AVERY HARDEN X ROSE HILLS: A CONVERSATION ON COLLABORATION, WORK ETHIC & JOUST ST.
25-Year-Old Rapper Avery Harden is what a Hip Hop purist would call, "Real Rap." 21-Year-Old Artist/Engineer/Producer Aaron Harvey, aka Rose Hills, is what modern Rap enthusiasts would call, "The Future." Together, the two artists have created a dynamic bond and pumped out and impressive amount high quality music in a short period of time. That bond is more than apparent than ever on this mild, mid-December day in Southern California that DROPS had the chance to catch up with the two artists during a final recording session for Avery's newest project Joust St. These two are honestly extremely hard to keep up with, as they teeter back and forth between high context dialogue rooted in the mixing and mastering of the project, and low context topics like regional slang and live streaming platform Periscope.
In the three and a half hour time interval I spent at Aaron's home studio in Pasadena with the two we talked about a myriad of topics including the harsh terms through which the two artist linked up, the collaborative nature of their relationship, work ethic, and most importantly, Avery's new project Joust St. which both artist insist encompasses some of their best work. What you will find as you read through this snapshot transcript of our meeting is that creative compatibility is one of the most essential piece to any artistic equation there is. And, well, the fact that Joust St. is fire.
Start by explaining to us what ABOV is?
Avery Harden: I created ABOV back in 2014, I was actually on an independent label called Dream City records at the time. And I was kind of in my feels because that wasn’t mine, I helped create it but it wasn’t mine, and I was like, 'Man I need something for Avery harden.' And I remember I made a song and I said something like “A bunch of visionaries and you know it’s very scary how we on our grind right now.” And I was like ‘Dawg that’s tight, a bunch of visionaries." And I just remember being like, 'Dawg I’m ABOV, I’m ABOV.' So, it’s like a double entendre, I’m above and ABOV as an acronym. So that’s how that came about and ABOV is a bunch of visionaries, a collective, a movement, a platform where if you have dreams and goals like you can go for it dawg, do it. We have a bunch of people in our circle like I gotta give it up to people like Aaron, Dree, Lamar, Cynthia my manager, Sammy our Photographer, Lou, Blair our Videographer he works hard, and we all have the same vision and we all want to work hard.
When did you two meet?
Aaron Harvey: It's been almost two years now, right?
Avery Harden: Yea bro like 2016, so yeah it’s been almost two years bruh. I was working on my project Blues and uh — Periscope my dude. Yeah so, we met on Periscope, but, it was through my other homeboys. Me an my boy, my Engineer Isaac, was doing music while some of my other cats were like, playing around, you feel me. So, he was on there and he was like, 'Ohh y’all do music?' And I guess they connected, and they were like checking him on the beats — I think we ended spitting over one of your beats?
Aaron Harvey: Yeah, that’s what happened so, I was on Periscope, and saw them and I was like, 'Ayo check out my Soundcloud I have a whole bunch of beats up.' And this is when I was like, strictly a Producer, i wasn’t trying to dabble in artistry and stuff, but, I guess they put on a beat and I guess either Avery or Isaac starting rapping and they were like, ‘Oh snap this is dope,’ and then everyone was just vibin' with it and I guess Isaac was like ‘Yo we should link up, where do you stay?’
How did you first get started making music together?
Avery Harden: I wasn’t even rocking with this fool at first.
Aaron Harvey: Yeah bro, I remember that because I went over when everyone was recording and I swear I like, I’m not gonna lie, but high key you were an asshole like, you were just to yourself like listening, because I feel like you were in like, ‘I have to get shit done,’ mode right then.
Avery Harden: Yeah because that’s always been me dawg. I always been like, ‘Yo it’s time to work, like we gotta work,’ because we aren’t on a level to be playing. And it got to a point where they inviting people over, and this is my crib, and other people was inviting other people to the crib.
