Exposed Vocals Interviews Drae Lawson
Who is DRAE LAWSON? Born July 23, known as Drae Lawson is a Canadian Alternative R&B singer, producer, actor and model from Toronto, Canada. He began his music career singing in acappella groups as well as in choirs getting gigs locally and internationally before deciding to pursue a solo career. Drae Lawson references his stage name from gospel singer Andrae Crouch (of whom his parents named him after) and Samuel L. Jacksons character Tat Lawson from the film Menace II Society.
He uploaded his first self-produced single ‘Purple’ off of his first mixtape entitled ‘Sample Now, Sue Later’ to his SoundCloud page and it took off very quickly, gaining over 5,000 plays in less than a week. He plans on releasing his first EP called ‘Canada Fly!’ in late 2016, as well as a full length album called ‘Liquid Courage’ in 2017.
Drae Lawson writes and produces majority of all his music. Drae Lawson cites Nate Dogg, Isaac Hayes, J. Dilla and Samuel L. Jackson as his main inspirations behind his vocal style, song lyrics and beats. He enjoys virtually all genres of music, but mainly R&B. He also cites Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Gerald Levert, D’ angelo, Maxwell, Raphael Saadiq, Zhane’, Destiny’s Child, Jill Scott, Teedra Moses, Aaliyah and The Fugees. His favorite MCs’ are Common and KRS One. He is also inspired by Canadian Hip Hop and R&B artists like Drake, Kardinal Offishall, 2Rude, Miche Mee, Tara Chase, Ghetto Concept, Infinite, Choclair, Jully Black & Glenn Lewis.
http://soundcloud.com/draelawsonmusic
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Drae Lawson: I grew up in Toronto, Canada my whole life. I always sang growing up, My dad sang in and managed gospel groups and I would often attend his concerts as a small child. As I got older I sang in chiors, played instruments, made beats, sang acappella. I got inspired by listening to Hip Hop, R&B, Old School Soul, and Gospel music. I get inspiration from all genres of music though. I’m very eclectic. I could listen to Marilyn Manson and Kirk Franklin on the same playlist if I want, because I’m a fan of it all.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Drae Lawson: I had several names before I became more serious about my music. I used to rap under the name X-Man, then I changed it to Andre ACE, and THESCORRE, but then when I started singing acappella people used to call me Bassey because I sang bass. But now I go by the name Drae Lawson, because I want to re-invent myself, and introduce myself to the world. My first name is Andre, but I shortened it to Dre then I added an extra a in Dre, to be different. A lot of singers and rappers coming from Toronto have the name Dre so I have to be different. Plus I’m paying homage to the singer my parents named me after, which is Andrae Crouch. The ‘Lawson’ in my name is a Menace II Society reference to Samuel L. Jacksons character. Some of my music has a real bad-ass vibe to it, I think Samuel L. Jackson is a real bad ass. My song B.M.F. on my SoundCloud page is a tribute to him. https://soundcloud.com/draelawsonmusic/drae-lawson-the-beatles-bmf
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Drae Lawson: I always give some of my music for free. Nothing wrong with it at all! Especially when you want to sample music from other artists. My single ‘Purple’ which is a cover/remake version of the song ‘Purple’ by the trip-hop band Crustation is available for free download on my SoundCloud page. https://soundcloud.com/draelawsonmusic/drae-lawson-purple
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Drae Lawson: I’m still trying to book more gigs myself! But I try to check out open-mic nights, I look for promotion opportunities online, and just Google mostly.
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Drae Lawson: I usually come up with the hook first, or if I create a beat, it will inspire me to write a song to it. I love to listen to old records and go through my song collection on my Itunes and get ideas as well. I watch a lot of movies as well.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Drae Lawson: My SoundCloud is https://soundcloud.com/draelawsonmusic, My MySpace ishttps://myspace.com/draelawson, My Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/draelawson/ My Facebook ishttps://www.facebook.com/DraeLawsonMusic/ My Twitter is https://twitter.com/draelawson
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Drae Lawson: STUDIO TIME & PROMOTION! I would sleep in the studio for weeks, and make a classic project, plus a whole bunch of mixtapes with all the crazy ideas I got. I don’t have to sell a million or go number 1 on the charts, although I would love to, but I want to create a project that people will listen to for years. A project that is something like a Mis-Education of Lauryn Hill, or Like a D’Angelo Brown Sugar. I would love to win a Grammy one day.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Drae Lawson: SoundCloud works pretty well for me, I’m just really happy I’m being heard now. But the world doesn’t know my name yet, but I know everything takes time. I’m just trying to build up a body of music that people will enjoy.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Drae Lawson: I got many projects on the go right now. My first project to be completed will be my first mixtape called ‘Sample Now, Sue Later’ that is going to be completed and out in July 2016. My First extended play called ‘Canada FLY!’ will be out in August 2016. And after that, I will be slowly working on my debut Album called ‘Liquid Courage’, It should be out in 2017. But after ‘Canada FLY!’ comes out I’ll probably put out a couple more mixtapes before the full length debut album comes next year. One will be called ‘YouTube S**T’ and the other will be called ‘9099’.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Drae Lawson: I still got a 9-5 right now till I get singed, but I don’t know what else I’d be doing to be honest. I really enjoy making music.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Drae Lawson: It’s not easy, I’m also a married man so I need to also make time for my wife while I create. Thankfully she is understanding of my passion.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Drae Lawson: More music, I’m going to try my best to release a new song once a week this summer on my SoundCloud page. As well as making music videos, I have a video for my song ‘House Of Cards’ coming very soon on YouTube.