking for, I think that seeing the signs and living that way is way better than considering everything as coincidence.

Then Cuey asked if we could reconvene after he ate some pizza with his boys. Of course I was very supportive because I would never want to come between a man and his pizza.

RESPECT.: So how was the Pizza?
Cuey: It was fire. It was like this brick oven pizza. It was good!

RESPECT.: Word. So, what is your day-to-day life like?
Cuey: It’s meetings, studio. Most of the time it’s pretty mundane. There are industry parties now and then and sh*t like that but for the most part when you’re not on tour or in album mode music is like a normal job. You’re clocking in, you’re clocking out. Life is not too too crazy. I’ve grown accustomed to it.

RESPECT.: What’s the craziest thing that’s happened at an industry party that you’ve been to?
Cuey: I don’t know. But I can say that I almost got beat up by Busta Rhymes’ crew at a party.

RESPECT.: * laughs * Did you try rapping him the “Look At Me Now” verse and he wasn’t happy about it?
Cuey: * laughs * I literally went up and I said, “Yo Bust what’s up?” And he saw me, turned away, and then three of his homies were like, “Yo you better chill.” And then I tell my manager the next day and he said, “Yeah dude, it’s like an industry known thing. Busta Rhymes is hard to approach.” I was like, “I wish I knew this.”

I literally thought they were gonna try to do sh*t. Cause I was trying to leave, and there were people in front of me and people behind me, and I was kind of stuck beside the door. I just wanted to say whats’ up. I didn’t ask for a picture or nothing like that. I just wanted to say, “Yo!” * laughs * I just threw out my hand for the hand shake…

RESPECT.: That’s hilarious. And it’s funnier because you don’t look like the type of guy who is going to do anything either.
Cuey: Nah! I’m like relatively tall but I’m skinny and scrauny. And Busta Rhymes is like huge!

RESPECT.: He is massive! * laughs *
Cuey: Yeah!

RESPECT.: So funny. So do you have a group of close friends out there? Are you still friends with the people that you grew up with or do you just stick with the people that you’re around everyday now?
Cuey: I’m 26 now, so especially in the suburbs outside of Hartford, where I’m from, you tend to loose touch and fall out from people around you. Just because you grow into yourselves and you kind of realize that maybe you don’t have the same values. But for the most part, I’m very close with the people that I grew up with. Actually, one of my oldest friends in the world, technically by time-wise; me and him have been friends since we were like five, he just came to the city this past weekend to visit. We went to a comedy club and went out and sh*t. So yeah, for the most part I’m still very close with a lot of the people I grew up with.

RESPECT.: That’s dope! Well I had a couple of questions that some of your long-time fans would want to know about (myself included). Who is the kid on the cover of AYM and was he actually smoking during the picture shoot?
Cuey: Okay so the kid is actually Just Blaze’s assistant/ day to day manager, Juan’s high school friend’s son. And I was running around the studio at the time, and I was like “I got this idea for the album cover!” I actually got the idea from, you know that little Cambodian kid who smoked cigarettes.

RESPECT.: Yeah, the kid who just chain-smokes them?
Cuey: Yeah! I got the idea from that. And I was like, “yo what if that was the album cover?” And long story short, the mother came through with two boys around the same age. The younger one posed for the photo, and she was actually down to have him smoke, and I was actually down too. And then my manager at the time, and my creative director at the time, Adam Ross, were like, “nah. No, no no. I don’t want to live with that on our conscience that we may or may not have made this kid addicted to cigarettes.” And I was like, “yeah okay you’re right.”

And I do design myself a majority of the time, but the more photo manipulation stuff Adam used to do. He still does a lot of the time, me and him are still buddies. And Adam was like “nah dude, we can get it done in post.” And I was kind of nervous for post, but Adam made it look very good. He wasn’t really smoking.

