Today we’re excited to bring you the premiere of the new album from Justo the MC and producer maticulous, County of Kings. A follow-up to last year’s Mind Of A Man, the new project is more of what you’d expect from the true-school duo. Hit play below to listen now, and keep scrolling for our interview with maticulous.
Tell us what people can expect from the new album with Justo The MC, County of Kings?
First off, thank you for reaching out, it’s good to talk with you! I think what people can expect is the evolution in chemistry we’ve had making records over the past two years. I’m very proud of Mind Of A Man, the first record we did in January 2019. It was organic and we’ve really just relied on our ear and creativity to guide us through each project and County Of Kings builds upon that. You never want to make the same album over and over…
Its about only been about 18 months since Mind of A Man, and a year since the Bonus Room EP. Do you guys tend to record new shit pretty much non-stop, or do you just have plenty of music in the vaults ready to go when you feel the time is right?
When we first started working on songs it was just to see if it’d progress into a full project. Since finishing Mind Of A Man, we’ve been consistently working and building projects. Bonus Room came to be because we were in a really chill/vibe-out type zone for a few months while working on Mind Of A Man. The Bonus Room tracks did not fit the energy of the album, but it turned into a Summer EP.
Has the way you guys work together changed or evolved much since you first started collaborating?
For sure, working on this much music you develop a brotherhood. More ideas spark and get bounced back and forth and I think it makes the music better overall. All organic, nothing is forced or trying to fit in a certain lane, just trying to create high quality hip-hop from our perspective.
The first time you really caught our ear as a producer was with The maticulous LP in 2015, which we posted about a lot at the time. It had a great mix of emcees on there (Masta Ace, Your Old Droog, Guilty Simpson, Blu and more), and I’m curious as to how you chose who you wanted to feature, and do you craft beats with specific artists in mind?
Thank you. When I do producer projects I map out instrumentals and sequence it to have an album-feel as opposed to just a compilation of tracks. Once I have them all sorted, I’ll reach out to the emcees that I feel would best represent each sound. I also enjoy featuring artists that have never worked on tracks together before — for example RA The Rugged Man with Duck Down artists on “Body The Beat”, Blu and Masta Ace on “Bet Your Life”, Fame and Rah Digga on “Black Hoodie Rap”, etc. It’s fun approaching it from a fan point-of-view!
This leads nicely to the inevitable question about which rappers are on your list of who you’d love to have over your production.
Black Thought, Anderson .Paak, Phonte, Freddie Gibbs, Nas… I could go on, haha!
How has lockdown been for you creatively? I think it was El-P who tweeted a few weeks back how a lot of artists probably thought they’d be mad productive during this time, but how art doesn’t always come out that way, when you have free time. How are you finding it?
El-P is 100% correct! It takes a while to figure out your own process as an artist and finding what process brings you the most fulfilment. My productivity comes in waves, and when I’m inspired I want to work all the time, and if I’m not I don’t. However, telling an artist they have unlimited free time can be crippling because too many times I’ve tried to force things and I end up regretting the time I spent.
Do you tend to work with rappers in person? I ask, because that cohesive sound you only get when a producer and emcee actually make music together in the studio is definitely something that Covid 19 is effecting.
Working in person on any level is my favorite, whether it’s just playing beats, recording, or mixing. It’s more productive than sending e-files back and forth. You miss the energy and the collaboration of doing everything over the internet. This is not to say you can’t make dope music strictly that way… in my experience I’d say it’s been a 50/50 mix.
Lastly, what can we expect from you next now that County of Kings is out?
Justo and I are in the midst of our third album. All the beats have been crafted and lyrics written… recording and post production next. Our workflow is enjoyable because he doesn’t subscribe to a certain sound or whatever the flavor of the moment is. I’m always creating, stacking beats, sometimes you’ll hear where my vibe is when I post some snippets on my IG. I appreciate the questions, thank you to all your readers and supporters of the music!
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Purchase County of Kings here. Follow Justo the MC on Twitter and Instagram here and here, and maticulous here and here. Interview by Grown Up Rap Editor Ben Pedroche.