Photo credit: Russ Robinson
Layne Harper is bigger than a genre. His music has been authentic and it seems like that’s never going to change. The only thing that will change is how epic his work will become. I was lucky enough to sit down with the Memphis born and Brooklyn/Germany raised musician right after a rehearsal with his band at Smash Studios, in preparation for hitting the stage that night for the BET Music Matters concert at SOB’s. Right after his band hit the last note of his set, Mr. Harper calmly stepped over to answer some questions about having a family in the Hip-Hop industry, upcoming free music for his fans aka his extended family, and much more.
I saw on Twitter that you got a love of love from all 41K+ followers you have on Twitter for tonight’s show.
I love all of them! I love my wife more though… 2 points!
Do you feel pressure from having that many ears and eyes on you? Do you have any Twitter haters?
If I have haters, I haven’t met them before. I don’t feel pressure from anyone. As far as my fans, my fans love me for who I am. They respect the fact that I stay true to myself. I remain humble. I’m not going to go into the booth and rap about selling drugs. I don’t do that. I clock in at a 9-5 job, make an honest living to provide for my wife and my sons. Honestly, let’s just remove the words fans. I look at them as family. Some of them come back and say, “Hey, Layne. You could of did better on this track.” And I just look at it as it’s not negative criticism. It’s to make my craft better. I respect all my family/fans/followers out there.
So maybe you could throw a big “family” reunion at the end of the year?
Yeah, slab of ribs, collard greens, neck bones.
When you make music, is there a specific message you want your fans to hear or does whatever’s on your mind come out?
Sometimes it’s both ways. Sometimes I don’t care what my family, my friends, or anybody has to say about my music. I just write how I feel at that point. And then I sit there when I’m in the studio and I just think of concepts that I haven’t heard been created before. So I go at it with that. Sometimes I get criticism because some of my records are too, too deep. And then some people can’t accept it for that but it’s the truth. I did a record about a chick who committed suicide that I personally knew. I put the record out and her family was talking about suing me and I ended up pulling the record down. It’s funny because I premiered it at The Source. For me to have to reach out to The Source and have them pull that record down kinda felt like a slap in the face to myself that I had to do that. But it was bigger than music to me. I didn’t want to impact her family’s lives in a negative way. So sometimes I sit in the booth and I be like, “Man, what can I rap about? I know every single human being out there haven’t had a silver spoon in their mouth their whole life.” They sat down and was like, “How am I gonna pay my next bill? How am I gonna get money to get on the bus? How am I gonna put food in the fridge for my family?”
So then what does Layne Harper do when he doesn’t feel like the “Luckiest Guy In The World”?
I pray. That’s all I can do. If I can’t depend on my wife, I can’t depend on my mother, I can’t depend on my grandmother, I pray. God’s going to be the only one that gets me to where I need to be at-ain’t nobody else. So sometimes you have to stop being so stubborn and just let God take the wheel. The record, “Luckiest Guy In The World,” was a tribute to my wife where I feel like personally I’m the luckiest guy in the world. A lot of dudes want my wife and I love that. I love to see dudes drool and I be like, “Man, you drooling for no reason. Here’s a napkin.” So I am the luckiest guy in the world. I just don’t smile a lot.
A lot of rappers never make that final vow to a woman. What are some pros and cons about having a wife and family in the Hip-Hop game?
My pro is that I’m with one woman. I don’t have to bounce around to different chicks because let’s say for instance, I meet a chick today and have a one night stand with her, then go back to my home, it’s like, you’re not gonna be complete. I got a beautiful wife. Why am I gonna go try and skip around to another chick that don’t have nothing going on for her? My wife has been there for when I had a temp job to when I didn’t have a job-where I was trying to ask my mom to send money so I could make sure that her and my first son could eat. I didn’t even care about myself. That’s a pro that through all the hard times it made me a stronger individual. As far as cons, sometimes I sit and think that I put more into my family than I do into my music. But then I know there’s a time and place for everything. It’s not so much as a con. It’s an in between thing.
What’s your relationship with your wife like, as an artist to another listener?
