10 Things We Love About: Strick

Strick is a calculated risk taker. The North Carolina artist, rapper, singer, songwriter and fashion savant is an enterprising powerhouse and level-headed thinker who understands the finer details when it comes to setting the scene; what to divulge and what to leave to the imagination.

For this feature on10 Things We Love About, New Wave sat down with Strick to talk about joining Young Thug’s YSL Records, his time spent on a military base in Germany, his transition from corporate America to fashion and music, working with Kid Cudi, Skepta, M Huncho and more.

Photo Credit: Tosin Adegoke

Styling: Linda Houtsonen

Clothing: Cetra Visions

Jewellery: Crown & Sword (artist's own)

It’s the day after YSL Records X Pattern’s London event which saw performances from Strick himself, Swae Lee and appearances from the likes of Mist and M1OnTheBeat. Although the previous evening had been incredibly lit to say the least, the grind doesn’t stop for Strick and his team as they arrive with bleary eyes at the Cetra Visions office for our interview and shoot the next day. However, as soon as Strick opens up his YouTube and starts flicking through unreleased tracks the energy in the room doesn’t take long to pick-up and the lack of sleep is shaken off.

Strick, AKA Tauren O'lander Strickland, grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina to a single parent household as an only child, “I was really active, always stayed busy and I was always into music,” he tells me, “I was often at my grandma’s house where they played a lot of music and they had a loads of parties in the backyard”. From the age of nine to 12 Strickland lived in Mannheim, Germany. “I was at the Benjamin Franklin military base" he reveals, "it allowed me to experience the international world very early. My mom always raised me not to see any colours, be racist or anything like that.”.

It wasn’t always that you would see Strick taking in the limelight under the wing of Young Thug’s YSL Records; in fact, you would have found the very same artist suited and booted, navigating the ins and outs of corporate America. And before this, a stint in the Air Force after finishing college. “I was already doing fairly well – I had a career going for myself and I kind of left all that behind to pursue my game and chase my passion so that's why it’s ‘Risk=Reward’”. An experience which instilled in him an intense sense of perseverance and commitment which gracefully translated into his venture into music.

After breaking out in 2016 earning his first platinum record for “Coordinate” via Travis Scott’s ​Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight​ album, the rising artist went on to release his debut mixtape Risk=Reward (2017) followed by Risk=Reward 2 (2018). Over the last few years, Strickland has made his focal point to be working towards a career in music. A journey which started out as a few connections with the likes of producer TM88 and the late Bankroll Fresh, to joining the YSL family helmed by Young Thug (whose latest album, Punk, kicks-off with a banger from the two on "Die Slow" – already charting at top 10 in the US). Earlier this year YSL Records also dropped the highly anticipated Slime Language 2 which saw Strick perform alongside the mayor of Slime city himself and frequent moon voyager Kid Cudi on their popular single "Moon Man".

The YSL signee has a keen eye for detail which becomes apparent as soon as I ask him about his relationship with fashion and design. Starting out as an admiration of his cousins' experimental styles to eventually building his own brand, Crown & Sword, Strickland reveals – “When I started my own clothing brand it was to gain experience and learn about cutting and sewing, learn about sourcing and a lot of things that go into clothing that others might not fully understand. It's really an art form, you have to learn about stuff like textures.”.

Read the full interview below to find out the 10 things we love about Strick...

1. We love your ability to effortlessly switch the tempo of your delivery while alternating from rapping into a melody – When did you discover you could play around with your musical style like that?

Thank you! I think just over time, it's something I’ve recently perfected. I always wanted to maintain my lyricism and be one of those types of artists that can give a lot of strong bars, but at the same time, I mean melody is everything and it’s what can keep the listener tuned in as it’s obviously the catchy part of it. So I had to find a way to put the lyrics with a really cool melody. Which is something I have been learning to apply and I have been practising so I'm glad you think that it's working out.

2. We love how polished and vibrant your music video for "Moon Man" is! What went on with the creative direction behind the visuals?

