By Carlos Cureno
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
The best thing about the growth of technology is that there is something out there for everyone. As much as people love hip hop, one thing they criticize is how segmented it is, the rest of music isn’t. But, music, itself, is segmented by genres and this is now changing.
Brother/sister duo, URBANO, is making sure of this. The music these two makes cannot be fit into a simple category. Instead, they just make records that the people latch onto, which has led to a growth in their overall fan base.
Recently, URBANO took some time out to speak to Hip Hop Vibe. In the latest edition of On The Rise, they discussed their career path. They also explained how they wound up being called URBANO, as a collective, and discussed their new project.
Read the entire interview below:
Where does the name ‘URBANO’ come from? URBANO: Well, we are a brother and sister duo, so, at first, we just went by our first names. Then we both thought, “okay what about our last name, like the Jackson 5?” So at first, we decided on the name, “Urbano Family.” Although, the more we lived in that name, the more we felt it wasn’t right for us. We have a very eclectic sound, keeping our listeners on their toes with a lot of different aesthetic styles. We also wanted to keep our listeners guessing with our name
(John): Yeah, we just felt that URBANO was right for us and really created the spot-on vibe we wanted to portray. When you see that you are thinking, “what is that? What is URBANO?” We want to intrigue people and it helps us highlight our connection as a family as well.
How does this name reflect the relationship between brother and sister? URBANO: It represents our ancestry and our lineage, as a family. It is our last name, so it represents everything, we are as brother and sister. We are proud of our special connection and wanted to reflect this with our band name.
Do you two feel Royal Family will lead to another shift in hip hop music? URBANO: We don’t necessarily feel that it will cause a shift due to the fact that when we were making it, we had no genre in mind. We just made what we felt, we didn’t have a specific sound we were targeting. We picked instrumentals after hours and hours of going through different producer’s selections. We would listen in our den at full volume and when we felt we connected with a beat, we would then start asking ourselves what emotions it evoked. Hopefully, Royal Family just represents who we are as artists and people enjoy our music!
Being natives of Philadelphia, what do you two think of the depiction of the city on FOX’s hit series, “Empire?” URBANO: We feel there are some truths in it but also some elaborations as well.
As artists who work with many different producers, do you think it is important for artists to stick with a specific set of producers, if they can? URBANO: We definitely feel that if you have a connection or vibe with specific producers, you should stick with them. If something isn’t broken, there’s no need to fix it! We definitely like to push ourselves and experience a plethora of different sounds and aesthetic styles. We love the producers we worked with and completely connected with them. We think it is extremely important to be able to vibe with those people as music is a creative form built on those vibes and feelings. It affects your work directly and can be the difference in a mediocre track and a hit single.
Have you two considered featuring a big name artist on one of your singles? URBANO: We definitely have considered that! We have worked with different artists before and we love to collaborate. It is such an amazing experience to meet other artists and be able to share a genuine experience. It creates such happiness and everything seems so serendipitous. We would love to do more if the opportunity presented itself! People we would love a feature from would include Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Cassidy, Jarren Benton, Logic, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Chris Webby, Flo Rida, Eminem, Sammy Adams, Schoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar, MGK – just to name a few of our favorites!
Where can fans connect with you on social media? URBANO: We have a Twitter account @urbanomusicgro1 and an Instagram @urbanomusicgroup! Also, we have a SoundCloud, urbanomusic, and a website urbanomusicgroup.com! We are excited to connect with music lovers all around the world!
Stream Royal Family by URBANO below:
Follow Carlos Cureno on Twitter @DjayyCharliee.
