It's been a minute since our last Spotlight Feature. We are back with more dope content coming out of Arizona. We had the opportunity to connect with Rozotadi for a quick Q & A this month.
Tadi's music, energy, and perspective is all in the right direction. But you can see for yourself, when you check out his single "Bighead." Now, if you've ever heard "Ayye that a Tadi Beat bro?" before the drop, then I am sure you know what time it is. If you've ever seen him hit the mic or the stage in any setting, then you also know that anytime he performs it is pure energy. One of the first performances we got to see Rozotadi at, it was live at the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix (I forget the event), he was wearing a funky outfit with a sleeveless vest, a little make-up, and he was going in on that stage. It is refreshing to witness a young emerging artist who is moving in their purpose and completely buying in to their larger plan.
Take a look and learn a little bit about someone who is looking to make a big impact in the valley and beyond.
Here is our interview with Tadi!
RM:Talk about your photography a little bit. Do you think that photography is part of your brand? Or is it something you do to get money to fund the things you’re really passionate about?
T: I definitely think it’s a part of my brand, because it’s just another facet of my identity, it’s another way that I express myself. It’s just as important as the music I make; maybe one will make me more dough, but one isn’t more important than the other.
RM: Are their any lyrics about video games that you have?
T: “Red dead desert sand tan lonely sand man with no social life… that was a play on red dead redemption, and how we’re in the desert and there’s cowboys and lone cowboys. And sand man is the idea of the keeper of time”
RM: Do you think all your lyrics have that aspect of double meaning?
T: Every word that I speak has that aspect of you big with this drip onnit, ambiguous too where you can really take it anywhere because language is subjective, and also relative. The way I articulate my reality will not be digested the same way for someone else. So I leave that open endedness in there and I don’t really care if the bar is hot or not so if you’re listening to any of my lyrics whether that’s with ROOM4 or that’s by myself I’m always tryna say some shit that make you go “why” like wtf always have that wtf kinda thing. Even just starting off my debut single “Bighead” with “Not a slave just a model on this auction block of life”you know now you try to think, I hope the visual I give you is that I obtained my freedom, where the chains I wear, I’m owning my own identity, owning the runway, and no matter what it is, no one owns me.
RM: Why did you want to start your solo career with “Bighead”?
T: Lord knows I have tons of songs in the vault, but Bighead specifically I believe that it spoke as true as possible for this time that I’m in right now, and these other songs will only open up my identity a little more. The people who know me or follow my social media, they have a little more insight, but if you only listen to Bighead, I’m telling you who I am. I’m this person who takes risks, push the envelope, and there’s a little narcissistic bar in there “looking pretty fine can I date myself” but shit I’m looking fine I should just date myself. It felt right to start off my solo career with this song, this is who I am, that’s why I say “I, I , I“ throughout ‘cuz right now it’s about me. Every other time it’s about someone else, but for right now, it’s about me- owning who I am.
RM: How would you describe yourself besides music? Who is Rozotadi?
T: Rozotadi.. Shit i’m not even gonna do the third person bullshit. I’m a person that is very vulnerable but loves to learn, I think learning is a very big aspect of me. Whether or not that be watching youtube videos, or trying to be more empathic, learning how to be more human, I believe learning how to be more human is essential for us to live in harmony. That looks like me being able to articulate my reality. That humanizes my whole discourse: being able to use mediums to find my own happiness, while giving other people happiness.
RM: Talk about the production of Bighead…
T: Ok, Huntsman, he had some stems he gave to me and I took it to the next level, but Huntsman he definitely needs that name drop, he deserves that name drop because where I was at during the time and place where this was made, I was listening to some of the stuff he had going on and I’m like “oh yeah that” and I took those chords and I’m like “Bro let me freak this real quick”. I freaked it, I made that drop hit, I made those drums hit, I mixed everything right, yes I had a big part in the production but that beautiful plant started with a seed and that seed came from Huntsman.
RM: So did you gain inspiration from the sound?
T: I definitely gained inspiration from the way those chords were hitting, and the way those sympth undertones were hitting. I think where I was at, at that point, spoke the most truth.
RM: Where do you gain your musical inspiration from? Whether that be your lyrics or production?
T: I’ve said this in the past, I gain inspiration from everything, that’s no cap. I gain inspiration from the way in here [ where the interview was conducted] there’s that yellow light, beaming down with the diffused white light, and it’s creating a gradient of beautiful yellow. I can tune that into photography I do, I can tune that into how smooth I want the sounds to hit, create a sound I want to just come off as smooth. Also the way people speak: I can deconstruct someone’s voice, not to the single frequency, but I can definitely picture the EQ in my head on how to really make their voice pop inside of a song. If I’m listening to a song, I was just listening to POLO G and Lil Tjay pop out, I think “Oh this is so dope, what makes this work?”. I’m getting inspiration from my peers, even from my mother when she’s calling me, congratulating me on how healthy my plant looks, Leroy, and she’s like “I damn near had a tear in my eye” and I’m like “wow she really cares about the plants” because not only am I taking care of myself, I’m taking care of a plant. And it means something to both of us: it’s an inspiration to make organic growth in all facets of my life.
RM: I assume you would like to describe your process as organic, but can you delve into how you start a track? From start to finish what’s your process like?
