Mams Taylor: Snoop Dogg & "Runk"

[Lunatic]

http://raptalk.net/website/content/view/1967/54/

Raptalk hooked up with London born musician Mams Taylor who has been through it all. Living and leading a tough life at home, Mams moved out of home at the young age of 16 because his parents did not support his career choice of music. After discussing what his environment was like at a child, we move onto the music...

Mams' debut album "Persona Non Grata" (read on for the meaning behind that),  is being released through Universal Records sometime this fall.

The pioneer of a sound he calls "Runk", Mams describes to us in his words what exactly Runk is.

With a Snoop Dogg feature on his lead single, "Girl Gotta Girlfriend", Mams is ready to make his imprint on the music industry.

Let's go...

Read Full Interview Here:
http://raptalk.net/website/content/view/1967/54/

[Lunatic]

Raptalk.Net: Tell us moving away from North London at just 16; was that a difficult decision to make?

Mams Taylor: No, it was easy to move out of home. I still stayed in the London area for a number of years after that. It was tough being an artist in a household which didn’t support that. I was kind of independent already. It was definitely going to happen sooner or later.

Raptalk.Net: Tell us about the childhood environment you grew up in?

Mams Taylor: I grew up with a pretty strict dad who wanted me to grow up to be a lawyer or doctor or that kind of thing. Anything artistic to him was something that he saw as ridiculous and didn’t support. I was pretty much always the black sheep of the family, the black sheep in school. I was a pretty naughty kid in many ways but I was always independent and good at making things happen. Whatever I set my eyes or my sight on, I would manifest it. It taught me to become good at that.

Raptalk.Net: What is the release date for the album, and which label is distributing it?

Mams Taylor:  It’s coming out through Universal. We do not have a final date yet but it will be this fall some time.

Raptalk.Net: What is the meaning behind the album title “Persona Non Grata?”

Mams Taylor:  “Persona Non Grata” which means “Unwelcomed Person.” It kind of describes my journey in music and in life. I’ve always had to be the underdog in whatever I did. I was against all odds and I would overcome it and make what I really wanted to happen through manifesting and believing in myself when I guess nobody did. It’s kind of the same thing.

Raptalk.Net: What such a tough childhood, how does it feel to finally be releasing your debut album?

Mams Taylor:  It’s amazing and a blessing. I’m not as concerned with pleasing everybody else. I’m just blessed to be doing what I love. I’m a product of that and it’s starting to connect with people much more and more. It’s amazing to do exactly what I love and to connect with as many people as possible through this art of music. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Raptalk.Net: You’re the pioneer of Runk. Tell our readers what exactly Runk is.

Mams Taylor:  Runk is musically breaking barriers and boundaries and is not genre specific. I think we’re in an IPod generation where people like variety in their music and there not confided to just being hardcore hip-hop fans or rock fans. The list goes on but I think people enjoy diversity and I bring that to my sound. I was influenced by all different kinds of music growing up so I try to put that into my sound. There is definitely a pop sound in there, punk instruments and some rock and definitely rap and hip-hop as well. Runk is just about breaking boundaries and not following any formats or rules. It’s about doing things out of feeling. That’s musically what it is. And in spite of that it’s a movement. It’s the same attitude you apply to everything in life, breaking boundaries and not being boxed in for people’s comprehension. It’s about being real to what you are.

Raptalk.Net: How did you stumble across the sound?

Mams Taylor:  It was a bit of a discovery I guess. Being a big hip-hop fan since I was a young boy, I was an MC and DJ and being a DJ of course I would play different sounds in order to accommodate different tastes depending on the type of audience I had, so I’ve always had that diversity. When it came to my own music and producing, I would hear instruments missing from certain hip-hop beats so I put guitars in. I put some other stuff in, keys and synths that you’d hear from a Doors sample for example. People would be freaked out by it initially but when you listen to it, it sonically makes sense. It’s been a journey where I initially started out with hip-hop stuff and then the sound is now kind of unique. It’s again about the boundaries and not being limited to doing one thing. It’s going with whatever sound I feel expresses my personality and what I have to say as an artist.

Raptalk.Net: The album has a monster line-up so let’s spit out some names here. Tell us about the guest appearances.

Mams Taylor:  We’ve got on the album T-Pain, Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Bobby Valentino and Snoop Dogg of course, Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach and more. It’s just a real pleasure and blessing for me to be able to meet these people that I’ve been fans of musically and to get to work on projects with them. It’s a complete blessing and at times completely unbelievable. I had to punch myself at times while working with Snoop (Dogg) in the first place because I’ve been a huge fan of his since I was a kid. It’s been a great experience.

Raptalk.Net: In terms of production, did you handle that yourself?

Mams Taylor:  From the production, more and more now I‘m producing stuff for myself. I pretty much produce everything I do now. Initially, I would work with different producers who are friends of mine like Scott Storch or Lil Jon. I would watch them work and I learned a lot from them that I’m now applying. I think it’s about confidence. Initially I would produce a bunch of stuff but you can tell my confidence wasn’t there. Now you could put me in a studio and I’ll express what I’m feeling in my music production wise. It’s much clearly and easier now, and just as articulate as I would through lyrics.

Raptalk.Net: Between all of the guests and producers, there are lots of big names; what was your favorite collaboration?

Mams Taylor:  I think in terms of just being in awe of Snoop Dogg initially, that was a big one for me because it happened so organically the way that I met him and the way we ended up working together was awesome. And again like I said, I’ve been a fan of his so it was unbelievable to work with him. And I think with Joel Madden, it was a lot of fun because we became friends and we sat there and made the song together. A lot of the other songs, I would make the song and write the lyrics like for T-Pain I wrote the hook and then I would sit with him and he’d do it. With Joel Madden, we did the song together and it was a lot of fun. That was my favorite.

Raptalk.Net: And has the next single been picked out at this time?

Mams Taylor:  No, we’re in the process right now. Will see what that is. It’s probably going to be either “Get Down” or “Bad Boy” which carries that Runk sound. It will familiarize fans more with what Runk is all about. “Girl Gotta Girlfriend” has an electronic pop sound to it, but its more R&B flavor whereas “Get Down” and “Bad Boy” have that rock edge to it.

Raptalk.Net: Tell our readers about all of the charitable work that you do.

Mams Taylor:  I work with a couple of organizations. I’m in the midst of creating my own charity called Children of the Universe which is all about education which I think is really the foundation of making changes to the world. If we were all educated in the right way and we incorporated certain spiritual elements into your education which are lacking or missing, will be living in a much different world. I think self awareness of who we are and certain things incorporated into our curriculum will make a massive difference and take away a lot of hate, fear, guilt and greed. It we teach support to be conscious of these things at a young age, not that it should be a school that would be purely spiritual but it would have everything you need from math to geography and everything else, but the underlying being would be to base all our decisions on truth and love and not so much on what’s expected with you, and not to induce fear in kids. We shouldn’t say if you don’t do this, something bad will happen to you, especially with kids on the other side of the spectrum. Someone once said “If I love you in order to get to the gates of heaven, please deny me entry, if I love you in order to escape the fires of hell, please let me burn in hell but I love you just purely because I love you, then please accept all of the glory of my love.” That explains best the attitude that I think is kind of missing from the western education system. That sounds cheesy and poetic but it’s pretty basic.

Raptalk.Net: With such a powerful quote is the perfect way for us to end this interview. Thanks a whole lot for your time Mams. Do you have any last words before I let you go?

Mams Taylor: I just appreciate the support from you guys. I’m a fan so I appreciate it. Thank you guys.