RESPECT.: It looks very good! Cigarettes seem to be a big theme for you, even in your videos and stuff. Did they play a big part in your life, or what was the symbolism behind smoking? Do they represent a release or freedom for you?
Cuey: Yeah I mean I started smoking at like 14, 15. I don’t really smoke real cigarettes much anymore because I’ve been on the vape thing for the last year and some change. And that was actually purely because of music. My vocals, and trying to sing live, and performances, it was super difficult. And I was one of those people with a sensitive throat. You know, if I went out drinking and I was chain-smoking the next day, my voice was like deep as sh*t. Like deep as f*ck. But going back to your question, and that’s actually a really good question, the thing is.. It’s like cigarettes are kind of symbolic in a way. Cigarettes to me, and why they were like this underlying theme through AYM is because it’s pain. It’s stress. It clearly symbolizes addiction, which is a concept that I’ve talked about for years. And it was just one of those things. You know, my mom smoked when I was growing up. I think she quit when I was like 19, or 20. And my dad still smokes. And I’ve smoked since I was like 15. And just with the content and what the album was about, the story-line to me it kind of represented pain. It also represented the home I grew up in. It just kind of became a thing. And I was like, you know what, this is what it means. I came up with the title when I was listening to a Billy Joel song, and now everyone thinks that I’m a big Billy Joel fan. And it’s not necessarily that I’m a fan you know, but I heard the song and the lyrics were just resonating with me and how I felt at the time. And how I felt this mission statement should be for this album. And when I saw that Cambodian kid, it all just kind of connected. I actually had the artwork when we had three songs done. In the title track to the album I mention cigarettes on purpose inspired by the album cover that we created.

RESPECT.: So you were kind of building around the album cover sort of?
Cuey: Kind of. Almost. At certain points. I knew it was going to be, and it was, just a big piece to the album. It was just a centerpiece. It added a certain feel; it added a certain touch to the album.

RESPECT.: Yeah. It’s pretty iconic I think. And another thing, which I thought was pretty original and creative on the project, was for your single “So Much Love”, you touch on a pretty intense topic but in a way that is very uplifting. The feel of the song kind of reminded me of this 2000’s pop song “Happy Ending” by Mika. Because if you look at the lyrics separately from the music, it is a really sad song. So did you do that on purpose? How did the process and order of making the music come about? Did you get the beat and then you decided to make this type of song to it?
Cuey: It was kind of actually discombobulated. So, at the time me and Brenton Duvall were working together a lot, and he gave me a beat and I ended up keeping it. I think he originally made it for Skizzy Mars, and Skizzy kind of wasn’t really feeling it. I don’t know, but I started writing to it. And as I started writing I thought of that song concept. And the reason why I thought of the song concept is because when I started recording the first half of the album (AYM) I was listening to a lot of old rock. So I was listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac, and obviously Billy Joel, and also Elton John. And I just had a two-disk greatest hits of Elton John on my Spotify and “Rocket Man” is a classic, classic, classic song. And I was like, you know, I want to write a song like that. In today’s market you don’t really hear a lot of songs that have a lot of meaning in it. You know, you’ve got Adele’s “Hello”, which is a serious topic for her, but it’s about heartbreak. Which is a common theme in pop music you know? And anyway, I was just listening to “Rocket Man”, and there were other songs too, but Rocket Man was the main one where I was like, “I want to write a song like that.” And you know, I kind of somehow just made the correlation between, “what’s the difference between a f*cked up household, and a party house? You know what I mean?” Like there is really no difference. And Just (Blaze) later played me the Hud Mo (Hudson Mohawke, who produced the record “So Much Love”) beat, and at the time I kind of thought, “okay this is super catchy. I love the chord progression. The lyrics, in terms of what I do, I don’t really make bubble gum rap, it was a little cheesy if I were to get on it.” But I was obsessed with the beat. I was like, “this beat is just so fire.” And then I was like, “wait, I could just take that song concept and put it on here.” To be honest, I probably wrote like 6 or 7 different choruses for that song over the course of 8-10 months because I knew that it could be a really, really good record. I was looking at it wrong in the beginning. I kept trying to sing. Like “Way Too Far” sing, on the chorus. And then when I kind of just put it away, and then I came back to it, I loved it. You know, going back to that whole overthinking, and not thinking enough type of thing. I had the beat, and I had the song concept, and I was like, “oh this works.

RESPECT: It worked well. And I think the contrast is what makes it beautiful.
Cuey: Thank you.

Check back this Wednesday for PT. 2 of our interview and make sure to check out Cuey on Soundcloud and Twitter.