Robbie Tripp – Basic Bro

By starrymag | June 11, 2023

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

A) I call what I do “energy music!” Everything I do I like to have a bounce to it! I love to make confidence music. I make that’s an expression of who I am and my energy and it’s always fun to see how it charges other people up as well.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

A) Well, I can tell you the two artists whose album drops I never missed when I was in high school was Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco! I always bought their CDs at the store. I also listened to a lot of Drake in college, all his early backpack-y mixtape stuff. Mac Miller was always a massive inspiration to me just growing up as a white kid who loved basketball and hip hop but who also had a lot of creative energy. Also, Pharrell Williams is in my top five rappers of all time, I don’t care what anyone says I think he is a creative savant and he’s been a favorite artist and producer of mine decade after decade since I was a kid listening to “Grindin.”

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “Basic Bro.”

A) “Basic Bro” is a full throttle demon time experience that is another installment in this art project that is my life. I am charged up on a dream and most certainly on demon time. This project for me was a full circle moment for me to be at this point in my creative journey and to have all my old junior college basketball teammates come rage with me on set for the video was amazing. I’m feeling so aligned and laser-focused that it felt like the right time to create a massive vibe like “Basic Bro” and smash into the rap game with a violent zeal.

 

Q) How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?

A) As a content creator, a lot of times I’m writing and recording a song while I also have the vision for the music video in my head. The creation of the official music video for each single I release is half the fun for me. I’m much more than just an artist. I’m a creative director. I’m a digital entrepreneur. I’m filled with Wonka energy.

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?

A) I’d have to say it’s different every time! Sometimes I get a song title stuck in my head that is just a mixture of words that I really like, sometimes I write a full song in my notes before I even have a beat to put it to and sometimes I get a beat with a clean slate and I just write to the energy I feel from the music. I’m five years into making music full-time and I can still say that the studio and the whole music making process is a creative sanctuary to me. I truly love getting in the studio and expressing myself and catching a vibe and just doing what I was born to do which is write like the wordsmith I was born to be.

 

Q) Will there be a full album or EP coming in the near future? 

A) I’m eighteen singles and fifteen music videos into my creative journey as a rapper and I don’t have any concrete plans for album yet, but I do know I want to do one. For sure! It’s just got to be at the right time and something I can really do exactly how I want. It’s coming. And it will be a creative smorgasbord.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

A) I would love to create a song and music video experience with Lil Dicky and Childish Gambino. I get the sense that the energy in that triumvirate of idea men would be something special. I think the three of us could make something magnificent. I’ll keep grinding ’til that happens.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them? 

A) This shouldn’t surprise anyone after listening to “Basic Bro.” [laughs] But I’ve been listening to a lot of drill rap lately. I don’t know- it feels like it keeps me on demon time. I’m in such an energy of building and scaling and growing Desert Money, my independent music empire, and so I like to listen to music that keeps me on the hustle. Kay Flock is scary and fun, Lil Mabu, of course, Eli Fross is dope and Ice Spice! I love what those New Yorkers are creating. It’s super high energy! It’s hustle music!

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) Just wait ’til you see what I’ve coming next…