As published on HYPETRAK, see full article here.
This interview feature was about three weeks worth of work, writing, emails and conversations. I am ecstatic for this opportunity, and am very pleased with the outcome of this piece. It is by far my favorite thing I have written all year, and I am so thankful this interview found a proper home on Hypetrak. Working on keeping this momentum UP!
Special thanks to Bob Marshall for the guidance and to Koncept and J57 for making music I can stand by with my whole heart. The Fuel drops on November 20th.
“Ten beats a day for ten years, go ‘head and do the math. Gave up on a social life, sharpening my swords…” rapper/producer J57 expresses in a track from his 2014 released Wax Aesthetic EP.
Fast forward one year later, to this moment right now, and J57 and his business partner, Koncept, have found their artistry at an undeniably exciting and favorable crossroads. When reflecting on their work from the past couple of years, as created together as Koncept & J57, both musicians are at a place of passion and conviction, while looking limitlessly ahead.
Save for their collective work as members of New York City’s The Brown Bag AllStars, the story of Koncept and J57, as a duo, is technically still being written. Both artists have proclaimed and showcased the way this specific release is changing, and has changed, their lives thus far and through their music, listeners can see it, believe it and most importantly, feel true motivation from The Fuel’s message and mission, in order to be able to adapt it to their own lives.
Koncept & J57’s latest project, The Fuel EP, is not only humbly and honestly worth the two years time it took to create but is also merely the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come next. The Fuel EP is definitive by nature in that it is as much an introduction to the collaborations between Koncept and J57 as it is a balanced example of their established sound and their self-declared lifetime guarantee to continue evolving as artists.
With a handful of features, including audible blessings from Akie Bermiss, Dice Raw and an exceptionally talented 11-year-old singer named Nevaeh, to name a few, the eigh-track FuelEP fits loosely into the underground hip hop category. The vocal range is as equally impressive and unique as the production itself, and together Koncept and J57 have found what they are looking for in each other musically, while also maintaining open minds creatively. The Fuel EP is as adaptive as it is definitive and listeners will find themselves refreshed, if the positive response from the first single, “Porcelain” (featuring Hollis) is any initial indication. Again, with one listen, Koncept and J57 will have you believing to your absolute core the best is yet to come – It’s that good.
In advance of The Fuel EP’s exceedingly anticipated release this November, Koncept and J57 happily let us pick their brains about their creative process, what inspires them and how they got started.