The Rundown: FourFive
Written by Greg Harris
The Rundown continues to put some of the most interesting rising artists on the interview series, and it emerges with more creative individuals to expose their story to the forefront. As we may been exploring the depths of the Florida and Connecticut scene as of late, we make our way to the Big Apple to get familiar with one of the most impactful independent artists in the New York City area, FourFive.
We started to get familiar with FourFive due to his streak of creating singles with his partner in crime, Jay Savior and since then this duo has created a modern sound for the city as a unit and separately. While Jay may be the energetic guy out of the two, FourFive delivers a specific essence of suave to his material but stills keeps the energy vibrant. The smooth yet off the wall filled vibes he delivers makes him a threat in the bubbling New York City music scene.
We recently had a chance to speak to him about his upbringing in the Washington Heights area, how's his relationship with Jay Savior is, what are his plans for this year, and more.
Read below.
How's Your Modern Life?
My Modern Life is going great man, just grinding and trying to become a better person every day.
What are three things you have to do when you wake up?
Check my Twitter, prepare a backwood, and get a meal lined up.
Living in the NorthEast is different from any other place in the nation, how was your upbringing there?
Growing up in New York City, living in Washington Heights & heading to school in the Bronx are memories that are priceless. Coming from a Dominican/Puerto Rican background, the food of course is always A1. My pops having me out on the block as a youngin and just interacting with the older dudes. It’s a certain confidence/aura that just comes with being from here. It just gives you that hustler's mentality that you gotta go out & get it. Nothing is gonna be handed to you, & the competition around you pushes you to level up. Then moving to Long Island later on in life, just gave me like both perspectives on how to move & just how the other half lives. I wouldn't replace growing up here for any other state, hands down.
Who were some influential artists that you listened to when you were younger?
Wiz Khalifa, T-Pain, Chief Keef, Three Six Mafia, Lil Wayne,
Stylistically you came up in an era where New York was in its prime, what influenced your style of dress when you were younger?
106 & Park & MTV's TRL for sure. That's where people knew they had to come with that heat. The All-White AF1’s were a must growing up just seeing people on the block with a pair. All flavors actually. Fabolous & Cam'ron during the headband & jersey era. Fab was the best to do it when it came to sports gear. He had all types of combinations.
Why did you choose the name Four-Five?
People always think it’s a Jordan reference, and that would be fly but this is the real story. It actually came about one day when I was fucking around before I decided to take this music shit forreal, and I recorded a very rare track (that nobody will probably ever hear). I was doing all types of wild voices on this shit, think like how Young Thug hits his vocal notes. I was saying “45” all over the track like that was my name and my boys were just getting hype to it. They kept calling me Four-Five when I got out the booth. From that point on, I just ran with it. When the name Four-Five was created, thats when everything started.
If you were given three words, how would you describe your sound?
Vibrant, Off-the-Wall, High-Energy
You and Jay Savior are constant collaborators, how would you say you compliment each other when it comes to recording?
Jay is like my brother, we are coming up in this industry together. He was the first person I got into like the booth with once I officially starting recording. We just have that chemistry together, where I know what he needs to follow-up his verse or to build up the vibe for him. I bring that melody or turnt up energy to our collabs & he just goes stupid on the verse. I freestyle everything I do for the most part, I always know the vibe I wanna run with but its about placing the lyrics. Jay usually has a concept for the song in place, so I run off his energy to get the direction of what Im going for. It’ll about making the song as cohesive as possible for the listener.
What are three goals you want to accomplish in 2017?
More shows, traveling state-to-state soon in due time. Begin to build my brand Clean Money & work on merchandise for the fans. Finish working my debut solo project, NMBRS.In the meantime, I do have a lot of singles on the way that I’m excited to drop.
Why do you think you can be an impact on New York's legendary music scene?
I feel like I can bring versatile to the sound & perception of what New York has to sound like. I may have moments where I wanna get personal and tell you my story & then have moments where I wanna incorporate auto-tune and creating a song everybody can move too. I’m all about the energy and providing people with anthems for their every-day life. Music is one of the most important aspects of life, imagine living in a world without having it in your routine? It would make shit a lot more boring, So I just try to make music that can fill whatever void that persons missing.
When it's all said and done, how do you want to be remembered?
I just want to be remembered as somebody who gave it my all & told my story MY WAY. Individuality is huge to me. Trends come & go. It’s all about leaving a legacy. I have a lot of chapters in my life that are gonna be told. I’ve been through a lot that has made me the person I am today. I feel like once it’s all said and done, people will be able to take the stories from my world & connect it.