A STEADY FIXTURE BEHIND THE SCENES OF RICHMOND HIP-HOP, MELODIC IS READY FOR HIS CLOSE UP

You may have seen the young homie Melodic coolin in the background in a lot of places in RVA, but 2020 saw him step from behind the turntables and production board to grab the mic and show the city he can speak with more than his hands.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

HHH: Before we get to Monday, let’s talk about Kayobe — the warmup pretty much, right?

Melodic: That joint was like my bad warmup shots. I should’ve put more energy into Monday. I should have held those songs. But at the same time, I did a lot of thinking and I couldn’t find a better time to drop those.

I’m going to shed some more light on that (project) so people don’t think that those were just like some songs I didn’t care about because they were fresh moments; like Kayobe got written and recorded basically while Monday was being mastered, around the end of 2019. So in the course of a year, that joint just randomly went from random joints to a whole situation.

There was another song or two that almost made that joint that I still have. Kayobe was going to be longer. Of course, the natural essence of an EP, Kayobe is the cuts that didn’t make Monday. Kayobe was cool. It was like a cool, warm-up game, everything that you’re hearing is my first attempts — things to take notes and learn from.

So if Kayobe is the warmup, what is Monday?

Monday is a quick backup — and then forward. Kayobe is Japanese for Tuesday. And the word Kayobe translates to fire day. Monday actually translates to a word that means moon day. So the idea is that Monday and Kayobe are actually sister tapes. So you got the fire day, which, for me, is more of a hype tunes format. It’s more upbeat, but it steps out of what I would normally do. That’s about as hype as it gets within the realm of me. And then it’s Monday where I stepped deeper — those tracks weigh more personally.

I think the first time a lot of cats heard you rhyme was on Michael Million’s Hard To Be King. How many people out there didn’t know you could Rob soup?

People still haven’t heard that, or have heard it and don’t know it was me — or haven’t put two and two together. I changed my name since then.

I’m trying to get back to that. That song is called “Moor Hustlin” by the way. That song and “Weight” — that’s on Monday, those (songs) are like part one and part twos of each other. So it was like those two songs and then “Swim” part one and two was supposed to be a duet…but I was like, maybe I should learn how to make music first before I do that.

 You made a nice splash with Monday.

You think? I want to do more visual stuff. I feel like I need to do visual stuff, but you know how I feel about being seen.

Visually, what is the idea for Monday?

I’ve been talking to people because I wanna do a few different ideas from a few different aesthetics. And you know, I was going to do a “Jesus Walks” situation, but I decided maybe I shouldn’t keep beating a dead horse.

What was that? Like three different videos?

Yeah! But I’m not gonna do that, now. I tucked that idea for later. But I do want to work on a few different ideas with people. I just want to do different things, because, I don’t really want to do music videos. I want to do visual content. Whether it’s still or motion, I want to do visual content, but I don’t necessarily want to do music videos. They don’t appease me. They don’t do it for me.

You don’t want it? So you don’t want the rapper chain?

That’s whack. That’s so whack.

Really? No rented Cars?

I never saw the point. I’m watching these dudes put a timeline on how long they going to live like this. Like the bigger their neck’s get, the timeline gets shorter. I’m noticing this. I’m not going to tell you how to invest it. But I am smart enough to see it and think, “Oh, I don’t know if you should have done that, pimp.”

That’s been one of the things with the rap music though — the glorifying of a depreciable item.

I never understood why. Maybe it has to do with the influences around me were never bling bling influences. When I did start seeing it, I was like, “You know this costs money, right?” I’m looking at all of this stuff that costs money, and I’m like, “That’s where you chose to go on this?” Like — this is what you chose to do? I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense to me.

So now we’re in the first quarter of 2021, you’re still fresh. What’s the game plan? Not even the game plan. What are your goals from here on now?

I want to ride this wave. I want to reconstruct and reformat how I’m making music. Since I kind of figured out how to make music, I really want to polish the process and perfect the craft.  I like being the background guy. I’m used to being in the background. I don’t necessarily have to push myself to the forefront to do what I’m trying to do. I’m solidifying my way this year, so I can have my way.

Hip Hop Henry is The Cheats Movement Senior Contributor — follow him at @hiphophenry