The Style & Vibes Podcast
The Style & Vibes Podcast
Konshens Returns with Feel-Good Dancehall Music on Album Pool Party
Konshens returns to the Style & Vibes podcast to reveal the perfect timing behind his fifth studio album "Pool Party." Following the viral "Back That Azz Up" freestyle he seized the momentum for an album where the songs were complete, but not fully compiled into a project. We discuss the importance of embracing the moment and staying prepared in the music industry.
The inspiration behind the album, in such turbulent times? Konshens explains how watching the news during his creative process made him realize he didn't want to add to listeners' burdens. "I don't want to be the person that come and remind you that your life is stressful," he shares with refreshing honesty. Instead, he created "Pool Party" as a therapeutic music release with the same healing energy that classic dancehall has always provided.
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Welcome to the Style and Vibes podcast. With me, Makayla, I'll be giving you the inside scoop on music, fashion, culture and more from Caribbean celebrities and tastemakers across the globe, pushing our culture with authenticity and, of course, style and vibes.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Style and Vibes podcast with yours truly Makayla. If you are new here, welcome to another edition of the Style and Vibes podcast with yours truly Makayla. If you are new here, welcome to the family. If you are returning, like my guest today, conscience say welcome back family. How are you?
Speaker 3:Blessings. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm good. I'm good, so you're coming off of a bunch of excitement. When you dropped that back, that ass up, um freestyle, and now you have quickly followed up with a album. So talk to me about that. Like, I think, from the time that you released the, the song and even the freestyle to the album, it's been like less than 30 days, no, no, no, so.
Speaker 3:So the album was already in the making. Okay, the album, it's been like less than 30 days. No, no, no. So the album was already in the making. Okay, the album was literally finished actually. You know what I mean. But I think when we dropped that and the feedback that we got online, we said you know, we're going to put this on the album. You know what I mean. We're going to use this moment and see if we can make it a thing. You know what I mean. The people love it and the people demanded it. We gave it to them, so why not make it a part of the project? And I think it fit the project perfectly actually. So the timing was great.
Speaker 2:So did you record that at the tail end or towards the end of the recording process and so that just happened to just pick up the momentum.
Speaker 3:The recording process was done. It was a wrap, okay, so we just added that yeah so tell me about how that collaboration even came about.
Speaker 2:It's such a popular hip-hop song and then you bring in your dance style and and the people just kind of went crazy over it. Tell me why that track and what resonated with you.
Speaker 3:I think it's just me like being open to experiment and loving every genre and coming up in an era where it's not just yo, me and the baddest DJ, but the fun element to it. I mean enough remixes, enough Black Chyna, enough Renaissance Della Jazzity remix them. That's my era, them things that I like Even in my earlier days, like the Adon remix, the remix to Lil Wayne and Killer. I do a lot of remixes and if I hear any song that sound good to me, I feel like I remix it and it give it more life. I feel like that's kind of paying homage to the artist, whether before me or after me or in my time. I don't care if the song is dope Me, I can remix it. So the same thing with this one. They just showed me the beat and I'm like yo, this is what I'm going to do and I did it and this is what it became.
Speaker 2:Now, I talked a little bit about your follow-up response in terms of having a project to release. In your case it was already done. But I think taking advantage of the opportunity, especially in today's music market, is, you know, a lot of times we take for granted the buzz that we have. Why did you decide to release the album so quickly after that that buzz? Like you shared a little bit about seeing the responses online, but what made you make the decision to say, hey, I want to release this now, I'm ready.
Speaker 3:I feel like in our culture there's a word that is so important to being a good businessman but we kind of demonize the word to an extent and it's been an opportunist. You know what I mean Sometimes the word opportunist kind of going in line with the user or you know you take advantage of people. But it's a super important thing to like see a moment and grab the moment, and you know what I mean being prepared and being ready to grab the opportunities as they come. I feel like this was some free promo. The song itself is a massive song, you know what I mean. It's going into the summer, the y'all let me love it.
Speaker 3:And it was a moment that came out of nowhere and I feel like it. Just, you know, sometimes you sit and you're planning, you're over planning, you change your plan and the universe just present a moment for you and if you, if you're chilly, you let it pass and figure it out. But I think what happened is we'll see the moment and be like yo, grab it. The album was already done, like I said, um, so it's not like we see the moment and then album come out of nowhere, which would have been good, a good story. But you know, I mean it was already done, so dropping it now. The date was already set for the release of the album. I think the only the only grasp we grasped the moment was adding that song to the album.