Aaron Harvey: I was the other nigga. (Laughter)
Avery Harden: So I guess that was the same day I had recorded this song called “Central Park” and the hook has a choir symphony type of thing, and everyone was in the house it was probably like ten people in the house, I asked everybody to sing the chorus into the mic, and it actually came out pretty dope. But also, I guess that was the same day that he walked into my house without knocking, without nothing, this fool just opened the door bruh. I was thrown off, and I had to tell Isaac and everybody like 'Bruh y'all need to chill.' But after that, we started rocking heavy. We went to go get 2K or something and then you showed me a beat and I was like ‘Oh alright, I’m rocking with this dude.’ But from there we was just rocking heavy and we kind of like — out of all the people we rock with, we work the hardest.
Aaron Harvey: We saw, gradually, as we started growing closer together, we saw people that weren’t really involved in music like we were. Like it sucked because we know people that are talented as hell but don’t work on their craft. Like, if we have to wait for someone for so long to put out something then it’s like, now you’re forgotten.
At what point did you really identify the creative chemistry you guys have?
Avery Harden: It was the song “Lituation.” It had to be “Lituation” because when you showed me that beat I was on your head (No Homo.) Pause. I was like, ‘Yo I gotta get that.’ Because you showed that beat and you just kept showing me beats and beats and then from there we just started kicking it tough.
Aaron Harvey: I was gonna say, when we worked on Heavyweight. I say that because, that was one of those things where you meet somebody and you hang out a lot and look at them like, 'Are we still going to be homies later on.' That’s when I got to the point when I was like, alright you’re not leaving, this isn’t going to be like a so & so, its not going to be like those other people because you trusted Isaac with your engineering and now you let me do it. So I was just like, ok you trust me with a lot more than just producing.
Avery Harden: Heavyweight was like the second to last project I did, and we did that all together. He even engineered, mixed and mastered it because Isaac had got sick, so he did that whole project.
Aaron Harvey: On the drive to Vegas. Literally with some headphones on. (Laughter.) Avery Harden: Yeah on the drive to vegas, yeah that’s crazy bro. We was in the Toyota doing it, so we did it and we did the whole project, well we recorded everything here (At the studio) and he mixed and mastered the whole way to Vegas.
How has the creative collaboration between you two helped to elevate each other's talents?
Avery Harden: What I’ve experienced from working with him is that I’m a lyricist. I understand that, and I know that, and he’s a Producer so he knows how to attack a song in a different way than I would. So, I would attack it like a lyricist, spit some hot fire on it, but he would attack it in a way to where it’s appealing to somebody that doesn’t care about lyrics and that’s how we joined forces.
Aaron Harvey: His delivery is better.
Avery Harden: Yeah cause it would sound dope, it would be straight Hip Hop, and it would sound really dope, but we trying to get to everybody, and that’s where he comes in — Like, my lyrics would be crazy dope but the way he comes up with melodies is stupid, like bro how did you think of that? Like, sometimes I'm like, 'How would you think for me to say that like that.'
Aaron Harvey: I feel like I was always shy about my shit and now I’m like — It’s just like something you do so much that you get comfortable with you know? It was just me opening up, cause I’m just like everybody else, I sing in the fucking shower. And its just now I can actually sing in front of somebody else or sing it and put it out and have somebody else listen to it when I’m not even there.
