Read the full interview on YoungCalifornia.com!
Hailing from the Daly City and representing all things Bay Area, Priceless Da Roc is the turn up god. If you heard his breakout single “Yiken,” you probably understand the movement he started. Not only does the visual clock in at over 2.6M views on Youtube alone, but it sparked a string of memes that had everyone freak dancing and twerking all over the internet. Read more…
Now, Mr. Turn Up himself continues on pushing his high-energy records giving audiences something to vibe and dance in any situation. We chatted with the West Coast spitter on his independent grind, new music, and
Where do you fit in the realm of hip-hop and R&B?
I fit in the middle a little bit because we’re definitely really diverse. I like to do a whole bunch, more so with the turn up and the partying side. The high energy hip-hop with the festivals and things that are just super lit. All aspects, but I’d definitely put the little cherry right there on the turn up side.
What part of the Bay are you from?
San Francisco. Well Daly City originally, but the city of San Francisco altogether.
How does that play into your life and career?
A lot ‘cause of the influence really. The Bay has its own culture, its own sound, its own vibe. Being in the Bay, you get constructed to a certain type of hustle and atmosphere that you can take with you all around the world.
How important is it to come to LA as an up and coming artist?
Super important because LA is a bigger market. Anything in business or with music, there are more clubs out here, more DJs to play for, more people to listen to the music, more people who can connect to your music. Then of course, you want to travel around and expand. Come mess around and turn up with the SoCal players!
At what point did you realize this music thing was forreal?
I always liked it. I realized it was for real probably when “Yiken,” “Slow Down,” and all those songs took off. It was like “oh, this is foreal foreal.” Not for play, forreal.
You dropped Forever California 2 last year. What can we expect from you music-wise?
Turn Up God this year! Dropping the Turn Up God this year, dropping the Turn Up Gang project this year. Just a lot of shit. Keeping it consistent, giving the fans what they want. Make sure we keep the energy high. We definitely gonna come full force this year.
Can you bring us back to the studio session for “Yiken”?
I was in my room, it wasn’t even a studio. I was in there chilling, smoking. It was hella videos on with hella people yiken, hella people dancing. I was like “oh yeah, I gotta make a track for this.” From that, just made the beat, started recording the vocals. I was in the room getting saucy, hella hyped, hella juiced. It came out dope. It probably took me about a good 4 hours. Mainly it was 3 hours making the beat, then the rest was recording myself.
You made the beat yourself?
For sure, I made the beat myself.
You produce all your own shit?
Yeah, I produce my own shit. 90% of the songs I rap on, I produced the beat. Or my producing team, Slight Work, he’ll produce too.
What was the inspiration behind your name?
Well Priceless pretty self-explanatory. [brushes shoulders] I was thinking of names that meant something but a lot of people don’t use. Priceless was one of the names I came across. The Roc, I used to play basketball and had big earrings at the time. My coach was always corny and say “take those rocks out your ear.” Shoutout to my bball coach.
You were actually homeless for a sec. Talk about the independent grind.
A lot of people when they young, they make financial mistakes, live more so what’s going on right now instead of planning for the future. I wasn’t super stupid. I wasn’t doing nothing bad, it was just bad financial decisions. Immature decisions, stuff that I learned from and put me on my feet to be where I’m at today. Definitely was a struggle but if I didn’t go through that, I wouldn’t have learned.
What are the biggest struggles you face now as an independent artist?
The biggest struggle is really within yourself. The hardest opinion comes from yourself, so it’s really staying out of my own head. Staying focused, putting out music and doing regular stuff. It’s really just a process of work, but the hardest thing is definitely staying out of my own head.
What is it you want fans to get from your story?
Be positive, turn up, have fun. Don’t worry about people judging you or what they may say about you. Do what you feel is fun, do what you feel is free. If you want to put your face on some booty cheeks at the club, go put your face on some booty cheeks at the club. You wanna hide behind some butt, you wanna shake some butt and have some face on your booty, go do that. Whatever is your prerogative, whatever makes you feel good, do that.
For someone who has never heard of “Yiken,” how would you describe it?
It’s somebody regularly twerking and you behind it, but with motion. It’s basically twerking with motion and style. Designed, organized twerking kind of. It’s like the ballerina of freak dancing. You not just behind [thrusts hips twice], you got the motion, you got the swang, you got the swag.
What’s a normal day in the life? Walk us through.
Wake up, roll a blunt, smoke, write out goals, write out plans, get on the phone with my n*gga Mac, cook up something — make music and turn up really. That’s really my everyday life: make music and be happy I’m alive.,
3 things you need in the studio?
Weed, water, and an engineer probably. [laugh] Outside of the engineer.. snacks.
What snacks you like?
Bananas, strawberries..
You healthy?
Yeah, I don’t eat candy. I don’t eat red meat either. Grapes, things like that.
Everyone is vegan out here.
I’m not vegan, I still fuck with the chicken and the fish. But I don’t eat straight red meat.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing music?
I’m 29 so if I wasn’t doing music… what the hell would I be doing if I wasn’t doing music? Probably doing graphic designs. That’s what I was doing before I started doing music. Graphic design or video editing.
What’s the best encounter you had with a fan?
They’re all equally just as cool to me any time I meet somebody who’s excited about my music. But probably one was more excited than the rest. Just hugging, crying, just super juiced I was there. She said she listened to all my music and every time they go out, they turn on my stuff. That’s definitely one of the dopest moments, just to hear that my music affects people’s lives in such a positive way.
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