{"id":26620,"date":"2019-01-08T14:30:42","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T19:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=26620"},"modified":"2020-02-21T10:26:10","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T15:26:10","slug":"playing-cincy-devin-burgess-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/playing-cincy-devin-burgess-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"PLAYING CINCY: Robe-Clad Rapper-Producer Devin Burgess Will Not Retire After His Best Year Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_26633\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26633\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26633 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC07827-e1546982515214.jpg\" alt=\"Devin Burgess \" width=\"1000\" height=\"668\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC07827-e1546982515214.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC07827-e1546982515214-324x216.jpg 324w, https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC07827-e1546982515214-416x278.jpg 416w, https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC07827-e1546982515214-500x334.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC07827-e1546982515214-700x468.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26633\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Devin Burgess rocking his robe. Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lunarthoughtfilms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@lunarthoughtfilms<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He may wear slippers and a robe to his shows, but this Cincinnati artist is hardly staying comfortable. In fact, he&#8217;s busier than ever. Producer and rapper <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/D_BurgessMusic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Burgess<\/a> adopted the laid-back ensemble after doing over 70 shows in 2016 and, deserving a break, jokingly declared he\u2019d be retiring. Although he\u2019s kept up his comfy wardrobe, Devin didn\u2019t rest for long. 2018 brought the release of his album <em>Trash<\/em>, the launch of his new podcast, shooting the music video for \u201cBounce Back,\u201d and preparing for new music, videos and shows in 2019. Right now, Devin is in the planning stages of new videos for <em>Trash<\/em> songs \u201cGlimpse\u201d and \u201cProsper,\u201d will soon be jetting off on tour in California and is about to undertake an ambitious producing project. He found a spare moment to chat with Audiofemme for Playing Cincy; read on below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Trash\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/5Y3MfBX5jHK8fldlr5qvFB?si=PNW4NYyjTn2FuchK0aMfZA&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>AF: <em>What are you most excited to work on in 2019?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> I\u2019m literally sitting on like two bodies of work right now\u2014I just have to finish them. I produce as well, so I\u2019m gonna start producing for people [more]. I have this idea of\u2014you know how Wendy\u2019s has a Four For Four? That\u2019s what I\u2019m gonna do. I\u2019m gonna take four artists, and make four EPs, that have four songs on them. It\u2019s just a way for me to be hands-on with peoples\u2019 music. A way for my fanbase and the artists&#8217; fanbase to kind of mesh together.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AF: <em>How long have you been producing?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> That\u2019s how I got into making music. I started making beats in 2010. I wanted to be like a DJ. That\u2019s my first love, production, but all of that equipment can be relatively expensive and in 2010 I was like 16. I didn\u2019t really have a job, so I couldn\u2019t really afford a lot of it and one of my homies was like, \u2018You should rap,\u2019 so I rapped. I spit a verse for him, and he was like, \u2018That was dope.\u2019 I\u2019ve been rapping ever since.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AF: <em>So do you think 2019 will be heavier on the rapping or producing?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> We\u2019ll see! I\u2019ve been telling people that I\u2019m not into rapping right now. All of my creative energy has been going into production. I\u2019m an engineer as well, so I mix and master for other people. I don\u2019t really have the time or the mental capacity to rap right now. I just put out an album out with 15 tracks. After I put out <em>Trash<\/em> I felt, like, empty. So I\u2019m trying to find another way to get inspired, another angle to approach with rapping.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_26635\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26635\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26635 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_20181205_173535_650-e1546983193588.jpg\" alt=\"Devin Burgess\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_20181205_173535_650-e1546983193588.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_20181205_173535_650-e1546983193588-324x182.jpg 324w, https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_20181205_173535_650-e1546983193588-416x234.jpg 416w, https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_20181205_173535_650-e1546983193588-500x282.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/IMG_20181205_173535_650-e1546983193588-700x394.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26635\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Devin Burgess performing at The Comet in Cincinnati. Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oussmane_.x\/\">@oussmane_.x<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>AF: <em>Could you see yourself releasing another solo project in 2019?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> Only time will tell. With all of this producing for other people, I still want to keep my momentum going. 2018 [was] one of the biggest years I\u2019ve had and I\u2019m very aware of people\u2019s short attention spans. You drop something and it\u2019s cool for two months, but after that, they\u2019ll forget about it. So I\u2019ve got to still find a way to put my name in people\u2019s mouths, whether it\u2019s through production or engineering. I\u2019m finding other ways to be creative.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AF: <em>Tell me about <\/em>Trash<em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> After this year, I had this whole \u2018I\u2019m Retired\u2019 campaign going on, which is why I\u2019m in a robe right now\u2014I\u2019m in my pajamas, I\u2019m comfortable everywhere I go. With that was going to come a body of work called <em>I\u2019m Retired<\/em>. I wasn\u2019t going to really retire, it was just that in 2016 I did like 75+ shows and I dropped like five to seven bodies of work, so I was like, I&#8217;m burnt the f*ck out. So it was a joke, but then it turned into a body of work.<\/p>\n<p>Then the year progressed, I was doing so many things and I still didn\u2019t have this body of work done. I was making all of these other songs in between me doing <em>I&#8217;m Retired<\/em> that weren\u2019t necessarily tied to any body of work. I&#8217;d call [them] my throwaway songs, hence where the name\u00a0<em>Trash<\/em> came from. I didn\u2019t necessarily seek out to have a message because as I was making these tracks, they weren\u2019t supposed to be one body of work. When I was making them, they were either part of other projects I wanted to do and I scrapped them and essentially I took my best 15 songs and put them together as a cohesive project.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AF:<\/strong> <em><strong>All together, it sounds like a cohesive record. But you\u2019re saying, conceptually, it started out scattered.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> Yeah, for sure, it was all over the place. That was one of the things I was afraid of, it sounding like I threw it all together. I definitely tried my best to make sure it didn\u2019t sound that way. Transitioning and making sure the songs flow is very important to me. I am a body-of-work-type of artist. I\u2019m not really huge on singles, I drop bodies of work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AF: <em>So what were some of the connecting themes that brought these songs together?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> I talk about love a lot, the different parts of love. Being in love, trying to get over a love. I wrote \u201cDrive\u201d when I was in a relationship and I tried to write it from the perspective of my girlfriend. I tried to take myself out of myself\u2014I think that\u2019s what the theme is, self-refection. \u201cGlimpse\u201d is definitely a favorite of mine, and \u201cBounce Back\u201d for sure.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Devin Burgess - Bounce Back [Prod. KSG] (Dir. LunarThought)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tA8n7q71-Gw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>AF: <em>And you mentioned you have lots of shows coming up this year?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> Yes, the plan is to travel as much as possible. I\u2019ve done a show in every venue in Cincinnati. I\u2019ve been going out to Columbus a lot, but I\u2019m trying to go out to Chicago, New York, eventually. I\u2019m going to LA with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/playing-cincy-interview-patterns-of-chaos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Patterns of Chaos<\/a> in January. My idea is to go to a different city every other weekend. Travel is definitely in my future and a lot more shows.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AF:<\/strong> <em><strong>Who are some of your biggest inspirations?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> Jay-Z is my favorite rapper of all time. I\u2019m very influenced by Erykah Badu and Amy Winehouse is like my afterlife wife. Directors inspire me, like Quentin Tarantino.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AF: <em>What do you think makes the Cincy hip hop scene unique?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>DB:<\/strong> The Midwest is a melting pot of sounds and genres, so I don\u2019t run into people sounding the same. I really appreciate the diversity that exists. And the love in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He may wear slippers and a robe to his shows, but this Cincinnati artist is hardly staying comfortable. In fact, he&#8217;s busier than ever. Producer and rapper Devin Burgess adopted the laid-back ensemble after doing over 70 shows in 2016 and, deserving a break, jokingly declared he\u2019d be retiring. Although he\u2019s kept up his comfy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8237],"tags":[8270,8394,840,1437],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/DSC07827-e1546982515214.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26620"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31456,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26620\/revisions\/31456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}