Avery Harden: I think it’s like, he helps me, and I help him. For me, I feel I fuel him more on the motivation side, like I’m doing all this work — and he has hella songs in the vault, and to put them out, it was one of these things where it was like, ‘Man he's doing hella songs, I’m gonna put my music out too.’ I feel like that’s how it was but as far as like, maybe throwing a word, I do that sometimes with him, Isaac does that sometimes, help with some lyrics, or a word or Rhyming or whatever. But like, we all help each other. It’s me, him and Isaac. With the three of us putting our heads together man its crazy. They mad a song one day because him and Isaac just shot up shit in the air, and I’m like ‘Damn that sounds great,’ you know what I mean, because it’s two heads. And then, “Undercover Prodigy” (Track from Joust St.) came about because of all three of us. Obviously I’m big on like, ‘Nobody writing my lyrics.’ But a hook, bruh — you need all hands because you want it to be appealing. So we all, all three of us, just like I said it’s a collaboration and we all help each other — I did the line “Tell hop I belong in the family, I’m mean with the pen call me socrates” and Isaac was like, ‘Bro you should do this because Hopsin’s first album was Emerged so you should throw that in there’ And I was like okay, so “Emerged on the scene to a dynasty, sleeping on an undercover prodigy” you know what I’m saying? And who, was that you — ”My momma been proud of me, no shame, nigga no apologies” oh that was cynthia. She was like ‘Oh you should use the last album’ And that’s how it is, and I feel kind of like that’s how it should be as far as hooks go for hip hop because hip hop, you can’t let nobody write your stuff. So when it comes to hooks, that’s how we are and that’s how we help each other.
Being that Joust St. is the follow-up to London Fog, what can we expect from it?
Avery Harden: Bruh London Fog is so fun, and Joust St. is the total opposite, it’s grimy, more Hip Hop. London Fog was summer vibes heavy, joyous, We had “I just want to be with you“ which was like the best song on the project in my opinion, and that joint was very happy and talking to girls — This one is like, this joint is serious. This one has the “Undercover Prodigy” track that is like, ‘Yo, I’m here.’ Like you not gone miss me I’m here. I got some serious joints where I’m talking to some ex-girlfriends that did me dirty and I’m like “Man y’all don’t got my heart anymore like fuck y’all.’ We got a song on this joint called “Real Friends” that joint is to the people that used to be homies that’s like — It’s a chip on the shoulder. I’m going hard, this is not London Fog no more. London Fog was really happy, you listen to it you’re happy at the end of the song this one you gone be like, 'Dang Avery on some other stuff.' But then, there are some songs where its like I gotta prove that I should be in the position I’m in. Because its like, I’m not there yet but I thank god for the position I’m in and the fans I do have like I’m still surprised. I’m blessed to even have supporters in British Columbia or supporters in London or supporters in New Zealand to even know who the hell Avery Harden is so I’m blessed but I still gotta be like, ‘Yo I’m just touching the surface y’all not gonna put me in the dark.’
What's next for you both as artists?
Avery Harden: For me, I always have to have something after. In my head, I’m thinking — J. Cole said something like “Keep grinding boy your life could change in one year.” & that’s so pivotal because, you could wake up and Jay Z could have come across your page and be like, ‘Look, y’all ready, come down to Roc Nation in LA I need you here.’ I always have my next foot forward. So now, we working on Joust St., my mind is already set on something else, we already got our minds set on another project after this you know what I’m saying. It’s time to keep it moving forward it’s time to be innovative with my sound. I always try to stay one step ahead as far as projects musically. always gotta thing ahead I always gotta think about my next thing, my next thing. Like, if this thing doesn’t go thru I gotta think of the next thing I can’t just depend on this. That’s how people get discouraged, that’s how they quit and you can’t do that, you gotta keep going. So like boom, hypothetically speaking, if London Fog crashed, I gotta make sure the other one is better. So that’s what I always think about I gotta think about the step forward.
Aaron Harvey: We starving man, highkey. Even though I have so much and I appreciate everything I Have, I know if he had the same thing he would go just as hard as me. Because even though I have this studio I don’t like take it for granted, I take advantage of it more than I should. Like I’ll be in here from whenever I don’t work until whenever I go to sleep.
Avery Harden: My whole thing is, you have to be passionate about something, there is no way you should be walking this earth and you are not passionate about something. If you aren’t passionate about something, you’re going through the motions, you’re working a dead end job and you’re going to die, and that shouldn’t be how you live. If you are passionate about something you can work your job and then go to your passion and love your life. So I feel like everybody should be passionate about something so that is basically the gist of my existence. An the team rocking, we all have good hearts and work hard and we're both starving as hell like we gotta eat we want to devour something.
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Stream Joust St. now! More to come after the DROP.