Speaker 2:What you said, even though that might have sounded like a better story. I like your story better because it speaks to the preparation that you're always recording Right, so you always have music ready. You're always exploring your creativity and I think that, while you don't have to release everything, at least keeping you in the creative space on a consistent basis. So you have a catalog. I think your catalog is something that a lot of young artists probably aspire to. Talk to me about building a catalog over time that you can perform for years to come.
Speaker 3:Sometimes, when we talk about that, I think it's super unfair to young artists, because myself, as a young artist, I wasn't thinking about having songs that 10 years, 15 years, 20 years on the line are going to still be relevant. I was just living my life being free, and this is what I love to do. The thing is I love the music before me, not like I don't want to sound too cliche, but like loving the ones who paved the way. I was really a fan of music across the board before I even thought about being an artist, so I feel like it forced me to create the type of music that would live on, so I could be like yo.
Speaker 3:Every artist should make sure you do songs that are going to last for 10 years. I'd be a big hypocrite. I wasn't thinking that when I was doing my thing, but for artists now that have the internet and can hear me doing an interview, that's super important to do a song that's not trendy. Don't make microwave music and if you do make some microwave music, make sure you do a lot of soul food music to do something that you know what I mean down the line line, it will work.
Speaker 2:I think that's very encouraging because at least it allows for them to be inspired by their own creative process. So talk to me about even just the title.
Speaker 3:How did you, why did you pick that particular um title for the album pool party the process was like two years, by the way, to make album and I feel like I was going in the direction of a normal conscience album, where when I get into album mode I kind of get into deep mode, deep thinking mode and sometimes overthinking mode. But then, while I was preparing the album and putting the tracks together, I was watching the news a whole lot. The world just seemed like a big, depressing place. Everything was so serious Over there there's a war. Over there there's a war, then a natural disaster.
Speaker 3:While making the album, I realized some of the songs started to reflect what was happening in the world. I didn't like that. I didn't want to be the person that come and remind you that your life is stressful. So at some point we'll just stop and say oh yeah, we need a break, we need a pool party. You know, I mean and I think this is what my mode was and is in creating the album is like give us a break, like make we just enjoy some music, make we just take five minutes. So the problems are going to be there tomorrow. I don't want to make a depressing album right now. You know what I mean. I want to make an album that will be like when you think about the Sean Paul era and the Elephant man era and the Bean man era. It's all memories of being in parties and being in the club. We were shaping our serious lives, but we still had this music as a sound shock of the good times in our life, and that's what I really wanted to make.
Speaker 2:I love that and the idea of healing through music, in terms of you don't have to be so enthralled in the problems and then bring it to the music. And as I think about what you were talking about, that's the first thing that comes to mind is like the dance hall is a very healing space for so many, because it allows you to dance away your stress, community with like-minded individuals who enjoy the same things that you do, and oftentimes it gets this bad rap of being a space of debauchery Like talk to me about. You know what are your thoughts about? You know the kind of music that you bring and why you do it the way that you do it.
Speaker 3:Like I said, I've been a part of the deep thinking, part of the household, a part of the reggae movement, a part of the brookhold ratchet movement and I've encountered people over the years and I feel like when I sing songs about deep thinking, it's always somebody that was already. I was listening to this song while I was going through this struggle and I like being the person that delivers the music when you're going through your struggles. But my experience has been so much different me appreciate the music that give me a little break too. Like I just mentioned earlier, the sean paul's and and the club people underestimate the importance of a moment. Like you know, you're going through your daily routine and you take a break like take a deep breath, and they give you the power to kind of routine and you take a break like a deep breath, and it gives you the power to kind of move, and I think that's my approach with music no-transcript.
Speaker 2:So tell me about some of your favorite songs that you want fans to listen to off the album.
Speaker 3:My favorite song on the album is Shock 15, a song named Deserve it All. It's kind of a dance Afro mix-up thing, but it's like the universe. I talk to me and I say, oh, listen, all the way you've been through all your achievements, don't feel guilty about your achievements and the ones to come, embrace them and call them in, call them into you. Right now you deserve it and we feel like more, is it? More people need for, like tap into that element, to have just listening to the universe and be careful what you put out into the universe too. So deserve it all is definitely number one for me and it's track 15, and outside of that, we just I just want people to turn up. I don't want to tell them a track, this, this, this or that, just listen to it, pick your favorite and you know what. Tell me what you think.
Speaker 2:Which one are you most excited to perform, because I know you're going to be performing tracks from the album very soon.
