Lucas Roth is a Detroit made artist that caught our attention with his recent music video release titled “Three Strikes.” We recently had the opportunity to get to know him through an interview via e-mail. Read the conversation below as we discuss his upbringing, the making of “Three Strikes,” and his music inspirations.
RESPECT.: Who are your inspirations when it comes to the music industry?
Ludacris. The dude’s a lyrical genius and better yet, most of his tracks have that lively, positive vibe about them rather than solely preaching anger and violence. He took hip-hop and did the same thing I want to do with it – have FUN. He has tons of bangers and is still a good guy when it comes down to it, which is tough to find. Eminem is one as well. Again, another lyrical god. I’m from Detroit, so he was a legend to us. I’ve seen him live multiple times and can’t say I’ve seen many people as invested in their music as he is. You can tell everything he says is real by the energy he brings in every track. Lastly, Dr. Dre because he revolutionized the sound of hip-hop. Bringing the old school and new school together. Classic samples and a bumpin’ 90s drum kit – hell yeah. He was a mastermind of combining extremely catchy leads with groovy drum patterns. He shaped a mold for many other artists that evolved in the 90s, 2000s and today.
RESPECT.: When and why did you begin to make music?
When I was 12 years old (back in ’03), I went to see one of my all time favs Eminem perform live at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. Watching him hold the mic out and feeling the energy of the crowd shouting his words back to him made me want to make music. He’s so passionate when he delivers every word and I know he wrote his own material too. It’s wild to bring that many people together in the same moment, as one. I sang a bit in high school and dabbled with some back room beats in college, but was always uncertain of how to jump into the game. I still had some material when I met my producer out in L.A., and he saw something in me. Granted, I was pretty inebriated when I rapped for him the first time, but he heard something he liked. We talked about working together and in 2017, we started recording to see what was good. He had the knowledge of what it took to get into the music industry and still continues to make me a better musician every day. I’ve always loved music as a feel good source, and I always wanted to make others happy. Nothing motivates me more than seeing people smiling and having fun while I’m performing or they’re just listening to my tracks. When I can instill some positive energy in people with something I created from scratch, it’s an amazing feeling. It’s all about bringing people together to enjoy the moment.
RESPECT.: What was it like growing up in your hometown?
I bounced around a bit growing up. My parents worked a lot during my early childhood, so my aunt took care of me most days in Detroit. As I got a bit older, my family moved out of the city center into the metro Detroit area. There were two things I loved as a kid – music and sports (especially Detroit sports). I played several, including hockey, baseball, basketball, tennis and a few others early on. I was always with friends listening to music, hitting up concerts, being active outside, attending games, etc. Things were a lot different though. Technology was just starting to come into its prime. People were still buying CDs instead of streaming and phones definitely weren’t playing music. It’s been pretty wild watching the evolution of music with the changing technology. I also had the full four seasons. As much as I miss family and friends back at home in Michigan, I’d have to say I love the L.A. weather much more!
RESPECT.: When you first started doing music how did family and friend react?
My family and friends always have my back with support. Friends were all about it from the get go. My best friends kept pushing me to chase my dreams and keep getting better. Other friends that saw what I was working on and creating quickly jumped on board too. Once people see you’re passionate, it’s infectious. How could you not admire seeing someone happy doing what they love? The fam was happy I was doing that… they weren’t very fond of what I wrote at first though which is completely understandable. Parents are supposed to worry, and if you’ve heard all the tracks, I’m by no means a saint. But they raised me to be humble and ultimately just want me to be happy, so they’re excited to see where I take myself. Always gonna be the number one fans!
RESPECT.: Tell us about the making of You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid.
My producer and I had ideas drawn up to make some cohesive projects, but straight out the gate, I wanted to show the world some versatility in my style. Rather than having every track be similar, the album features trap, old school hip-hop, pop and electronic beats. Three tracks even include a female vocal on the hooks. It’s fun to give off the same vibes through different genres, and I’m really big into hitting multiple at once. There was discussion of starting with a mixtape or EP, but I’m the “go big or go home” type, so we settled on a 10-track project. All of our other ideas are still in the works, and this was just the beginning.
RESPECT.: Three Strikes music video, take us into the process. How did you get access to the rooftop and who came up with the concept?
I create the basis of a lot my ideas with my homie from Michigan. He lives in San Diego now, so we’re always up to no good when we link up in SoCal, hit up Vegas or head down to Mexico. The ending of the hook in “Three Strikes” stemmed from our lifestyle, and as I began writing, the beat was presented to me and it came to me pretty quick. That sinister feel fit perfectly and I rolled out the three possible strikes, finishing the writing process with tons of baseball puns. After the song was written and recorded, we decided it would be a fun video to capture. I’d never really seen any hip-hop/rap videos that were centered around a baseball theme completely throughout, so I wanted to give it a shot while adding in some sex appeal to fit the track. I used the teams from both of my home cities, Detroit and Los Angeles. Several L.A. references are made in the track, so I scouted some iconic spots to shoot at. I stumbled across this rooftop in the Arts District of DTLA and couldn’t resist how badass it was. Peerspace is a great online to to find locations for video and photo shoots! I keep the creative process in house on all of my projects. I like to be involved with the concept from start to finish, always including my producer and editor to fully hash out ideas and discuss what can be done visually. Finding those few people who help me fulfill my vision (and even expand on it sometimes) was a blessing.
RESPECT.: Lastly, what is hip-hop to you?
Hip-Hop is a culture, a movement. It brings people from all different races, ages and socioeconomic classes together for a shared interest in expressing themselves through music. Some people dance, others sing. Some know all the words, others only love the beats. Nonetheless, when you bring all these people together, their differences aren’t seen because it’s all about the music taking control to have fun. And again, that’s the main reason I started making music – we’re here to have fun, together.
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