The rap performance has incredible flow and lyricism – Urbano “Happy Hour”

This track has everything dance fans will have loved about summer releases from the early 90’s. The way it opens up has a strength and brightness to it that lifts your mood immediately. There’s nostalgia to the sound, but there’s a freshness to it as well, and that makes it a pleasure to listen to.

The track is fast paced, high energy, leaving no space for you to sit and wallow. The great thing about it is that the rap vocal that comes into play is pretty unexpected. The pace is kept fast, up until the second verse, when there’s a really welcome moment of break down – the whole thing tones down a little, but you can feel the music rebuilding, and when it does crash back into action you’re fully familiar with that heaviness and that hook.

The production on this track is pretty sublime – the entire few minutes of music are full and vibrant with a crisp and energetic array of sounds and moments. The song is, by all accounts, an absolute anthem for dance fans as the end of summer comes into view.  You even get the acoustic guitar as the opener here, so the track is not merely a simple loop; there’s a thought process involved in the creation – and there’s a clear knowledge of what works and what doesn’t work with this sort of music.

Audiences are likely to love this. The first verse rap performance has incredible flow and lyricism, really making the whole thing stand out even further – there’s a huge amount of skill and character that is quite striking. All in all, the song features all the best parts of successful summer anthems, with just enough of that personal flair to make it really memorable.

By Rebecca Cullen

Exclusive Interview:

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

URBANO: We grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Approximately 25-30 minutes right outside the city. Marisa – 1/2 of our band URBANO – really loved music and as the older sister blasted hip-hop at all hours of the day. John – the other 1/2 to our band URBANO – followed in my footsteps and we started listening to the same music. Listening to music together brought us closer and showed us the true value of artistry. We both loved music so much and had a lot of passion to create our own songs. At the age of 16 John started recording music professionally in a studio, and thereafter I decided to follow in his footsteps! Once we both heard what we created, we were addicted and loved how it made us feel. Music is so important in our lives and that was the driving force behind both of us pursuing a career in music. The music culture is all about what feels good to you, what makes your heart sing and your soul happy. We want to spread all the love, and good vibes to others as we feel this is our purpose in life. 

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

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): Yea 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. 

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

 URBANO: We definitely LOVE online music sharing. If you are really submerged into the world of music, I think anyone will tell you they love online music sharing. This is because music brings so much joy and happiness to others, and with online sharing it reaches people that it could not previously reach. The internet is used as a global village for people to commune together beyond time and space, breaking down boundaries geographically. It creates a community of people who can share their love, happiness and personal stories with others who have the same music tastes. This community can be such an amazing outlet not only for the artists, but also to the listeners. Thus, creating a better line of communication around the world. We love checking out and connecting with other artists and online music sharing makes that all possible! We actually have only given our music out for free.  It is our first priority to give people something that they connect with mind, body and soul. We want people to feel good listening to our music. Our focus is always on the music and we only ask that people listen and hopefully enjoy what we made. 

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?

URBANO: It can be very difficult in the midst of the many artists out there, all hungry for a spot in someone’s music library. I think the best advice is first and foremost to work on your craft diligently. If your product is worthwhile and you put all your energy into it, good things will come. (Marisa): I would say social media is a very important aspect and networking will help exponentially. Being physically present is equally important. Go to the spots you want to perform at and see if they have any acts that will allow you to open for them. Ask colleges if you can perform, even family functions! Any and all experience is good experience for growing your brand. (John): Yea – just being able to perform your songs confidently will get you noticed and help your odds at getting more gigs. Everyone starts somewhere! 

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

 URBANO: Yes! We think it is expected to at some point to make mistakes. We are only human! We think the best way to handle that kind of situation is to basically just keep going. Don’t feel defeated, don’t feel bad for yourself – the show always must go on. There is nothing you can do but keep your chin up and continue to do what you love doing. If you love performing, it should not deter you from continuing to perfect your craft!

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

 URBANO: We have not had the luxury to tour yet. *Fingers Crossed* We want to though! So we are hoping the current album will help to fuel our mission to tour. Although, we have had some interesting stories along the way while performing our music. Our one performance we had everyone stay at a hotel with us after the show. We got several warnings we were being too loud so John decided to walk with a friend to McDonald’s at 1am. By the time they got back the door was locked and we didn’t hear them so they had to sleep out in the hall. Lesson learned!

 

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

URBANO: (John): I usually go through most of the instrumentals and then Marisa will join me in the hunt for our next song. Then we both sit down and choose the one we are vibing with the most. After that, we live in the song for a little and talk about how it makes us feel. (Marisa): Sometimes a melody will just come out naturally. Other times, it can take awhile to really nail the lyrics, flow and melodies. We love to sit together and just chill in our family room. Some of our favorites came from just hanging out, vibing and having a genuine good time making music together. 

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

URBANO: Yes we do! It is Urbanomusicgroup.com . Our brand spankin’ new album, along with some other fun tidbits, are all on there! We both have personal facebook accounts, which we post our music on. We also promote on twitter, instagram and soundcloud. We also have a youtube account we are currently building up!

Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?

