It's a sunny Friday. Producer and composer RJD2 (real name, Ramble Jon Krohn) is in the midst of packing up. He's leaving Philadelphia, the city he's called home for over a decade, and moving back to his native Ohio.
He and his wife have a young son and he wants him to grow up around family. It's bittersweet for the acclaimed musician, notable for composing "A Beautiful Mine," the opening-credit theme for the recently wrapped AMC series "Mad Men."
The move comes on the heels of the May 5 release of "STS x RJD2," his collaborative album with Atlanta-bred, Philly-based rapper STS (a/k/a Sugar Tongue Slim; born Doncarlos Price). It showcases RJ's knack for genre-fusing compositions, flowing seamlessly from traditional hip-hop beats to big-band horns and southern soul, all under Slim's poetic and revelatory verses.
It isn't surprising to hear that the whole process was pretty organic. Hang out with the pair and it's obvious they have a great rapport -- joking, talking about barbecue, recounting interesting times in the studio. It's hard to believe they met only in 2013 after working together on "See You Leave," a track off of RJ's solo album, "More Than Isn't." Philly RB singer Khari Matteen also is featured on the song. Matteen had previously worked with both Slim and RJ and became the bridge that linked them.
"We kept in touch and then we started sending some stuff around, talking about making some music," RJ recalled, lounging in a lawn chair in his Overbrook Farms back yard. "We didn't go into it deciding, 'Let's make an album!' It wasn't like that. We just started making songs."
RJ would send rough loops from his home studio, and Slim would lay down his verses at DJ/producer Bear-One's Philly studio, even demo-ing vocals for the choruses (despite claims that he "can't sing worth nothing"). RJ would then build on that composition.
"To me the funnest part was getting back those initial demos, because it was like a little Christmas present," RJ said. "Each time, it was a realization of something you didn't know could be there."
The first song they did this way was "4/20," a cannabis-praising slow-jam, written on April 20, 2014, and released the same day a year later. It features Slim's hazily sanguine raps like, "The calendar says 4/20 / That's reason to celebrate."
"I hate to say it was easy, but it was natural," Slim recalled. "Nothing was forced. We were never trying to make a single. We were just making music. It was fun."
By November 2014, they had a batch of songs worthy enough to package into a full-length -- but also worth keeping under the radar until the project was complete. That was a daunting task given the ease of posting songs online, and especially because Slim comes from a "mixtape world" where it's standard to release tracks as they're completed.
"This is a whole body of work that should be heard together," Slim said. "So the process of putting it out was a lot different. This article is from wwwphilly.comIt kind of opened up my eyes to a whole new world of how to do this thing."
"Your first instinct is, 'We're proud of this song, we want the world to hear it,'" RJ mirrored. "So, your first instinct is to go put it on the Internet tomorrow. And I think that's the hardest part of the whole thing, just knowing you have to curb yourself, that instinct, for the sake of keeping everything together."
And it worked.
For the first time, Slim noted getting feedback on the album's cadence front to back. Many remarked on his lyrics, the fact that he talks about his mother, home life, his family's restaurant in Atlanta. For RJ, after working on a solo album, this marked a return to his collaborative efforts.
While this would seem to set the stage for a high-caliber tour, it's just not in the stars. RJ's focused on raising his son, but will perform one-off dates -- like June's Firefly Festival, in Dover -- and try to get Slim on the bill.
It all goes back to the nature of their working relationship and the respect the men have for each other as artists.
"Everything he [RJD2] says about music is probably going to be better than what I know," Slim said. "I write. If you take the beat away, I still write. He makes music. So, for him to take my words and my ideas and expound on them, and show me how to execute them better, those are lessons I'll take with me forever."
He and his wife have a young son and he wants him to grow up around family. It's bittersweet for the acclaimed musician, notable for composing "A Beautiful Mine," the opening-credit theme for the recently wrapped AMC series "Mad Men."
The move comes on the heels of the May 5 release of "STS x RJD2," his collaborative album with Atlanta-bred, Philly-based rapper STS (a/k/a Sugar Tongue Slim; born Doncarlos Price). It showcases RJ's knack for genre-fusing compositions, flowing seamlessly from traditional hip-hop beats to big-band horns and southern soul, all under Slim's poetic and revelatory verses.
It isn't surprising to hear that the whole process was pretty organic. Hang out with the pair and it's obvious they have a great rapport -- joking, talking about barbecue, recounting interesting times in the studio. It's hard to believe they met only in 2013 after working together on "See You Leave," a track off of RJ's solo album, "More Than Isn't." Philly RB singer Khari Matteen also is featured on the song. Matteen had previously worked with both Slim and RJ and became the bridge that linked them.
"We kept in touch and then we started sending some stuff around, talking about making some music," RJ recalled, lounging in a lawn chair in his Overbrook Farms back yard. "We didn't go into it deciding, 'Let's make an album!' It wasn't like that. We just started making songs."
RJ would send rough loops from his home studio, and Slim would lay down his verses at DJ/producer Bear-One's Philly studio, even demo-ing vocals for the choruses (despite claims that he "can't sing worth nothing"). RJ would then build on that composition.
"To me the funnest part was getting back those initial demos, because it was like a little Christmas present," RJ said. "Each time, it was a realization of something you didn't know could be there."
The first song they did this way was "4/20," a cannabis-praising slow-jam, written on April 20, 2014, and released the same day a year later. It features Slim's hazily sanguine raps like, "The calendar says 4/20 / That's reason to celebrate."
"I hate to say it was easy, but it was natural," Slim recalled. "Nothing was forced. We were never trying to make a single. We were just making music. It was fun."
By November 2014, they had a batch of songs worthy enough to package into a full-length -- but also worth keeping under the radar until the project was complete. That was a daunting task given the ease of posting songs online, and especially because Slim comes from a "mixtape world" where it's standard to release tracks as they're completed.
"This is a whole body of work that should be heard together," Slim said. "So the process of putting it out was a lot different. This article is from wwwphilly.comIt kind of opened up my eyes to a whole new world of how to do this thing."
"Your first instinct is, 'We're proud of this song, we want the world to hear it,'" RJ mirrored. "So, your first instinct is to go put it on the Internet tomorrow. And I think that's the hardest part of the whole thing, just knowing you have to curb yourself, that instinct, for the sake of keeping everything together."
And it worked.
For the first time, Slim noted getting feedback on the album's cadence front to back. Many remarked on his lyrics, the fact that he talks about his mother, home life, his family's restaurant in Atlanta. For RJ, after working on a solo album, this marked a return to his collaborative efforts.
While this would seem to set the stage for a high-caliber tour, it's just not in the stars. RJ's focused on raising his son, but will perform one-off dates -- like June's Firefly Festival, in Dover -- and try to get Slim on the bill.
It all goes back to the nature of their working relationship and the respect the men have for each other as artists.
"Everything he [RJD2] says about music is probably going to be better than what I know," Slim said. "I write. If you take the beat away, I still write. He makes music. So, for him to take my words and my ideas and expound on them, and show me how to execute them better, those are lessons I'll take with me forever."
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