Exclusive Interview
BIO: Roga Raph is a rapper/producer who was born in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in Mt. Kisco, New York. His conscious lyrics represent both sides of poverty with savvy wordplay, and his production style is strongly sample-based, but he excels behind the boards without the use of samples as well. Raph’s influences include The Notorious B.I.G., Pete Rock, Nas, Black Moon, and Smif-N-Wessun, and he strives to incorporate an old school feel into all his work. In October, 2013, Raph’s production on “How I Met Your Mother,” a song by fellow 914 artist Stan Ipcus, was premiered on Mass Appeal and heard on Peter Rosenberg’s Real Late show on Hot 97 consecutive weeks. He attended School of Visual Arts in Manhattan as an illustration major. His new project Visionary Shift is out now.
Top Influences: Common, Nas, boot camp click, lootpack, mf doom
Any new projects? I have 2 new videos coming a couple singles, and a tape that’ll be out in March. next tracks to be released are going to be on 1/30 and 2/8
What got you into music? listening to old motown music growing up. My mother used to play it a lot on the stereo and we used to listen to jazz all the time. Once I realized that heads were sampling those same artists that’s when the journey began for me.
Any advice for your fans? follow your heart and don’t go with the guidelines society places for us. Live your dream everyday.
Goals for 2017? have an apartment of my own haha but seriously, most importantly try to get my music heard.obviously you want to make money and a living but I really just want to be able to contribute to this beautiful culture and be heard.