Thank you, I love that video. Shout out to Cudi, shout out to Thug. Actually you know there's this guy Zachary Bailey he shot it and I saw a bunch of videos that he did and they were all really sick and so I reached out to him and told him that I want him to come up with a shoot for "Moon Man" and he came up with something super dope so we just ended up shooting it and it came out really well.

"The secret is just being yourself (uh huh). I just gave it away to 'em"

3. We love how organic your journey within your career in music has been so far - What advice would you give to any aspiring artists?

Me and my team were just talking about how everything just falls into place. I think we're doing really well. I would even say similarly with what I said about "Moon Man", Jericho, my head of International (at 300 Entertainment) was just saying “Seriously, the secret is being yourself.” And I think that's the word that most artists should just stick to. I've even been having that conversation with a lot of my peers that are artists and a lot of compliments that I actually get from others is like “Yo Strick, you're just being yourself, you really got your own vibe you're really doing your thing”. And part of my moniker is the risk and reward so it's you know, take that risk, get the reward and try to maintain as much of yourself as possible.

The meaning behind the title of your mixtape Risk=Reward. Where did that come from? Was that from experience?

Yes, definitely. I used to work in corporate america and I was already doing fairly well – I had a career going for myself and I kind of left all that behind to pursue my game and chase my passion so that's why it’s ‘Risk=Reward’ because there had to be a really big risk, sacrificing everything I did. Especially at a point in my life when I was going through so much; so again, Risk=Reward just means a lot to me.

So when you talk about that moment where you took a risk, is that when you first started envisioning a future in music?

I kind of always wanted to do music. I didn't always necessarily believe in myself as much as I should have just because again, it's a risk you know and so many people knew me in so many different ways. So finally, it was once I started really believing in myself and I knew that I could do it and I kind of stepped into my destiny; that's when I was able to see everything start to take off. It's just the beginning.

You mentioned you grew up with a single mother and I've also heard that you spent a bit of time overseas, tell me about this experience a little?

From the age of nine to 12 I lived in Mannheim, Germany. It was really cool, I was on the Benjamin Franklin military base, it allowed me to experience the international world very early. My mom always raised me not to see any colours, be racist anything like that. So even growing up in Germany, it was really diverse and it allowed me to get a taste that was outside of America like what kind of cultures.

And beyond the culture as well with the music I can imagine that's actually had quite an influence on your music in terms of versatility.

Yeah, thank you, definitely. I believe so too. I was just telling someone the other day one of my favourite songs growing up was "Fire Starter". [sings] "I'm a fire starter, twisted fire starter".

Prodigy!

A real rapper.

4. We love your sense of style and I can tell that you're really into fashion. Tell me about your relationship with the fashion world... What ignited that intrigue?

I've just really always been into clothes. I mean, growing up, I had a couple of cousins that were always really, really great dressers in my opinion. And then even later on in life, I got involved in merchandise. I started making my own clothing brand to gain experience and learn about cutting and sewing, learn about sourcing and a lot of things that go into clothing that others might not fully understand. It's really an art form, you've got to be incredibly knowledgeable about a lot of things. It's not just putting on really cool clothes and stuff that looks nice. It's like when you're actually in the fashion industry you have to learn about stuff like textures and other types of things. Like I said, I make fashion art forms and so that's kind of what I really love about it is that I have been hands on, involved and making brands and being a part of new brands and I just love clothes so much. And of course music and fashion go hand-in-hand.

Definitely true. I believe you also released some merch alongside your last album through your own brand Crown and Sword. Tell me about your brand?

It's a business and branding solutions company. Myself, producers and artists that are signed to me. So you know, I released the song "Yacht Club", with Young Thug and Ty Dolla $ign, I just did the first strand of merch through Crown and Sword, but it really was just merch for that single. And it's the same with "Bad Girl", the single I just did with Kaash Paige. I released a couple of baby tees and we did 100, a very exclusive drop. So it's one of those things where with the merch I will keep it exclusive and drop every now and then.

