By Prince Hakeem
Hip-HopVibe.com Staff Writer
R&B has been in an awkward state, for some time, but there was never a campaign like Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead run to highlight it. That doesn’t mean that R&B doesn’t have a savior on the way. Three years ago, viral duo, Ar’mon & Trey, burst onto the scene.
Ar’mon & Trey are natives of Detroit and rose to fame via the #SoGoneChallenge. Ahead of the curve, the duo reworked one of their songs to the beat of Monica’s classic 2003 single. Their rendition ended up doing millions of views, and then it was on.
Recently, Hip-HopVibe.com had the opportunity to speak to Ar’mon & Trey. The two explained their rise to fame, which led to their deal with Warner Bros. Records, that they described as a dream come true. In the interview, they also spoke on the “Just in Case” single, featuring Yung Bleu.
Read the entire interview below:
The #SoGoneChallenge, from 2016, was huge, but did you expect it to be as big as it was for you two, delivering you millions of views? Yeah, we did. Everything we did, we thought about. It was a song that we wrote, it’s an original song we did to a different beat. So, when we saw the challenge going viral, we jumped on that beat, doing something different. It ended up going viral and it worked to our favor, but we were definitely thinking. We expected it to do what it did.
Was there any pressure to continue that momentum, as you translated that into making more original music? No, not at all. We always knew our work and what we were capable of doing, with our music. We always had the confidence to introduce the people to our original content. But, we already knew the people would accept it, because the hard work shows in music and that’s what we did.
How did life change for you guys, when Warner Bros. Records reached out to sign you? It was a dream come true. We were signed before, to an indie label, but things didn’t work out. But, when we got signed by a major label, it was a childhood dream come true. We knew it wasn’t a time to rest, it was a time to go harder. This was a good point in our life, a beautiful time for us.
Being natives of Detroit, does the current state of several parts of the city ever inspire you to do more for your hometown? Yeah man. Where we were raised at, we were raised in the east side of the city. There is a lot we think about in the city, from not having heat in our house, to seeing the houses vacant and burnt out, it makes us think. So, when we get where we want to be, of course, we want to give back to Detroit, because it made us. Once we are in that position, we want to help out, in a big way.
Last year, you guys had success with your Long Story Short EP, what do you two have in store for this year? Man, a lot more exciting things. We have a lot of stuff coming up, so it’s going to be crazy. You will see an elevation of our music, on a big level, as we improve as artists, entertainers, and performers. 2019 is going to be a great.
So far, “Just In Case,” with Yung Bleu, has over 800,000 views on YouTube, counting all uploads of the song, in just two weeks, do you two see this as an indicator that this song might be your breakthrough single? I definitely feel like it can be, because that’s one of our favorite songs. It shows a lot of growth in us, in our music, with our songwriting. I feel like yeah, it is a strictly lyric video, and it came with little to no promo, so for it to be doing what it’s doing, right now, is a blessing. Once we do the video, and they see us, it is definitely going to be more hype around the song. When it reaches the ears of our fan bases, it will really blow up, but we’ve had songs that have done 2 million views in a day, so we feel like this is the one that could break us, in the R&B world.
When times get difficult, what inspires you to keep going? Our family, thinking about our family, and just each other. We know where we were at, and what we gave up. To quit, would give up everything we have been doing. There is the bigger picture and even though it gets hard, we have a lot of fans who want to see us win. Plus, we want to take care of our family. We had it hard, growing up, so if we gave up, what would happen? That’s what motivates us.
Where can fans find you on social media to join that rapidly-growing fan base? @armonandtrey everywhere.
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