My wife, other than myself, is my worst critic. But I like that though. I go to my wife for a woman’s perspective. She be like, “Yeah, I like this part but I don’t like that part.” Sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree. But like most chicks, most of the times, they right. But I just don’t tell her that. She never does anything to be hurtful. And at the end of the day, guys are gonna buy music that chicks are listening to because they want to impress them. So if a girl pulled up to the light and playing Layne Harper, and the dude don’t know who I am, he’s gonna be like, “Hold on, what’s she listening to? I’m gonna check out what this dude’s talking about.” It goes on from there.
Your last mixtape was called Beyond Category. If your music has no category, then how would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard your music before or is deaf?
If they’re deaf, I just write my lyrics out to them. And I want them to read those lyrics and whatever comes to mind, they write it back to me. So then it’s like we’re having a two way dialogue. I like my music to be visual for people. Some people hear my music and get something totally left field and totally miss out on what I was talking about until they go back and listen to it again. I love when people don’t understand my music. I be like, “Go at it with a different approach.” Some people listen to my music with their guards up. With Beyond Category, it was more or less that you couldn’t put my style in one category whatsoever. That’s how I started with this Hip-Soul movement. It’s a mixture of Hip-Hop and Soul.
What does being a part of a BET performance mean to you?
Honestly, it means a lot. People that know me for years, and I’m talking about back when I was 4’11″ my senior year in high school and I’m 6’2″ now, they see the transition. When I was younger I would always say, “One day, I either will be on BET or be in a magazine.” And I stuck to it. When BET reached out to me last year, when Kendrick Lamar was on the Music Matters Tour, my publicist at that time got the email too late. That band I have right now is amazing. All of them have their own style. We got Ben Natti. We got Nick Carbone. We got Kevin Mazile. I don’t know. Girls probably say it with a different twist but it sounds dope. We got Darrell Vanterpool. He’s singing, trying to get the girls moist. He’s doing a great job. We got Luke Witherspoon III that sound like Zep and Roger times 2 on the talkbox. It’s a great day to be in New York. The weather is beautiful. The women are beautiful…not more than my wife though. That’s two more brownie points for me.
Of course, no disrespect to the band here, but what would be your dream band to tour with?
Wow. I’m gonna have to freestyle this. I’m gonna paint a picture. (Pointing stage right and moving stage left) So on this mic stand right here, I got Adele. Right here, I got Lauryn Hill. I got Nas in the background getting set up. He getting the dookie rope chain on. Him and Jay-Z conversating. They’re about to come on stage. I got Mos Def back there. On this stand right here, I got Jill Scott. I got Alicia Keys on the piano. I got Nick on the drums. I got Kevin on the keyboard. I got Ben on the guitar. I’m still keeping them in. I got Luke on the talkbox. I got Darrell singing vocalist as well. And Norah Jones. I’m gonna throw that out there too. And a midget stripper on the stage.
What do you guys call yourselves then?
The Sexy Dominatrix Band.
I read in another interview that when you’re not making music, you either bothering your wife or dancing to music. What’s your jam that you can always get down to?
Get down to, literally. That’s why I got two sons. I’d say “Between The Sheets” by the Isley Brothers. But if I just wanna get into that zone or whatever, other than that, I like to listen to a lot of Jazz and Classical. I wanna be up there [with the Jazz greats]. I wanna set it different though-the first Hip-Hop artist to necessarily be categorized as a Jazz artist as well, or Blues. That’d be dope.
What do you have planned for the near future?
The album’s actually done. Got the album called Beale St. Blues. I wanted it to be like a movie score album. From the intro. there needs to be a story behind every record on there. It’s no holds bar. The intro, it’s called “Bethlehem.” Everyone knows it’s where Jesus was born. The outro is called “Jerusalem.” So I’m coming to the industry as Jesus. I ain’t gon’ say like what Ol Dirty Bastard was saying but more or less, I’m just new to the world, new to the industry, to a lot of people. And then you got on “Jerusalem,” I’m being crucified for being myself. It’s about me fighting my inner demons and living through day to day trials-not being afraid to talk about anything because it’s the truth.
Do you have an expected release date for your fans, I mean, family?
I promise ya’ll by the end of May. And it’s gonna be a free project. I don’t want nobody spending they money. I just want them to have it. I want them to have they medicine. If they’re feeling sick, here you go. Feel better.
Layne Harper (@LayneHarper)
www.whoislayneharper.com
Bryan Hahn (@notupstate)
3 Comments
Layne is the real deal!!
Layne got a good head on his shoulders, not trying to be like these other MC’s. Dat’s what’s up.