Earlier this year I had the pleasure of sitting down with Rico of Daze Alive and learning more about his upcoming projects and direction he has for his music career. Since his last album release in January, he’s continued to influence the R&B scene with a number of singles and collaborative tracks with other artists. After talking with him, I later thought it would make for an exciting addition to invite him for an exclusive guest interview with HiphopKR.
Thanks again for doing the interview with us.
What’s up. This is R&B artist Rico from Daze Alive. Shout out to HiphopKR!
As usual, we asked fans to send in questions the week prior to the interview through our social media accounts. Unfortunately we couldn’t fit all the questions in, but we did get some great ones. Our first one comes from Nikki Valiente, who says,
“Hello Rico! I’m from California! Big fan! Among all the R&B artists, who is your biggest inspiration […and] who is your favorite artist of all time at this moment. [They] can be either American singers and/or Korean singers! Thank you!”
The artist that I gained the most inspiration from would probably be Trey Songz. I also really like D’Angelo!
It’s interesting to hear that you pull from a variety of styles within R&B. Yamilet Quinones asks a similar question that kind of runs along those same lines.
“Rico! Puerto Rican fan right here! What inspired you to become an artist?”
I think since I’ve always loved singing, It was more of me naturally just thinking it would be cool to try making music myself than something pushing me to make it. But after seeing that I might have some talent in music, I thought about making it into a career and that’s kind of how it got started.
Your career definitely gained more traction with your latest album release, The Slow Tape. Bryana Williams sent in a couple questions related to the album.
“Hi, fan from Florida, USA! What artist inspired you the most when writing The Slow Tape? Who inspired you to go the R&B route for your music? What are some songs you are currently listening to? Also, I love you!”
There were a lot of artists that helped inspire me while I was writing The Slow Tape: Trey Songz, Tank, Keith Sweat, Charlie WIlson, D’ Angelo, and BJ The Chicago Kid, just to name a few. I really started to want to do R&B after learning more about the genre from the other members of my old crew that I used to run with. Before then, I used to think of singing more as just a thing I did for fun, but I owe a lot to the people that let me listen to a lot of great songs. I thought R&B was dope, decided I wanted to try out being an artist, and I’ve been doing music ever since. Recently I’ve been listening to Tank and O’Ryan’s albums a lot.
I think that’s what helps to make music sound original. It’s that genuine experience when you really fall in love with the sound you’re creating. Our next question comes from Marija Ilic, who asks,
“Rico, much love and support from Serbia. Okay, so my question is: What are you most grateful for? Oh, and what do you think, Oppa — which is worse, failing or never trying?”
The thing I’m most grateful for would probably be the fact that my family and the people around me are always there to support me and wish me the best with the R&B music that I put out. There’s no saying whether I’ll fail or succeed, but if I didn’t even make any attempt to succeed I feel like I would regret it more down the road.
It’s always fascinating to see what kind of music an artist creates and who an artist ends up working with on that road to success. Kassey Montoya delves a little into that topic with her next question.
“Hi, Rico! Big fan from California. If you could collaborate with absolutely anyone, who would it be? A lot of singers and groups have a name for their fans, so what would you call your fans? Do you have plans on releasing a full album anytime soon? Thank you.”
Man, that’s a hard question. I at least know I’d love to work with Trey Songz more than anything! I also would probably enjoy working with BJ The Chicago Kid. I don’t think my fans have come up with a name yet. It’s a little difficult to give an exact time frame, but I’m currently focusing on making more full-length albums!
Our last fan question comes from Victoria Cruz, who says,
“Hi, Rico. I’m a Brazilian fan. […] I’ll make two questions, haha. What’s your height? Which things [help inspire you] to write your songs? I love you!”
Well my height is 170 cm. And I usually just get my inspiration from the R&B songs that I like listening to.
You recently released your new single Think I’m in Love. How did you come up with the idea for the song?
Well as far as where the idea came from, I really just wanted to make a song with this kind of vibe to it initially. I had a lot of ideas and thoughts about the song while it was first being written. After finishing my last album The Slow Tape, I had a couple plans for what I wanted my upcoming albums’ concepts to be, but I was struggling with which concept album I should put it in. But at the end of the day, I decided it didn’t really go well with the concepts I had laid out in my mind. And since I also hadn’t released much music since The Slow Tape had come out, I made up my mind that I would release it as a single and put it out.
It seems like a lot of thought goes into your projects before they’re released. Being currently signed to Daze Alive, how does your label affect the kind of music you put out?
There was only so much I could do as a solo artist working by myself. But I think after linking up with Daze Alive, the amount of work that I could get done has definitely increased. Both the musical aspect and non-musical aspects of my work have become more refined as a result.
(From left to right)
Don Malik, SLEEQ, Rico, Jerry K
Jerry K has definitely gathered a lot of talent together under the label. Would you care to tell us a little about how you became affiliated with Jerry K?
Around the time when I released my mixtape, Jerry K watched one of my live performance videos and showed an interest in me. After that, I featured on some of his songs and we gradually grew closer while working on the project. Later he personally invited me to join Daze Alive and, once I accepted, I ended up joining the label.
Rico New Day
Not too long ago I was talking with contemporary R&B artist New Day about a possible collaborative track from the two of you. What upcoming projects can we look forward to seeing from you?
Right, I worked on a single with New Day and it should be coming out soon. So stay tuned and look out for that!
We definitely will keep our eyes open. I just want to say thanks again, Rico, for spending some time with us. I wish you the best with your music bro. We also appreciate all the positive responses we’ve been getting through the questions coming in and feedback on the interviews. Make sure to check out Rico’s latest release Think I’m in Love and stay tuned to check out his collaboration with New Day which is set to drop in the very near future.
Social Media Accounts
Rico’s Instagram: @rnbboyrico
Interviewer Chris Lyon is a hiphop producer and writer currently working in South Korea. Originally finding an interest in Korean culture in high school, he began investing his time in learning the language as well as furthering his love for music production. He later decided to complete a portion of his education in South Korea and started building relationships with some of the hiphop artists in the area. He now enjoys doing what he can to help promote Korean hiphop culture through a variety of avenues while working on production at Starfield Entertainment.
Chris Lyon
Instagram: @chrislyonsf
Twitter: @CLyonSF