From producing beats, rapping to singing R&B this artist has amazed me in his talent to make beautiful/ relatable music. HXRY is a Chicago based artist I’ve been lucky enough to watch his transformation from the beginning to the artist he his today. This is the most interesting interview I’ve done yet listening to HXRY down to earth answers straight from the heart. I’ve decided to make this interview two parts due to the length of the answers.
“Yo, it's your boy Harry, not Henry. That's HXRY you feel me and I'm here with my boy Jordan.”
Feeling good?!
So tell the tell the fans or any new listeners more about yourself, tell us about the style of music you make.
“I'm kind of in the middle of that right now, like figuring out what it really, But if I had to show somebody who didn't know me, I would say R&B or like electro, funk or something, you know?
Been producing for, what, ten years? Started singing like three years ago and motherfuckers heard me on track and said, Hey, That's your bread and butter. So I kind of went with that and just. I love that shit. Its purpose in it, you know.“
What got you into making music.
“Shit, It's high school man, this dude he claimed to be a rapper; He was a singer in my chemistry class; and he said he had a mixtape, and I lied and said I had one, too. He was like, Yeah, because you're no rapper if you ain't got no mixtapes. So I made a fucking little mixtape at home, downloaded some YouTube beats and shit off Audacity showed it to him. The next day I recorded off my web camera. He's listening to it nodded his head and shit. I was like, You fuck with that shit. This is my mixtape. He's like, Nah, this shit ass. I was like, Bro, give me my $100 bro, and everybody was like, How you do this? And I showed them and they had all the homies coming over to the crib and we was just like Man, we can't keep using YouTube beats. So I started making my own beats and they was making songs. They was long as fuck, I kind of condensed everything down and then that's how I started producing, Music always been around like my mom she’d song in a choir, My dad played drums and bass.”
So you come from a musical household?
“Yeah at first they weren't super excited about me telling them this is what I was doing. I was like, Y'all did that shit. They said, yeah, but we did it so you ain't have to. I was like, What the hell?! How the hell you create? So I ain't got to? It's just funny though man. But Yeah, Music Always been around; Mama played like Mary J. Blige, D'angelo, Disco. My Dad gave me all the weird shit. You know, rock, punk, old edgy hip hop; You know what I'm saying? So it's like a mixed household of music.”
So you blended both together and here now we got Hxry
“Yeah, Damn near, my dad big in the funk. It's like sometimes I make shit and I show it to him and this some shit I’d listen to.
When I first met you, you were living downtown on Clark Street, making these crazy beats, songs that no one ever heard sitting in a vault.
“Yo Clark St was crazy. Downtown two story loft. Just nothing but artists and shit, throwing events, you know. That shit was big in the Hypebeast culture, like skaters and shit like that coming through, you know pop up shops, music. It was just a hub since it was downtown and everything was right there. It just made you want to make… you felt like you just had to be doing some shit. Especially in a house full of all the people that you was in. Like, its was really just go hard or go home. Because I was I had just graduated college when I was living in there, so it was like that was me taking a step out. It was way out of my comfort zone. It was a fucking raggedy ass two floor, like wooden stairs falling apart as house, you know what I'm saying? It was a lot of opportunity, though, you know, meeting you. You mean a bunch of different artists and shit? Like fucking G Herbo. That was random as hell. G Hebro came upstairs and shit with some timberland boots in July, and I was like, Damn, boy, you got them big ass boots on. He's like, “That's how we do.” I was like, boy, you got five big toes in them big ass boots, he was like “Oh, you're a funny nigga.” know some funny shit, and I was just getting to know his ass at the time. Because he just had a kid. So I was just kind of picking his brain, you know? It's like people want to get connected with it more than anything. That shit make everything move around. Once you feel like you can relate to somebody's experience. Like sometimes you may feel alone doing some shit, you know? That's how I feel sometimes, and I'll be making music like feel alone with some shit. Then you put it out there, you put it on the tape and other people could hear it, and that's when they start relating to it. You know, “I got married to this song” or “you know, this helped me out of depression.” It's like, Damn, I wasn't the only one that was feeling that shit, you know what I'm saying? So it's like it's connecting with people always been the big thing. I think that house really started that shit for me.”
So tell us about Peace of Mind.
“Bruh Peace of Mind… Peace of Mind is my baby first born Shit. It was a summer random ass summer and I was going through a rough breakup. It was my first time living on my own, you know, outside of my parents and just really hustling and grinding every day. It was just a lot of changes, you know, I wasn't comfortable, and the only thing that made me feel comfortable is riding my bike, you know, writing that tape, listening to beats and just try to make a tape. At first, it's just I just was making music during that time period of my life and I listen to all the songs. I was like, Damn this all feels the same. It all feels together. So yeah, just and I always listen to the songs while I was riding my bike and it just gave me the title just came up like peace of mind, you know, because that's really what I felt when I was making it and listening to it. Yeah, that was crazy time.”
So with that the creation of this tape, it followed into your debut album, Reflections.
“Yeah, Reflections came from a different place. A show, I think with peace of mind, all of the music comes from me and my experiences and shit, so it's not different there. I guess. Yeah.”