Speaker 3:There's a song called Show Me man. Izzy produced this. We kind of give it a vibe like Purple Rain, some 80s-type vibe, and you know I talk about it too much, but I'm definitely looking forward to that one. It's kind of raunchy, definitely for the grown folks, but I'm looking forward to performing that one for sure on the Pool.
Speaker 2:Party Tour. Well, you're definitely known to give on a really great show and I was actually, uh, watching one of your your story with the bet experience, and you were sharing how to produce yeah, yeah your, your personal vlog yeah please do more of that, because I I totally love going on the road with you and I think it shares an experience that it's a side of you that I don't think you kind of do very often.
Speaker 2:In terms of just commentary, um and it was playful and cheeky, no pun intended. Um, in terms of your performance at the BET experience, what do those types of performances um kind of add to your stage presence?
Speaker 3:I love every type of performance. I like doing big festivals with 50,000 people. I like doing private events with five people. It's just a different type of creativity, a different type of preparation. I've been lucky enough to not have the same hit song in every region of the world. Some places I'll go and do something with the biggest song, then some places I'll go to Trinidad and one song is super huge in Trinidad and then go right next door to Tobago and nobody knows this song. So it keeps me on my toes. I always have to figure out what the people love with every performance. It adds to me as a person and it's really a different experience. I love that.
Speaker 2:So this is your fifth album. How have you grown from your first to this one?
Speaker 3:Man. From the first to this one I've grown as a person, as an artist, as a father. From the first one, a lot of topics that I sing that I did on the first one I had no clue what they were about for real, I was just being a good writer and then suddenly I can listen to that now and relate to it more as an individual, not just a writer. So you know, I never know about love. I'm missing so much love song. I never know about fake friends. I'm missing so much song about bad mind. You know what I mean. So life taught me a lot. I feel like you hear the difference in the music. Now you can hear that this is a person that knows exactly what he's talking about.
Speaker 2:I love that In terms of, like your growth. I think it's important to kind of understand, like where you were, and then be reflective of where you are now, and I hope that this album is kind of a reflection of where you are right now. But as we talk about right now, particularly in the US, dancehall is having another hill of a moment right, and I think that that has a lot to do with Cartel's release and a lot of artists getting back their visa. But you've always really been in this space. I feel like there are a handful of artists like yourself who have been kind of carrying this torch all this time. What are your thoughts around the idea that dancehall has this new spark, when I think you know there have been artists who have been doing the work for quite some time? There's just a surge of energy now.
Speaker 3:Right. I won't say I did enough. I won't say that I would say I did a lot of hits, but I won't say I did enough. I won't say that I would say I did a lot of hits, but I won't say I did enough. When an artist like a Cartel or a Bujibantan checked out physically from 2016, I checked out mentally and emotionally. I wasn't there. I lost my brother in 2016 and that kind of shaped me as a person. I've been dealing with that in the background, so I won't take credit and be like yo. I've been carrying the torch. I could have done a lot more. You know what I mean, but what is happening right now is a joy to watch and a joy to be a part of. I know, say yo, you say a hill of a moment and I think it's going to stay there on the mountain top. I think we are going to stay there on the mountaintop. I think we're going to finally get the respect that we deserve. People always love that.
Speaker 2:I think you have so many great collabs on the album. How did a lot of those collabs come about?
Speaker 3:And I know you can't tell me your favorite, but how did they come about? Just energy, I think everybody on there added their vibe to the music to make the overall project better. So it wasn't just about getting the biggest names I could, but getting people that fit the songs perfectly, and I think we achieved that.
Speaker 2:But overall, everybody just added a great vibe to it. Awesome. So are you going to be touring here in the U? S and across the globe? Tell us about what's, what's next after you drop the?
Speaker 3:album. The pool party tour is definitely going to be a world tour. Um, so that's a yes, Not announcing the dates yet. I shouldn't even say that yet. But yeah, pool party tour is coming up and the pool party merch all the bikinis and stuff is coming up, yeah, so we'll definitely look out for that.
Speaker 2:I love it Any last words that you want to share with the family.
Speaker 3:Just want to say big up to the family and big up yourself for the support you know, and to all the reggae and dancehall music fans, all the conscience fans across the globe. Enough respect, we just get started again. We're warm up Respect.
Speaker 2:This is the early one, folks, so make sure you guys check out Pool Party. It drops on June 27th. Make sure you look out for conscience in your area when he's performing. Support dancehall, please and thanks, and until next time later, my peeps.
Speaker 3:Respect.
