The (Not So) Angry Young Man Interview: A Chat With OnCue
Watching an artist’s rise in the industry from the beginning is one of the most rewarding efforts. Not only have you been there since the start and got music worth enjoying for years to come, but it’s a feeling of seeing someone you believe in win. For a journalist like myself, I’ve seen them come and go with limitless potential. There’s one artist I’ve been a fan of for over five years that is just now coming into his position.
Connecticut native OnCue has been a mainstay on blogs since about 2009. His unique sound was enough to capture my attention. He’s part rapper, part singer, and an all around artist at heart. He crafts projects with the intentions of living through this microwave era we’re in. Somewhere along on the line, he also built with Just Blaze, who has become something of a mentor for his career, and the two worked extensively on Angry Young Man.
When you listen to OnCue’s music, you wouldn’t ever associate it with Just Blaze if you didn’t know the two already work together. Blaze’s career as a producer has seen him work with the biggest names in the industry, from Jay Z to Drake, but joining forces with OnCue is a whole new lane for him. The working relationship does so well, because Just understands Cue’s sound and isn’t trying to change him, but rather elevate what he does.
“He’ll tell me the most simplest shit, but it resonated,” OnCue says in our interview. “One time when we were working on ‘New Religion’ there’s a line that me and him were arguing about. He wanted me to change the wording, because I was kind of going after a rapper. Kind of, it was a little jab.”
The rapper in question was Common, who has ties to Just Blaze. The line was “I don’t fight over pussy, nah I ain’t Common.” Blaze didn’t want the record to blow up and have the shot, so he wanted it slightly changed to sound more generic. Out of this back and forth, OnCue remembered one particular quote from Just Blaze that still resonates: “we don’t make music for musicians, we make music for people.”
With Angry Young Man almost hitting its one year anniversary, OnCue says he’s hard at work on his next project, but chose not to divulge too many details. “It’s different from the old shit, but it makes sense. It’s just natural progression. I don’t like to stick with more or less one sound.”
He did mention that he’s working with one of his producer idols on the project. His clues were that he’s a producer for an indie band with a lead vocalist who is from Seattle.
OnCue also hints at some other career moves coming up that’s outside of the new project. “There’s a lot of shit going on behind the scenes,” he said. Whatever those moves are, it seems likely we’ll hear about them toward the release of his new project in the fall. One thing’s for sure, OnCue has been keeping busy, and the rewards are going to show up soon.
Watch both interview parts below.
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