Food & Drink

Q&A with Seattle Rapper Raz Simone

The gravely-voiced Simone will be joining Macklemore on a U.S. tour

By Seattle Mag May 11, 2016

A man in a yellow hat is standing next to a car.

Sitting on the edge of the trunk of a Tesla, Seattle rapper Raz Simone greeted about two dozen fans near an apartment building off Cherry Street last Wednesday afternoon. The informal event was part of the kickoff for his upcoming tour with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

For a series of dates, Simone will open for the famous hip-hop duo, which comes as a bit of surprise given his recent criticism of the song “Macklemore & Chief Keef” and whether the “Thrif Shop” rapper appropriates things like homosexuality and rap music for his music.

Simone and I talked for 30 minutes about the upcoming tour, how it came together behind the scenes and the caravan of fans he’s organizing to travel along with him.

What was the inspiration behind getting your fans to come on tour with you this summer?

A lot of work has gone into making this tour happen and it’s work that wouldn’t have made this type of impact if I didn’t have the supporters that I have in the town. So I wanted to be able to directly show that support back. Since it took all of us to make this happen, I wanted everyone to come with. And being able to have others with me and hold me accountable to my main mission statement, which is putting on for the city, is the main principle behind this effort. When it comes to getting something done, a lot of times people say, “Man, if I was in that position, I would do this.” But when they’re in that position, often times they’re even worse than the last person. Or they do exactly what they said they weren’t going to do. I’m a big believer of being self-aware and double-checking yourself and having people around you who will check you and keep you on course to get things done in the ways you want to get things done. 

Is there also a sense of wanting to educate the people who come with you about what life is like on the road?

Yes, totally.

How many people do you plan to bring with you?

It might end up being like 100 people. I wanted people to get the information first-hand on the tour so I wouldn’t have to regurgitate it. The other part of my mission statement is having a hand in creating and building this industry. Creating industry here in Seattle. To be able to have that industry out here and not having to go to New York or outsource to lawyers or whoever in New York, L.A. That takes a lot of wisdom and a lot of skill and miles walked and time put in. I want to be one of those people to look to if you’re trying to start up and do stuff. Like, I’m accessible.

But I’m real so I’m not going to be able to give you the five-minute talk. It takes hours to explain all this. And I’m down to do that. But I’m also trying to carry this torch and light shit up and make it happen – that’s gonna make it so my time is pretty strained. So any moments I have to be able to bring people along to the things that I’m doing, I want to do that. Especially for the people that have good hearts that also want to pay it forward to the next person.

The other thing is to show this unity and to see all of us come together. To be able to take this little flame we got and pour kerosene on it and all these people coming around are helping to push that. It sticks. Out of all the shows I’ve done and tours I’ve been on, it’s this one that I felt like for all these reasons it made sense to bring people along. We want to make sure we have fertile ground and plenty of seeds to help grow.

Can you talk about how the tour got set up with Macklemore given the friction in the past?

Yeah I guess there was friction, but not so much anger or disrespect. I’ve always appreciated his music and the way he speaks on things. But I was always leery of like, does he mean what he’s saying? Is he culturally appropriating gay people? Does he really care about the communities that he’s speaking about? And, further, does he care about putting on for the town like he says? Does he care about the culture in that way? He makes songs about things, which is why I like him, but is it appropriation, is he leveraging issues like being clean and sober?

He’s making great songs and making a dent, but I like to know people are passionate about what they’re doing and that they really care. So that affects me and how I listen to something. Those were my main concerns and my questions. I had put a lyric in a song, it was a respectful question where I basically said, your song “White Privilege” is what got me into you. It was so powerful. And I’ve said in interviews that one of the most powerful songs ever is “Same Love.” It did a lot to sway the vote [for marriage equality in Washington]. When I was on tour, I’m out in the middle of nowhere in places where I’ve been called a “nigger” and then I’m out there coming back from the tour and I’m hearing “Same Love” bumping on the radio in those same areas. That’s when I knew it was powerful. 

So what was the exchange like between you two regarding tour?

He hit me up and wanted to have lunch and chop it. We ended up talking for three hours the first day. It was a really great talk, but I still wasn’t really sure where he was at. We were just going back and forth and I was still gauging [whether or not] he’s real. Then we met back up again and had another [three hour-long] talk. I was still hesitant, but he was like, “Man, we should work together.” I agreed, but I told him I’d think about this. For me it has to be real. So I was still at a distance with him. But we agreed we’d keep on building on these talks.

And then one night he called me – I’d told him from the beginning that I appreciate all he’s done and I’m not coming at him with a scrutiny. He asked, “What could I be doing better? Because I don’t really know.” So I told him. And then we’re having a conversation. Before that I just wanted to see if he was genuine and if he was an ally. I need to know who my allies are. Because I don’t know what anyone should be doing – I don’t even know what I should be doing, you know what I mean? But then once he asked the question I had to think about it. I’m on the outside looking in at him and I know self-awareness is so hard. So if I can have someone else looking at me and telling me this or that, that’s great.

So we’re having these rough talks of like, this is what I feel about what you’re doing, this is how it looks, us going back and forth on it. He was appreciative, he said he never hears bad things except for like one guy driving by and shouting some stuff. So, for him, it was a breath of fresh air. At this point I want him to do; to help create this industry. But I’m not in his head, I don’t know what he has done. I believe he has done a lot of anonymous things, he does have that heart.

Through all those conversations and talking with other people, I’ve ascertained that he really does care. And my questioning and making those songs [calling him out] did eat him up. I knew it did, but I wasn’t sure what the reason was. I believe he really did care – knowing someone thinks you might not care hurts. Later he hit me up and said “I’d like you to come on tour with me. If you would, I’d be stoked, but just let me know.” I really appreciated that, so I said yes. He said “This is what the city needs right now. And Ryan’s gonna be stoked.”

 

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