T: Well it can start a multitude of ways, I don’t want to put my finger on it but I know people want examples. It can start with stems being sent, it can start with...something drops on the ground and I’m like “oh my god I love how that sounds”...let me record that, now all of a sudden that’s the bass for a song. Artists know that, with all mediums, shit just happens, but from there, I don’t necessarily like to collect all my thoughts in that first initial spark happens, I like to just *pretends to throw up* throw up on the instrument or whatever, and see where it goes from there, freakin’ it that way, and at a certain point, we arrange it. And from arranging it, we’re able to do a little more storytelling, so all these elements we just made, how can we tell a story? Does it tell a story does it not tell a story? If it’s not telling a story at least what feeling is it giving off? Whether or not with lyrics or the instrumental; then adding more or taking out something to fully secure that vision from there. After that then comes my favorite parts: the mixing, shaping the world, shaping the audio scape to your liking, then adding little droplets for the people who are really out here searching for them.
RM: How long have you been producing?
T: This is what I say, I’ve been making music my entire life, I’ve always been around it. The Indiana school system, I do think they had a good handle on music, so from a very young age, me in kindergarten I was playing with instruments, and I heard it’s not like that for everybody but playing with xylophones, I had music classes, and I always played an instruments like recorders, I’m the guy with the rain stick or whatever. I really started producing in 2011, playing music digitally, and I didn’t start taking it seriously until 2014, when I met my mentor Jerry Lang, JL, and he really solidified that this could be something real. All his successes and failures let me know that, hey, if I wanted to do this for the rest of my life, I could do this for the rest of my life at any capacity that I want. From 2015 on, I took everything very serious. That showed me that, this is something I want to do, may not be the only thing I do but this will definitely be something that grounds you.
RM: Biggest challenge while making a song?
T: I’m really blessed to have equipment that works, even if it didn’t work we could still freak it to where we could get the ideas out, and my most immediete challenge is my fucking laptop went kapoot. So, since my laptop went kapoot, I’ve reached a point where I haven’t really gotten to produce nearly as much as I want, and I got this fresh equipment, barely used but my fucking laptop is hit. I had the pleasure of producing a song for this artist I Am Cam Will not too long ago and going in that process I went in alone so he didn’t have to see me sitting here struggling and crying at my keyboard when he got to the session, there was a lot of clouds keeping me back from producing, keeping my ideas out undiluted. My biggest challenge in that moment was trying to remind myself that I really do this shit. Of course I’m my biggest critic but just let the ideas be. I fell back into the habits I used to have of just throwing up on the doll, on the playlist, on the instruments, but my intuition lets you know “this shit ain’t hittin’ cuz” or “I ain’t feeling this too much, maybe if you change the notes this way” I’m transposing shit, so going through that whole test -test- crash, experiment process allowed me to get over that hump. Once I did that, it reminded me, nah I didn’t lose this shit, I’ve always had it, it’s just.. I’ve been lying dormant for a few weeks. Shit like this happens, it’s embedded in the fabric of my DNA.
RM: Do you think that the equipment you own makes the artist, the song?
T: It doesn’t make the song. That goes for cameras too, the camera doesn’t make the artist. That’s a huge thing because people think in a field, if they buy the most top of the line piece of equipment, that just boosts their talent. Sorry bud, but that’s just not the case, and I’m talking to you. That’s not the case, no. In my situation, I needed to buy equipment to take the next step in my career. I’ve been using the same equipment since 2015, day in day out. You know, I’ve produced thousand plus songs, and have written and recorded so many songs I don’t even have a count for them, and it was just, after a while your ears become used to everything, and you could hear your song in another studio and go “well that’s not sounding good at all, why did I ever think this was okay”. Me getting my equipment, it allowed me to take the next step in my thought process, it wasn’t like “oh if I buy this new equipment it will make me a better artist” it was like “if I buy this equipment, it will raise the caliber of which my work output is”. I have the talent to back it up, I’m not seeking this for extra talent, I’m seeking this to open up. I’ve had so much time developing my ears, that my equipment wasn’t matching where I was at. I needed to take the next step and have my equipment match the development I’ve gone through over the last 8 years. So, me doing that allowed me to see everything.
RM: When can fans look out for the next release?
T: Shit i don’t know, I don’t got shit planned out bruh. My birthday is November 14th, and I got this Pink Sweats show November 15th, so if fans are looking out for something you know, twitter’s cool, facebook’s cool or whatever, but tap in with my on Instagram Bighead, honestly. Even when the music’s not going on, when the show hasn’t come yet, you just gotta tune into the freak, I’m giving you some good content, and that’ll hold you over til the next single drop.
M= Mary Violet
T= Rozotadi
Interview Held on 10.10.19
Questions compiled by Mary Violet and Dom Root for the Rooted Minds Blog.
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Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rozotadi
Instagram: @rozotadi
Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/rozotadi
Rooted Minds Blog - www.instagram.com/rootedminds
I Am Root LLC - www.instagram.com/iamrootco - www.twitter.com/iamrootco
Check out more features at www.iamrootco.com/features
Subscribe to the I Am Root® Youtube Channel www.youtube.com/c/iamrootco1
Peep our last feature with Zil
More about Dom Root
I am from Inglewood, California, currently working in Phoenix, Arizona as a Sound Engineer (Live, Recording, and Mixing). I am a Music Producer and Creative Artist looking to build portfolio and for live performance opportunities. I graduated from Arizona State University studying Creative Writing and Philosophy. I later studied audio production technologies at Mesa Community College, before taking on more freelance work.
Links:
I Am Root®