Image Credit: Andrew-Sokolow
We caught up with the Electronic Music Duo containing of B-Roc and James Patterson at the Billboard Hot 100 Festival. We asked them about their first time at the event, how did working with Method Man come about, artist they would like to work with, and much more. The Knocks sophomore album New York Narcotic comes out Sept 28th via Neon Gold/Big Beat Records. Pre-order here: https://BigBeat.lnk.to/NYNPR
Get into the interview below.
- What are you guys most excited for for your Billboard Hot 100 performance?
We love the energy of the crowd. Everyone is ready to dance and have fun, which always makes for a better overall vibe and connection.
- What do you hope people will get from your performance today?
We make a lot of upbeat, feel good music. Our goal when performing is to get people to loosen up and forget about everything else that is going on in their lives. Just be in the moment and enjoy music.
- What did you guys learn from hip-hop legend Method Man while working with him?
He’s been at the top of his game for over 25 years and has not missed a beat. He is as creative as ever and that work ethic is not lost on us. The music industry can be difficult at times, but seeing someone like him continue to kill it and be open to different styles of music all these years later is inspiring.
- Why did you guys gravitate towards doing Electronic Dance Music?
We were never really fully in to the EDM scene to be honest, but we both love a lot of the elements that made it what it is today. Chicago house, disco, funk, soul. We have always want to create music that is forward-thinking while taking timeless approaches from the past. There’s still nothing better than dancing in a club at 3 AM to a great dance song, so we will always have an appreciation for that scene.
- Any Artist you guys would like to work with in the future?
We have another legendary hip-hop artist that we are working with now that is a dream come true. Excited for that one to see the light of day.
- How did working with method man on “Goodbyes” come about?
Both of us are huge hip-hop fans, have always been inspired by it and have included elements of the culture in our music. We started working with Wyclef and Cam’ron on our debut album and they both smashed it. We didn’t really want to follow the trends of today and throw on a Soundcloud rapper just because they happened to be popping this season. We respect hip-hop and its past so we have made it a point to seek out only those rappers we truly admire. B-Roc started off as a hip-hop producer and his old manager continues to be in the game. When we knew who we wanted for this song, we gave him a shout to make the introduction.
- “Goodbyes” also got a video, filmed on vhs. What was the inspiration behind it and why vhs?
We wanted this video to be a nod to some of our favorite videos we grew up watching. 90’s rap videos usually didn’t need more than a solid stoop and a bunch of people having a good time, so we got some friends together and shot this in Brooklyn on an old VHS camera. We love how much it captures the essence of NYC & how it’s a futuristic touch on classic hiphop imagery, because we feel like the song does the same sonically.
- Will you be performing “Goodbyes” today and if so how does it feel performing a song for the first time at this scale?
We were excited and a little nervous to its reaction, but it went off and the online feedback has been great. When trying something new, it’s always a bit nerve-racking, but you aren’t living unless you are taking chances and being yourself.
- How does New York Narcotic compare to your first studio album, 55?
It’s more authentic to us. We are very proud of our first album, but it was pretty feature heavy and didn’t necessarily touch on who we are and what we stand for. For this album, we took a year and half off of touring to work on it and figure out exactly what we wanted to say and what direction creatively we wanted to go in. This body of work tells a story about our lives and our relationship to NYC. JPatt is singing and rapping on almost every song this time around and B-Roc’s production and melodic approaches are much more in line with our musical tastes.
- What would be the perfect scene/scenario for listening to New York Narcotic for the first time?
Walking around the Lower East Side during the summer time smoking a blunt and letting the music and the city come together as one.
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