You got me thinking about it like it ain't really different. I think as long as I'm true to the music and I put that shit in the music, I can always listen to it and be like, Damn, that's the shit I went through. I'm on the other side of that now. And that's that's really what reflections felt like. Like I had been going I was goin with a shorty for nine years, you know, We had just broken up and it was giving me time to reflect on myself. You know, a lot of people like to throw fault in the relationship. Oh, she did this, She did that. and it's like, damn, what did I do? Uh, that was really reflections for me, you know? Got a different type of peace. It was a solace in quarantine, you know what I'm saying? I was by myself a lot and just had a lot of time for reflection, so I just picked up a bunch of instruments bass, guitar & drums and just made that shit from scratch and I'm proud of that. Like that's my like, I made that motherfucker, you know, I ain't got no production features on that. I made everything. Peace of mind. I collab with Kaitlin Ellis, Ordinary Youngster, Aaliyah, Low Foul on Mr. Freeze. So it was like that was just really like peace of mind. Really felt like it rallied the people you know and as a reflection is really like it was more self-reliant. You know, when they get on they get the motivation and the and the get the the. Just like the change that I really needed for myself coming out of a long ass relationship and and self-identity, figuring out who I am. You know, I really feel like Reflections was a big ass time in my life as well. Held important and those the way the way those projects came together stick with me. I'm sure that's how I try to move forward in my next art, you know, and just make sure it's true to me and I'm not making, you know, casamigos music, club shit, random ass. Like, you know, anybody could do that shit. It's been they've been there, done that. They, you know, niggas they did a video in the strip club, throw some ones and shit and call it a day. It's like, no man, I don't move like that.”
What are some other like words and feedbacks you got from people who’ve listened to your album?
“A lot of people tell me I sound focused and I sound like I have no doubt in my heart. When I was making that, I knew exactly what I wanted to say. I was talking to my boy Mars out in LA and we was talking about that just like, What do you want to say before you even write the music? And I think once you figure that out. Is potent like and when it's potent, these people feel that shit. I think that's the most important if people feel your music.
People like, it's like it sounded like a real, real ass studio album. I was like, Bro, I did that in the crib shit, you know? People was really just telling me like, I could really tell what you, what you've been through, you know? And this helped me. Like I was going through a break up and, you know, these songs even like the way it's sequenced and all that shit, like people just a lot of praise on just how I put it together. I try not to let that get to me because it causes pressure for my next work. It's like, Damn, I got to make this one. Like, you know better than that one. I think it comes better when I'm not thinking about none of that shit and I'm just literally and surround myself and just how I'm feeling; And once I forget about the plays, the commodities, the fucking, the platforms I could be on, I just really start to focus on myself and my feelings. I think that's when the music the best. So I try not to, you know, listen to Too much on like where it gets people as long as they're relating to it and they feel it, you know, there's a gratification enough for me. But I think validation is a slippery slope. You know, you can be chasing that shit. So try not to Appreciate the praise, but I think I try not to just. Just drink the Kool-Aid of that shit so much, you know.”
Yeah, I hear you on that one.
So I've seen Lady, you've been working in classic studios a lot, which you've been cooking up?
Shit, man. I think, like, studios. It's like a whole different era of my life. You know? Mind was a era, reflects the era. You know, just working with classic, that's a whole different era. Like I've been doing this shit by myself for about ten years. So to really collaborate with somebody else and, you know, be around other musicians and shit and it really feel like I'm like putting my footprints down in the city because, My presence is usually online, you know, scattered stuff like that. People know about me on the Internet wise, but I never really felt like I had a Chicago traction. I think working with Classic just really kind of established that and just people kind of know me more in the city, just doing more shows, getting out there more, being outside, going to events and, you know, stuff I really wasn't doing before. And that just opens a whole new lane of opportunity for me to new people and collaborating. my band like things that that just happen, I think a lot of things come at face value when you're like in the city working with people. It's easier to connect and especially if everybody got good intentions and you're vibing, right? you know what I'm saying? You never know what comes from that shit. So like, Classic was one of the dudes, like first it was Jimmy my boy Jimmy. I was doing studio classes in quarantine. He used to come over and watch me produce and he had just started interning at Classic.
He's been there for a couple of years and he said he came back to me. He was like, Hey man, I've been here for a couple of years. I want to be able to help you out, you know, I got some leverage in the studio, you know, So he made a whole ass PowerPoint, and we had a meeting with classic, and classic you know, you can see the PowerPoint. Jimmy left the room. He was like, Hey, man, Jimmy should be your manager. I was like, why you say that? This nigga made a PowerPoint for you, bro. Yeah. I was like, Would you have made a PowerPoint? I was like, Nah. He's like, you know what I'm saying? So I think just kind of working with classic and seeing how he moved with Smino, that's like an inspiration, you know, in terms of how Smino can kind of move his own culture and everybody kind of just like feel that shit, you know what I'm saying? It's like to a to a certain extent, the artists start creating a culture and I think smino on the verge of that. So it's like good to be in close proximity to that, to see how that happen, you know? And I also know every artist got their own way of doing that. I think I'm just really trying to figure out what's mines.
But it's good being around, like, classic and everybody just hell of people I don't got to meet. Just being more active in the city. Brian from Pokey Studios, King Marie, A lot of talented people, Chance & Peter Cottontail. Just people that I’ve even seen on TV and shit. You know, that's from the city. Now I'm getting able to see him in person and just seeing how they got to the point to where they had, you know, it's it's just real eye opening for me because I'm still trying to figure this shit out.
Thank you for reading this part of the interview, stay tune for the second half of the interview and collection of photos from HXRY.