Ovrkast. Breaks Down Each Track From ‘STRIKING’

When I was listening to this song, I wondered if you grew up in a dysfunctional environment or had a dysfunctional family. Is that true?

For sure, yeah. It kind of plays on the theme of thunder and lightning… like static shock, but also emotional instability and dysfunction, and how that plays a role in who you become as an adult… how I guess it’s your job to, like, reflect on it.

Were your parents always supportive of you wanting to pursue rap?

Not in the beginning. Not until like 2021 or some s—t like that. I started pursuing it around 2015.

Did you always want to be both a rapper and a producer?

I just wanted to make music, whatever or whichever it was. With the internet, you can kind of just upload whatever. I think maybe if I was coming up in the ’90s or 2000s, I would’ve had to pick. You had to go through so much back then to put a record out.

Did your parents want you to go to school or get a job that was more steady?

Yeah, get a job for sure — but I always found a way to make some money somehow. I was doing DoorDash, random PA jobs. I would do random gigs here and there. I always was able to find something. Once the music got a little more serious around 2020-21, that’s when they kind of let go a little bit.

You tapped Joey Bada$$ and Nali on this. Talk about those features.

I feel like this song was perfect for Joey, this is his bag. Fans want to hear him on this kind of stuff, and he snapped obviously, so I think it worked really well. I’ve wanted to work with him for a while, because I grew up on his music, so it was cool for it to actually come together. When it comes to Nali, I went to her studio with Ash Levi. I worked with Ash before. He helps make some of my stuff, and I know that he he makes Nali’s s—t too. He suggested that I should lock in with her, which I wanted to do already, so we made it happen. Ash has an album out also that’s pretty cool. He’s a producer. I just pulled up to this studio where she works all the time, and played this and she got on it.

Did she lay her vocals down afterwards, in post-production?

So, I recorded my verse, I had the intro piece, and then in the studio, I stemmed out the instruments and I wrote the part that she sings. I wrote that whole thing.

How about the Joey verse? Did you guys record it in the studio together or did you send him that beat?

Nah, we were supposed to have a session, but I had to go somewhere. And even thought I had to go somewhere, he still sent it to me.

How did this beat come together?

Mario Luciano made the sample. He works a lot with Navy Blue.

Oh word, he has a sample library with Jason Wool. I talked to Navy about them.

He f—ks with me super tough. We always work on random s—t here and there. He did “6AM,” he did “Vitamins and Minerals” with Samara Cyn, and this is another one he did that I f—ked with a lot. It was just a good sample that I put drums on, and had Keyon Harrold play the trumpet.

I’m assuming those sample libraries are easier to deal with than you finding a sample and having to clear it. Do you sometimes find a sample, and then get them to interpolate it sometimes?

Nah, all of his stuff is fresh and original. It’s dope because there’s no extra steps.