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Matthew: That song was good…
Eric Roberson: Oh, thank-you. I mean it was fun; we wanted to show some other sides. I wanted to release some other stuff, ‘The Moon’ I recorded when I was nineteen, which was thirteen years ago. I just was really tryin’ to show people more.
Matthew: What was it like working with Marsha from Floetry?
Eric Roberson: Oh she’s an amazing vocalist, an amazing songwriter and a beautiful person; you know. Very easy, I call her like my musical twin, ya’nameen? So I’d love to work with her more, it’s actually very easy because she challenges me as well as I feel I challenge her. But we also love music, so we have a lot of fun. It’s very easy; I look forward to building with her, if she so willingly has me.
Matthew: Maybe you could make an album together?
Eric Roberson: Yeah, I mean, I think it will be great, I think it will be something that was…of course she is quite busy and I’m quite busy; so the main thing is if we have the time and dedication to stop and do it. She’s doing a solo record…
Matthew: With Dre?
Eric Roberson: Yeah, with Dre. So I would think it would be something special if we did it and it would be something different as well.
Matthew: You two seem to have like a good rapor with each other on the song…
Eric Roberson: Right right…
Matthew: Do you have any opinions on the music industry?
Eric Roberson: Your tape will pop with all the stuff I have to say (laughs)…
Matthew: (Laughs)
Eric Roberson: You know really, I think it’s something that is in bad shape right now. The majors, with how nothing is really balanced anymore and everything are based on fitting in certain demographics, a younger demographic. Were neglecting a lot of other music forms.
Matthew: The real ones…
Eric Roberson: Yeah…and it’s so funny what is happening, is there starving the other people out, so there having to find the meaning of making the music or having there music. So were at a big crossroads, right now because independently you have more opportunities to do more than you’ve ever done before. Some people are realizing that the major’s are not always the right way to go for everybody. I would never talk somebody out of doing a deal with the majors but I would tell someone that, that’s not the only way to go. Obviously I’m not going that way, I’m very content and happy with my life and were my music is at, and how it’s rewarding me, I’m a fan of balance that everything musically, should exist but it should all co-exist. Just because one record sells five million, and the other one sells five thousand copies, doesn’t mean that the other one shouldn’t get any attention.
Matthew: Or that it isn’t good…
Eric Roberson: Yeah; or that it can’t sell copies, ya’nameen? So that’s the interesting part.
Matthew: You wrote a song called ‘Da Love of Da Game’, what inspired you to write such an inspiring song?
Eric Roberson: The song initially was a Jazzy Jeff record, a rap song. Were just a remix of that version Jeff had the idea of having a singing version because it’s another part of what we can talk about. At the end of the day I’m still an MC, I may not rhyme but I can sing and rhyme…
Matthew: You rhyme sing...
Eric Roberson: I rhyme sing. I live my words, you know, words are my life. We love what do and where addicted to the game of it. It’s interesting because we wrote our verses separately, I wasn’t in the studio when Raheem and V did there’s, I was the last one to get on. I walked in and I was like very intimidated, I was like…
Matthew: You felt like your track was taken over (laughs)…
Eric Roberson: (laughs), so it was like wow! But you know, there cool. I have known Raheem for a long time and V for even longer. The three headed due, is what I call it, because all two of those guys are extremely talented as well.
Matthew: Tell me more about your ‘Blue Erro Soul’ thing…
Eric Roberson: Yeah, that’s the label that we are set up to release my own records. We are on album, and a live DVD/CD is called ‘Erro Live: Volume DC’. We shot five shows in Washington DC, and put them all together. We have two hours of live footage of the show and like behind the scenes footage. It’s the fourth record on ‘Blue Erro Soul’, and really I’m the ginnipig, were in hopes that in the future we can put out other records, you know, by other artists but right now we have to figure out how to do this independent thing. My father who’s now retired heads of all the shipping…
Matthew: Distribution…
Eric Roberson: Distribution, through people who buy online or at the stores. Else who you spoke with, is my publicist, and I also have Andre Walk who helps me with Assistance, so it’s slowly building, you know, I’m really really proud of what we’ve accomplished.
Matthew: Your musical influences/fusions are bits of hip-hop, R&B and Soul. What were your main influences in music growing up?
Eric Roberson: You know, the funny thing is, is hip-hop, R&B & Soul almost defined my influence because there is a Gospel group named the Commissions, and I think I heard them when I was like thirteen years old and they were a major influence on me but I’ve been in love with the power of words and what they can do to people. So really, it would be the Commissions, Steve Wonder and A Tribe Called Quest. I was born into Hip-Hop, you know.
Matthew: What’s your most admirable person/people?
Eric Roberson: Ah man, I would say my parents…
Matthew: Don’t say George Bush…
Eric Roberson: (laughs), oh no, I wouldn’t say George Bush. He’s probably my least, my parents, the fact that my father was a music-lover and has put so much love and energy into giving. Then my Mum is the exact same way, she is a person who, with strong conviction, left corporate America to pursue a career in fashion, like thirteen/fifteen years ago, to this day she’s done that ever since and doing quite well. So, it’s not a surprise that I would venture off and do music. Ya’nameen? They like go for it! (Laughs) ya’nameen? They loved, embraced, and encouraged me to sing when I was broke performing in front of three people, they still loved it. And they do that right now, instead, I’m performing in front of hundreds of people.
Matthew: Which songs have made the biggest impact on you?
Eric Roberson: ‘Love Isn’t Love’ by the Commissions. I’ve sung that song more than I’ve sung any other song in the entire world.
Matthew: Could you sing some of it now?
Eric Roberson: (Sings it)…that was a Gospel song back in the day. I probably sung that song in the shower for about ten years, ya’nameen, it was like my Dailey ritual. Lather up, and sing ‘Love Isn’t Love’ but then um, I’d like to sing ‘Little Boy’ by Omar. That song as a man touched me on re-evaluating where I was, what I was doing and how I was thinking about certain things. A lot of times I write a song but I can’t take full credit for it because it comes from a higher power.
Matthew: Which skills did you adopt first?
Eric Roberson: I’m a Libra, so I believe in balance but I’ll say singing and song writing first and foremost. When I was in College I was doing a lotta beats but I also noticed that you become like a, what is it? A jack of all trades, but a master of none and I didn’t want to become that, you know? At one point I stopped producing and focused on song writing. That was when my song writing flourished, you know, I was always performing, I’d be in theatre or at church. Performing is like second nature, it’s just like apart of my life. I’m just doing my part and the audience is doing there’s. It’s really like um, living and breathing. To me, if you prepare what you are performing, you just gotta share it.
Matthew: Have you ever had a bad show?
Eric Roberson: I mean, you always have bad shows, there was a point when people didn’t know any of the songs. I’m so grateful to what we have achieved and accomplished.
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