Nez And Rio are the music industry’s newest production duo making an impact on hip-hop and they’re bringing Chicago with them.
Reigning from the windy city of Chicago, Nez and Rio have been working with rising rappers Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q.
The duo are behind Schoolboy Q’s Habits & Contradictions bangers “Druggies With Hoes Again” and “N*ggas Already Know,” and the music doesn’t stop there.
NEW MUSIC: Nez & Rio “Good Hood (Louder)”
They’re currently working with Kendrick Lamar, Chicago’s own Treated Crew, and of course, their own personal projects.
GlobalGrind caught up with Nez and Rio to discuss how two producers from Chicago hooked up with Cali rappers Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q, Chicago’s bubbling music scene, and of course their music.
Check out our exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: How did you guys link up with School Boy Q?
Nez: Kendrick and School Boy came to Chicago last year for Kendrick’s show. This was right before Section 80 dropped, and our homeboy Hustle linked up with J Script. After he gave us a chance to meet him in the studio, get a chance to cool out with him and play him beats, from there, we just built a relationship with their camp.
Rio: They liked the beats. It was just cool after that. It was kind of funny too, because that listening session was actually for Kendrick. It just so happens that School Boy was in the building too. At the time, he was touring with Kendrick. We actually were fans of his too. We reached out to Q in the studio, and we were like, let’s get your contact too, and work. It was just a good situation for us because normally it’s much harder to place after someone has already blown up, and Q was on the rise at the time. It was just perfect timing.
Did you guys come up with the “Druggies With Hoes Again” beat beforehand, or was that something you had in mind for School Boy Q?
Nez: That was actually a beat we played that night. They took a whole batch of beats to listen to, and it just so happened that they kind of picked beats as a team. To me it’s actually a little bit doper, because usually you see one person take one beat. Another person take another beat, but they were just taking hot beats altogether. You would see everybody’s reaction in the studio. Even Ali’s too!
So it’s a group consensus?
Nez: Yeah, that was just one of the beats they all kind of had a cool little vibe to. We actually talked to Q in the studio that night. He was like, I’ll definitely grab some out of that batch.
Who else are you guys working with, mainstream perhaps?
Nez: Kendrick Lamar. There’s an artist coming out of Chicago right now, that’s gaining a nice little buzz. His name is King Louie. Treated Crew of course, that’s a given. That’s home team. We actually just recently coming back from SXSW, reached out to a lot of new wave artists, and got some stuff in works with them. I don’t like to really drop names until it’s really done.
Who are some artists you want to work with?
Rio: Ross, 2 Chainz, Madonna…
Nez: There’s a laundry list of people that we want to get to.
Rio: We want to show people that we really can produce a wide range of music. It just doesn’t stop at hip-hop. It doesn’t stop at Pop, R&B, and Electronic music.
Nez: I want to give beats to Chris Brown, to Rihanna…pop tracks! I want to produce everybody. Everybody that I feel is dope and fresh, and bringing good music.
How would you guys describe your sound?
Rio: Every beat isn’t going to be a take on Chicago House, but I think recently our beats have been pretty aggressive. Every take is different. It’s kind of difficult to say what your sound is. That’s like a journalist’s position.
There are a lot of artists coming out of Chicago, like Chief Keef and King Louie, can you speak on the music scene bubbling in Chicago right now?
Nez: It’s dope because a lot of artists coming out knew each other or are connected. Chicago is like a big family. Everybody has always been working for a while. Louie is our age. Chief Keef is a little younger. Everybody’s like one person away and everybody is starting to gain attention because they kept with it.
Rio: I got to shout out Chief Keef and King Louie for keeping the trap going HAM, because when it comes to real rap, those are people I like listening to, and to piggy back off what Nez said, Chicago is really bubbling. We basically know everyone that’s kind of bubbling. It’s not random people in this scene. It’s all people that have been connected.
How do you guys feel about people saying rappers like Chief Keith and King Louie are perpetuating the violence that’s going on in Chicago?
Nez: Not at all! I think Chief Keef and Louie are like, here we go again. How many times are we going to go through this or somebody reporting what’s really going on, and people saying this is going to make the kids do this? No! It’s music at the end of the day. You can’t judge art. It might just be too real for people to hear that 16-year-old kids are gun toting out here. That’s what’s going on in Chicago. I think a lot of people always want to judge something before they really get a chance to understand it. If anything, I hope it might shed some light on what’s going on for people can see how f*cked up it is. It’s real!
If I sent you guys to a deserted island, and you could only bring three albums, what three albums would you guys take with you?
Nez: That’s tough! Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall.
Rio: I would take Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly.
Nez: You said we could only take three!
Rio: Can we listen to each other’s albums?
That’s fine!
Nez: Today I’d say Michael’s Off The Wall, maybe D’ Angelo’s Brown Sugar.
Rio: Missy’s Supa Dupa Fly?
Nez: Yeah that’s cold, but I can’t leave out Biggie though! That first Biggie album went HAM too, but damn I won’t have no Trap! I need some Trap too…I think I could be cool rocking with Biggie’s Born Again, Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, but it’s going to be between either that Missy or that D’ Angelo.
Rio: The D’ Angelo joint is like three parts of the spectrum. I would say Curtis’ Superfly, Missy’s Supa Dupa Fly…I’m just super fly today! That last one is a rough one. You (Nez) got Biggie. Can I borrow that…Beats, Rhymes, and Life, and if we could trade too then we’re good!
Nez: Yeah, we’re on deck. We’re good!
What about you guys as artists? Are you working your own material?
Nez: Always! We’re going to put out our second project. It’s untitled at the moment. We haven’t settled on a title, but that is coming.
Rio: Also we’re coming out with a documentary.
What’s the documentary going to be about? strong>
Nez: It’s just going to be a little more personal look into Nez & Rio, what we’re about, a little bit of our lifestyle, and a little snippet of us in the studio working.
How do you guys come up with beats? What’s the creative process?
Nez: It’s a 24-hour process with us. It’s God! God just uses us. I think we’re just blessed. It’s a really humbling process because sometimes you don’t really know. You might have a vibe or idea, but really it just moves through you.
Rio: Usually you get the best beats when you aren’t thinking … It’s like a process where you might be recording something, and the more you feel the vibe of what’s going on in the studio, the more you kind of like zone out, usually the better the beat is. Sometimes the quicker the beat too! We could do a beat within minutes, and that beat will be way better than a beat you sat there and pondered about for three hours.
How quick was the fastest beat you ever made – 10 minutes?
Rio: Even less than that! Probably like three minutes.
What’s the most annoying thing about trying to get your beats out to the industry folk who don’t know Nez and Rio?
Nez: It’s interesting you say that because we kind of saw a little bit of a change this year at SXSW. It was dope that everybody we actually reached out to, the reception was really good. We didn’t have much of a struggle to say the least. People weren’t blowing us off at all. We’ve actually been shown a lot of love. It’s been very humbling to get the love we’ve been getting just by reaching out to people.