URBANO: AHH YOU GOT US! (Marisa): I definitely am all about the cheesy love songs and pop groups of the 90s. You will find all of that on my mp3 player but I myself wouldn’t necessarily deem that as embarrassing because I LOVE all of it! (John): You may or may not find Ricky Martin somewhere on my mp3 player…maybe in the recently played…JUST KIDDING but it is lingering somewhere on my mp3.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

URBANO: We don’t think it is possible to take a year off with our addictive and high-energy personalities! We would still be making new music and promoting it. With a healthy budget we would be able to pay for more studio time, more beats, great visuals, and better promotion! Just thinking about it is making us sweat! If anything else, maybe give it to some charities in need? That’s about all we can think of.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

URBANO: We don’t think we could do any better than Milkboy Studios in Philadelphia. The caliber of soundboards, producers and engineers is unmatched. They have such professional and talented individuals who really take our music to the next level. I mean some of the biggest stars have graced the halls there. Just being in the same rooms these stars recorded their music gives us major inspiration! We couldn’t do better than that even if we tried.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

URBANO: As the saying goes, the key is strength in numbers! We always appreciate the amount of people who share, like and spread our music on their personal social media accounts. Our friends, family and fans go to great lengths to personally tell people to check us out and hand out our business cards. We are so thankful for those people because they really promote our music all over. They even contact blogs and people they know in the music industry to feature us on their websites and magazines. We also see a huge difference when we promote our music on our social media sites – both personal and professional accounts. We also hand out physical copies of our album and hope that others give it to their friends and family. We really rely on word of mouth, both physically and also on the online community. We also feel that getting on those blogs and websites are key as we have stated before that global village helps promote music like wildfire beyond limited time and space! Showing your face physically is also essential, so doing shows is very important!

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

URBANO: This is a tough question to answer because we have so many people we would love to collaborate and perform with. I’m not sure if we could pick just one! We may have to pick a few! We would say that Lil’ Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj are people we would love to perform with someday! We would literally perform anywhere and everywhere – we wouldn’t be too picky when it comes to the location! These artists always put on an energetic and enthusiastic performance. We have seen all of them perform and it was a total experience. They totally pulled you in and we didn’t want to leave at the end of it!

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

URBANO: Well we just released our new project “Royal Family”! It took us about three years to complete. We are so excited to share this with everyone and hopefully give people a new playlist to enjoy! We will be doing a music video in the next month for our single – “Happy Hour” so that is the next project we are working on! We will also be collaborating with a lot of new artists as well!

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

URBANO: (Marisa): Without a doubt, I would either be a radio or television host. I did an internship with SiriusXM and I was lucky enough to be on air three days a week! I absolutely LOVED it! I was around music all day so it was a good fit for me! (John): If I weren’t making music…I don’t even know! I haven’t really thought about that at all. I would probably do film because I am also interested in that. I went to a horror film convention and I really enjoyed the experience.

Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?

URBANO: OH MY LORD YES! We talk about this all the time as it brings us very fond memories! If it weren’t for those albums, we might not be here today making music! (Marisa): My first albums that I bought were Eminem, Ludacris and Craig David. I played those CDs out until they couldn’t play anymore! I was so young that I can remember the FYE manager only allowing me to buy the “edited” version of Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP! I just kept thinking these people are enriching my life and I feel so much love when I am listening to all these albums. It spoke to me and I felt addicted to music. I felt like I knew them and understood what they were feeling. True poetry over a beat – what could be better than that? (John): I would definitely say those were also my first albums too because I would listen to them all the time with Marisa. But another album I bought when I was pretty young was Snoop Dogg. I was thinking – this is dope! I want to keep listening and finding more music. It opened up a whole new world for me and made me feel connected to something larger in the world.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

URBANO: This is something that requires a lot of balance and resilience. We talk about this all the time and strategize ways to remain in a balanced state. It can be very difficult to juggle everything, as we put all our efforts into music. You have to look yourself in the mirror and honestly ask if you are giving enough energy to everything in your life. If you can honestly say you are giving equal energy to everything, then you are delivering your best balancing act. It also helps that there are two members in our band. We love to meditate as it keeps both of us grounded and centered. We like to think of it in this manner – if you have a garden and you only nourish one plant, then only that plant will grow and flourish. The other plants and flowers will die. You have to really nourish every aspect in your life, and meditation helps us focus and see the bigger picture to juggle everything.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

URBANO: Well definitely check out our debut album – “Royal Family” available on our soundcloud (soundcloud.com/urbanomusic) or you can download it on our website (urbanomusicgroup.com)! We will also be doing a video for our single – “Happy Hour” in the next month! That video will be out within the next two/three months on our youtube channel! So that is something to definitely look forward to. Also, we are doing a collaboration with the amazing producer Lectriq ! We are all working together to create something special from scratch! Definitely keep your eyes peeled for that!

Social Media:

Twitter: URBANO Music – twitter.com/urbanomusicgro1

John - twitter.com/johnurbano610

Marisa - https:/twitter.com/RissyRisUrbano

Instagram: URBANO Music – instagram.com/urbanomusicgroup

John– instagram.com/johnurbano610

Marisa – instagram.com/rissyroourbano

Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/urbanomusic