Understanding who LateNitee is will take you longer than the breadth of a few songs. The Kansas City-native is a complex, multi-talented artist, delving into multiple genres and mixing his own music to create a wholly unique sound. It’s so distinctive that traditional comparisons are really hard to make. The closest, in execution, would be the late Lil Peep due to the latter’s effective genre-bending capabilities.
LateNitee looks to have the same, magnetic rise to fame, and, with the backing of the lilHollywood ensemble and the druggy, hypnotic aesthetic that compromises his latest releases “Instagram” and “4 Pills,” it looks like it will come sooner than later.
The buzzing creative recently chopped it up with us, and touched on a variety of pressing topics ranging from the origins of his name to the impact of race in hip hop. Read the full interview below.
Who is LateNitee? Why the two E’s?
My name comes from a freestyle I did. I never even finished it. The first line of it was “Late night, I don’t answer calls,” and it just felt fitting to my personality. The two ee’s comes from me wanting to be easier to find online. And I thought it would look better for merchandise.
Your music mixes rap and rock effectively. What made you interested in bringing these genres of music together?
Growing up, my Dad used to listen to all kinds of rock and rap music. From the start, me and my closest producer @everybodystoned wanted to mix the two. We worked for over a year to get where I felt like I had the sound I am currently making now.
What does being white in rap music mean in 2018?
Personally, I feel as if you don’t get looked at seriously. Some people laugh when I tell them I make music. Although after they listen to my music and they hear my quality, they usually see me different. I could care less though, we are all humans. People look at things differently than others.
When I listen to your music, I hear some sounds that remind me of Lil Peep’s eclectic catalog. Is he a big influence on your sound?
First song I heard from Peep was ‘Beamer Boy’ and I instantly loved it. I listened to a lot of his music, but I wouldn’t say I was his biggest fan or anything.
What is lilHollywood Studios?
It’s my home studio, in my basement. Before that, it was my friends closets, living rooms; really any where I could have a quiet house and record vocals.
How hard is it being an audio engineer?
Very, it took me over a year to teach my self the things I know and I’m still no pro. I teach myself something new every time I’m in the studio. No one taught me anything during my learning process.
What’s one thing that people who don’t mix their own music don’t know?
Sometimes the weirdest sounds can be created into something beautiful. Do you know how fucking annoying the human voice can be? Imagine listing to the same word 100 times, and every change you make is barley noticeable.
What’s the Kansas City music scene like?
Flourishing. It’s growing rapidly and coming to be one of the bigger scenes in the city. A few years ago I would of laughed at this question, but now I can gladly say we have countless talented artists/producers around the city.
How hard is it collaborating with other artists outside of your collective?
I would like to downplay the word “collective,” I feel as this word is looked at incorrectly at times. That being said, it’s hit or miss. I sell features for $200, but I’ve also done features for free. The song is what determines this, there is many factors though. The tempo, the key, the instruments. Overall, collaborating difficult at times and seamless at others.
What was the recording process like for “4 Pills?”
My producer friend @turntRIE sent me the beat, which was one of the first producers I met online. We met by seeing each other tweet at a mutual artist we listen to, he direct messaged me and we were homies ever since. It was amazing right off the bat, I knew I was gonna turn it into a song. A few years ago I used to be heavily on prescription drugs, all different kinds of pills. I recalled one of the last times I was using drugs, I had 4 different pills in my dresser, so I just got really drunk and created that song. I didn’t write any lyrics, I just loaded the beat into Logic Pro X, and about a hour later that’s what happened. I mixed all the vocals, and than sent them to @turntRIE to master them over the beat, which he did an amazing job with.
Your song “Instagram” shows your infatuation with the program. Any crazy Instagram romance stories?
Honestly no, I only have like 700 followers. Although some times my DMs can get a little wild when I find my self drunk past midnight. I just have a lot of online crushes that probably don’t know I exist.
What are your plans for 2018?
Record new music, try to broaden my self sonically. I have some music videos coming out, I am very excited to show my internet supporters what I look like. Probably wont do very many shows locally just because I have more support online.
Just for kicks, who’s on your rap Mt. Rushmore?
This is a tough one because I’m such a fan of my fiends music and my own at this point of time. If I could work with any one artist it would have to be Future on a Zaytoven beat.