5. We love your collaboration with Skepta on “WokStar” - it’s always great to see American and British artists work together. Have any UK artists been on your radar recently?

Yes, shout out to Skepta man. Real big boss. King of London. There's a lotta UK artists on my radar, just did a song with M Huncho which is really, really cool. He’s super dope. There's been a lot of people out here that I've been coming across and everyone shows a lot of love. The thing I love about London is that there's a lot of positivity out here.

6. We love how each track on your mixtape seems to flow one into the next – It can be quite hard to select what you put onto a mixtape and in what order. Do you have any kind of structure behind your selection process? Does it matter?

I record so much music you know. Sometimes, it's difficult to pick what songs should go on there and what songs shouldn't. So usually I just go with the vibe that I'm feeling at the time of the release of the project. I sort through the songs, it might be a song I made last night or it might be a song I made a year ago, it just depends on how the vibe is.

7. We love the YSL family and seeing how you all support each other – Do you have any stories about when you first met some of the people that you work with now?

I mean there's so many stories. Millions. We all kind of came together over 13 years and everyone can see what Thug has done with bringing everyone together and what he's done with the label; not only his own career as well. I mean it's just tremendous and I just love the way that we all stick together. You know, I was out here with Young Thug, just out here for Wireless and we performed together. I was even just talking to Gunna when we were in the studio. I was like “Man, this is crazy, we all really been in this together”. You know what I'm saying? It's not about who goes first or who goes last, it's the fact that we are all doing it together, we're all going to get our time.

8. We loved your show last night in London! It’s great to see artists back in their element performing live again. How do you feel being back on stage?

I love it. I mean, it's an amazing adrenaline rush and the greatest feeling. Just getting the energy from the crowd. Even the other night at wireless, I felt like I was too far away from everybody. It's like over 100,000 people out there, so I really wanted to be in his centre so I came off the stage and went down there and it was amazing.

9. We love your aptness for applying incredibly deep and introspective lyrics to a track that could be played in any environment. Whether that’s in the club or in the crib and you refer to being your true self. Which is something I think a lot of artists struggle to do, do you find it hard to be so open with the public?

Not necessarily, but I think there's a strategy to how vulnerable you can be, you know, transparency is obviously very important in music and that's how your fans can really get to know you. And feel like they have a better grasp of who you are. So again, like you say I try to be introspective, I try to do all those types of things in my music, but even at the same time, I still feel like I'm gonna have a very long career and this is my debut album that I'm about to release soon. And it's like, I don't want to give everything away about my life, about how I'm feeling and everything right away. I want people to be like, 'Hey, we didn't get to learn anything about Strick in this album' or 'We didn't get to learn this...' So I always want to keep that there. But I feel like you gotta try and be as transparent as you can. You know, Drake, Future, all these artists have a great ability to do so. Shout out to those two by the way, they just had a number one with "Way 2 Sexy".

It’s everywhere, literally everywhere. They’ve done bits. Is there any upcoming work or collabs you want to mention at all?

Yeah, a lot. A lot going on. Me and Swae [Lee], we have a new record coming out. It's called "Play Stupid". It will actually be out in a couple of weeks (update: out now). So I'm really excited about that, the video's super dope. Super fire.

10. We love how committed you are when it comes to your craft. With your music you’re building a legacy.... What does having a legacy mean to you?

Having a legacy to me, I mean one thing is that hopefully my family will be able to reap the benefits and create a legacy and do that for the last name and for generations to come behind you. So to me that's what legacy really means, is that I'll be able to etch in stone something for my family. And then you know, secondly it means that I did something great in my career and then I did the right thing, obviously I want to be remembered as an iconic legend and someone who can stay true to themselves throughout the entire process.

In the lead-up to the release of Strick's long-awaited album, make sure you check out his latest singles "Bad Girl" with Kaash Paige and "Playing Games" featuring Swae Lee.